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BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL 

ll 



CYCLOPEDIA 



OF 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES, 



PENlSrSYLVA.NIA. 



PUBLISHED BY 

eJOHjs^ m:. gresh^m & CO. 

MANAGED BY 

SA^MUEL T. ^V\^ILEY, 

HISTORIAN AND EDITOR. 
Nos. 1218 and 1220 Filbert Street, Philadelphia. 



1891 




PRESS OF 
B RODQCRS PRINTlNa OO. 
k 04 N. SIXTH STREET, 
PHILADELPHrA. 



I I'-'iE'^ 



PREFACE 



BIOGRAPHY is not only the most fascinating, but is also the most 
instructive and popular branch of history. Biography not only pos- 
sesses the advantages of general history, but often brings to light the springs of 
great events which, in the comprehensive range of history, would have escaped 
attention. Biography is the analysis of history ; history is the synthesis of 
biography. All the great histori.ans in the world have used biograpliy freely 
in their histories ; and to read history without regard to biography is to make 
it unintelligible. Biographical history is history by induction, which is the 
natural and philosophical method. It is far more complete in its scope than 
the mere chronicling of public events, for in it is contained all the elements 
of human progress, together with the groupings of history and the minutia 
of biography. The history of any nation, State or country is best and most 
forcibly written in the life records of its energetic and enterprising citizens, 
and the Congress of the United States, in view of this, in 1876, recommended 
to State and county authorities the importance and necessity of collecting and 
preserving the histories and biographies of their prominent men and useful 
citizens. 

Nothing, however, was done in the counties of the Keystone State toward 
the collection of biographical history, beyond securing a few sketches of public 
men who had passed away, until 1889, when the publisher of this work 
compiled and published the first cyclopaedia of biographies that was ever issued 
in Pennsylvania. In Indiana and in Armstrong, as in all other counties of this 
great Union, the present generation has but little history of past generations 
except what is furnished by tradition, which is the most uncertain and 
unreliable method in the world of transmitting aiu^estral history. In 
attempting to rescue from oblivion and divorce from tradition the early 



1 



PREFACE. 



history of many of the old and leading families of Indiana and Armstrong 
counties, the publisher has been well aided by the enterprising and progres- 
sive citizens of these counties. Cotemporary biographj- has been given in 
connection with ancestral history, and thus is presented the lives of those in 
the present, as well as those of the past, who have been instrumental in making 
each of these two counties what it is to-day — a fitting home for nearly every 
industry which labor and capital can set in motion, and a land where moral 
and intellectual progress keeps ])iice with rapid commercial and industrial 
development. 

The geological feature has been introduced to give an adequate and 
correct idea of the great mineral wealth of these counties. The geology given 
is taken mainly from the volumes of the Second Geological Survey of Penn- 
sylvania. 

In the preparation of the historical part of this work over a thousand 
volumes were consulted in the great libraries of the United States, besides a 
careful and tedious examination of public records and State archives. On 
account of limited space many events of local history were condensed from 
the present histories of the two counties, and the sickness of S. T. Wiley, the 
historian and editor-in-charge of the work, prevented their verification from 
court records and other authentic sources of information. 

In this cyclopedia of biographies we would seek, by presenting the lives 
of so many Avho have been examples of industry and perseverance in the way 
of right, to excite to virtue and stimulate to exertion the sons of Indiana 
and Armstrong counties, and influence them to pursuits that will lead to 
wealth, fame, happiness and honor, as well as to influence them to lead lives 
such as will prevent their names from being carried down " the stream of 
oblivion, and swallowed up in the gulf of unregistered mortality." 

The Publisher. 

Philadelphia, Feb. 28, 1891. 



CONTENTS. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



INDIANA. 

PAQE 

Clark, Hon. Silas M 81 

Adler,Noah 86 

Alexander, Maj. John B. . . . 89 

Altman, Washington P 91 

Barr, M.D., Robert 92 

Barnes, Joseph F 93 

Bell, Hugh M 94, 637 

Bell, John A 96, 637 

Birkman, Maj.Kichard M. . . . 96 

Blair, Judge John P 97 j 

Braughler, C'apt. Adam C. . . . 99 

Carpenter, Ephraim .... 100 

Clark, Thomas B 100 

Collins, AVilliara S 101 

Cunningham, Vincent M. ■ . . 102 

Cuuniugham, John M 103 

Daugherty, "William S 104 

Douglass, Frank 105 

Drum, Augustus 106 

Earhart, Martin 106 

Elkin, Hon. John P 107 

Empfield, Frank T 109 

Hall, D.D., David . • .... 110 

Hasinger, J. Clement 113 

Hastings, John S 114 

Hildebrand, Thomas E 116 

Hill, John H 116 

Hood, Hon. George W 117 

Jack, Summers M 118 

Johnston, John A. ..... . 119 



PAOE 

Keener, Frank 120 

Kelly, James M 121 

Langhara, Jonathan N 122 

Lemmon, Charles T 122 

Logan, Hon. James A 123 

Lowry, Horace M 124 

Luckhart, C'apt. Davie A. . . . 125 

Mack, David C 126 

McGaughey, John 127 

McGregor, James 128 

Mitchell, William J 131 

Moorhead, Fergus 132 

Nesbit, C'apt. James S 133 

Nixon, Edward 133 

Orr, Edwin G 134 

Owens, D.D., Eev. Wm. S. . . . 135 

Paul, John L 137 

Pennington, Edward A 138 

Pierce, John H 139 

Row, Jonathan 139 

Row, George 141 

Sansom, Franklin 143 

Scott, John A 144 

Simpson, David W 144 

Sloan, Hon. Hannibal K. . . . 145 

Smith, Robert M 147 

Snyder, M.S., Ph.D., Z. X. . . . 147 

Stanard, Daniel 152 

St. Clair, M,D., Hon. Thomas . 152 

St. Clair, James 156 

Stewart, William M 157 



P4GI 

Stuchul,John T 158 

Sutton, Thomas 159 

Swigart, Rev. Daniel W. ... Kil 

Taylor, David Blair 162 

Telford, Stephen J 1C3 

Thompson, Sylvester C 164 

Thompson, Robert .... lii,5, 636 

Todd, Hon. James 168 

Tomb, D. Harbison 168 

Toner, Rev, Adam F 169 

Torrence, M,D., James M. . . . 170 

Vogel, Edward G 171 

Watson, M. C 172 

Watt, James M 176 

White, Hon. Thomas 177 

Wilson, Andrew W 177 

McCracken, Lieut, Alexander . 179 

Wilson, John R 179 

BLAIRSVILLE. 

Ballard, Augustus M 185 

Baughman, Jonah B 186 

Berlin, Edward H 186 

Black, Robert 187 

Carson, M.D., John B 187 

Conner, John M 188 

Crede, Jr , George W 188 

Devers, John H. . . . . . 189 

Duncan, William 190 

Graff, Paul 191 

Harvey, James M 193 

7 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Hicks, Isaac 194 

Hill, D.D., Kev. George .... 194 

Innes, George W 196 

Kennedy, Capt. John P 196 

Kiukaid, John M 197 

Kinter, J. .\ustin 198 

Klingensniith, M D., F S S., 

Israel P 201 

Lowry, D.D.S, 8anmel >S. . . . 203 

McCabe, Richard Butler . 203 

Mooorhead, Joseph 204 

Shepley, A.M., ■Sannicl llowanl . 205 

Snyder, Antes 205 

StiHey, Samuel D 207 

Stitt, Robert G 207 

Turner, Lieut. AVilliam L. . . . 208 

Wehrle, Richard W 209 

Wiley, M.D., D.D., L.L.D., Rev. 

Lsaac William 209 

Wilkin.son, Ijieutenant-Colonel 

George 210 

Wilson, Martin M 213 

Wyini, Isaac 214 

Knott, Major Wilson 215 

Stillinger, Y (!., Rev. J. A. . . 215 

SALTSBURG. 

Ansley, M.D., William B. . . 221 

Carson, M.D., Thomas .... '222 

C'Uuk, Hail 223 

Cooper, Major S.unuel 223 

Davis, George B 224 

McCauley, Harry K 225 

Miller, D.D., Rev. Samuel W. . 225 

Moore, James C 227 



PAGE 

Patterson, Martin V 228 

Paul, Robert A 228 

Kalston, D.D.S., W. < ' 229 

Stewart, Robert 230 

Watson, James P 231 

Wilson, Robert H 231 

HOMER CITY. 

Campbell, M.D.. John Gilbert . 234 

Coy, John 235 

Evans, Dr. John 233 

Moore, Rev. Carle 236 

Reed, M.D., Hon. William L.--. 237 

St. Clair, John I' 238 

Allison, Andrew 239 

MARION. 

Allison, M.D., Ale.'iander H. . . 243 

Park, John 244 

Thompson, M.D., lion. John 

Keene 244 

AVork, James M 246 

CONEMAUGH. BLACK LICK. BURRELL 
AND EAST AND WEST WHEAT- 
FIELD TOWNSHIPS. 

Burrell, lion. Jeremiah Murry . 261 

Campbell, (Jen. Charles .... 263 

Davis, Richard W. H 263 

Kelly, John K 264 

Mildren, Kdwanl J 264 

Robinson, Robert Sr., .... 266 

Rogers, Robert 266 

Stonelxick, Alfred K 266 

Pound Familv 267 



RAYNE, WHITE CENTRE, CHERRY 

HILL, BRUSH VALLEY, GREEN, PINE 

AND BUFFINGTON TOWNSHIPS. 

PAGE 

Burns, Thomas 275 

Campbell, Hon. Joseph .... 275 

Creps, Capt. Jacob 276 

Hamil, William T 277 

Learn, Andrew 278 

McElhoes, Richard J 635 

Mikesell, Adam K . . . 278 

Pilson, John .... . . 279 

Shields, J. W 279 

Simpson, James 280 

Stuchell, Capt. John 281 

Williams, Richard \\ 282 

BANKS. MONTGOMERY. CANOE. 
GRANT AND THE MAHONING TOWN- 
SHIPS. 

Crawford, Archibald J. T. . . . 635 

McEwen, M.D., Christopher . . 286 

Morrow, M.D., John AV. . . (i34 

Xeal, John 'W 286 

Seanor, Hon. N 287 

Smitten, Archibald .... 289, 636 

Stitler, John F 290 

WASHINGTON, ARMSTRONG AND 
YOUNG TOWNSHIPS. 



Elder, Robert Y 


294 


Kennedy, Sylvester C. . . . 


. 295 


Telford, Rev. John Crce . 


. 296 


Carnahan, David Edward . 


. 296 


Young, Hon. John .... 


. 297 



\ 



V 



CONTENTS. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



KITTANNING. 

PAGE 

Bufliiigtou, Hon. Joseph .... 334 

Armstrong Major-General John 338 

Arnold, Harry A 339 

Aye, Frederick 340 

Bailey, W. C 340 

Buffington, Joseph & Orr . . 341 

Clark, Austin 342 

Cochrane, Hon. Samuel B. . . • 343 

Crawford, George T 344 

Daugherty, George B 346 

Doveii^pike, George W 347 

Fiscus, William W 348 

Fox, George M 349 

Goerman, H. Lee 350 

Goerman, S. L 351 

Hays, H. J. . . -. 352 

Heilman Bros 353 

Henderson, Josepli B 354 

Heni-y, Albert G 355 

Henry, Charles Newton .... 356 

Henry, Boyd »S 357 

Hill, Frank W 358 

Johnston, Hon. William Freame 359 

Kettl, Rev. Frank X 360 

Kline, Dr. Martin Luther ... 360 

Leasou, Merion F 361 

Leuz, Charles 362 

Mayers, Rev. Henry L 363 

McCain, James H 364 

McCuUough, R. A 365 

McNees, George W 365 

McVay, Frank B 367 

Meredith, Hon. William B. . . 368 

Moesta, Frank A 3G8 

Oswald, Marshall B 369 

Otto, Walter S 370 



PAGE 

Owen, Rev. John W. • .... 373 

Rayburn, Hon. Calvin .... 374 

Reed, David J ■ 375 

Reichert, William H 376 

Reynolds, D.D.S., Francis M. . 377 

Robinson, Robert A 378 

Robinson, William D 379 

Eohrer, Hon. John W 380 

Schreekengost, A. S 381 

Shadle, C. C 381 

Sini[>son, John Temple ... 382 

i^laymaker, Lieut. Robert S. . . 383 

Smith, Robert Walter 536 

Sturgeon, Walter J 384 

Mercer, Brigadier-General Hugh 385 

Potter, Major-General James . 386 

APOLLO. 

Alexander, David D. P 388 

Benjamin, Jolm 388 

Chambers, James Hutchinson • 389 

Cochran, Michael Hermoud . 391 

Cochrane, John Q 302 

Cochran, Capt. Thomas A. . . 393 

Elwood, W. J 394 

Fiscus, John M 394 

FuUertou, Rev. .lohn (J. A. . . 399 

Guthrie, Walter J 400 

Haraniitt, Armand C. . . . • 401 

Hunter, George M 402 

Hunter, ^ViUiam C 402 

Hunter, Robert Orr 403 

Jack, Samuel 404 

Jacksou, Geueral Sauniel Mc- 
Cartney 405 

Kepple, Cyrus J 407 

Kii-kwood, James 408 



PAGE 

Kirkwood, Hugh 409 

Kirkwood, William T. . 409 

Laufnian, W. B 411 

McBryar, M.D., William . 412 

McMuUeu, P. S 417 

McCauley, M.D., Robert Emmett 418 

McQuilkin, James D 423 

Rudolph, Henry Absalom .424 

Smeltzer, H. R 425 

Steele, Cieorge W. . . . 42ti. 636 

Uncafcr, Henry 426 

Whitlinger, Simon S 429 

Wliitworth, James S 430 

Wolfe, Aiken S 431 

Wray, Frank T 431 



LEECHBURG. 
Armstrong, A.M., M.D., John A. 
Artman, James J. 

Bole, John S 

Bowers, Daniel 

Bredin, Ezckiel . . 
Dufi; William Robert . . 
Elwood, Thomsis Jeflerson 

Euwer, James T 

Gooilsell, George H. 
Gosser, Albert M. . 
Hicks, Capt. Alfred . 

Hill, Edward 

Hunter, M.D., Robert P. 
Irwin, Tliomas M. . . . 
Irwin, Thouias vStevenson 

Leech, David 

McKallip, James A. . . 
Montgomery, William . 
Orr, M.D., Joseph D. . . 
Parks, Jacob H 



434 
435 
4.35 
436 
437 
438 
439 
410 
441 
442 
445 
448 
149 
450 
450 
451 
452 
453 
454 
455 



10 

PAGE 

Schwalm, John 456 

Steele, William John 45' 

Taylor, Millard F 458 

Taylor, John . . 459 

Thompson, George W 4(50 

Townsend, William Peter . . . 461 

Van Giesen, Thomas J 4(52 

Wanamaker, Martin Luther . . 4(')3 

FREEPORT. 

Craig, James W 466 

Edghill, M.D., James 466 

Gallaher, James S 467 

Guckenheimer, Isaac . . . . . 467 

Iseman, Nicholas 468 

Long, J. Luther 460 

Maxler, Frank 470 

Miller, Henry X 470 

McCnllough, Hon. J. A. . . . 471 

Schwietering Herman H. . . . 472 

Turner, Samuel 473 

Watt, J. Fulton 474 

Alter, M.D., David 475 

DAYTON AND PARKER CITY. 

Adams, Rev. Matthew S. . . . 478 

Adams, Edwin D 479 

Barr, Capt. Winfield S 479 

Beck, J. J 480 

Brewer, Samuel H 481 

Calhoun, M.D., Noah F. . . . 482 

Calhoun, J. K 483 

Cooper, George 484 

Cooper, J. T 485 

Eggcrt, M.D., .ioseph 487 

Erviu, S. J 488 

Fullerton, Henry Keese .... 489 

Henry, M.D., John Allison . . 490 

Hoover, M.I)., Albert M. . . . 491 

Lias, George W 492 

Marshall, Thomas A 493 

Marshall, Joseph W 494 

Marshall, William 495 

Miller, Wesley Wade 496 

Milliron, David 497 

Morrow, Ephraiin 498 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Oltinger, Franklin 499 

Parker, Fullerton 500 

Parker, George 501 

Pontius, Augustus T 502 

Randolph, Erasmus H 503 

Russell, Alexander 504 

Sharp, Dr. Joseph W. 505 

Smith, John T 506 

Tiusman, Oliver 506 

Winsheimer, l>r. AVilliani J. . 507 

EAST FRANKLIN, PINE, BOGGS. VAL- 
LEY. MANOR AND KITTANNING 
TOWNSHIPS. 

Adams, John 610 

Boltz, Henry 511 

Bovard, Charles S 511 

Cunningham, Jame.s 512 

Everhart, Cyrus A 513 

Fair, John 514 

Frick, Chambers 515 

(irahaiii, William A 515 

Guthrie, John P 516 

Heilman, Samuel 517 

lleilman, James 517 

Hood, William 518 

Logan, John A 519 

Luke, M.D., George Washington 620 

Mai-shall, Archibald W 621 

Mateer, John H 521 

MeAfoos, Daniel 622 

McClarren, P. F 623 

McCollum, ^Villiam 624 

M(;Gregor, John B 524 

Mergenthaler, Louis 525 

Milliken,John 526 

Nelson, John M 527 

Pepper, Mathias R 527 

Ralston, M.D., Robert (i. . . . 528 

Reese, Isaac 529 

Ross, George 530 

Rupp, David 531 

Schall, Simon P 531 

Schreckengost, Joseph J. . . 632 

Starr, Shcdrick A 533 



PAGE 

Stewart, John 533 

Warner, Andrew H 534 

Wayman, Marcus D 535 

Wible, John 635 

Smith, Robert W 536 

RED BANK. WAYNE, COWANSHAN- 

NOCK. PLUM CREEK AND SOUTH 

BEND TOWNSHIPS. 

Blaney, John A 538 

Bleakney, Abraham W 539 

Blose, M.D., George A 639 

Borland, George G 540 

Calhoun, Samuel S. N 641 

Cuddy, Johuson C 542 

Duff, Rev. David K 543 

Findley, Archibald 545 

Gibson, Addison H 546 

Good, Abraham 547 

Gourley, George A 547 

Haines, Jacob S 548 

Heckman, John 649 

Heckman, Jlichael 550 

Herron, Margaret Clark . . . . 551 

Jones, Stephen 551 

Kirkpatrick,John T 552 

McAdoo, M.D., Calvin P. . . . 553 

McCullough, David 553 

McLean, James D 554 

Montgomery, Anthony .... 555 

Neal, Smith 656 

Pettigrew, M.D., John M. . . . 557 

Pontius, Wesley 557 

Ralston, James S 558 

Schrecengost, Emanuel Z. . . . 560 

Sloan, William C 560 

Smith, Michael J 561 

Smith, George J 562 

Stockdill, M.D., T. F 563 

Marshall, William 664 

HOVEY. PERRY. BRADYS BEND. 
WASHINGTON. MADISON AND MAHON- 
ING TOWNSHIPS 

Brown, Eugene L 566 

Cathcart, Samuel 566 



CONTENTS. 



11 



PAGE 

Fowler, James 567 

Hamilton, C'apt. J. K 568 

Hetrick, Peter C 569 

James, M.D., Josepli \V. . . . 670 

Jennings, Richard 571 

Keener, Nicholas 572 

Nolf, Simon 573 

Park, Harvey 673 

Robinson, Samuel M 574 

Robinson, Elislia 575 

Schott, John A 576 

Shoemaker, Philip 577 

Stockdill, John L 578 

Taylor, Robert M 578 

Tibbies, George JI 579 

Tniitt, Alcinus G 580 

Wallace, M.D., R. S 580 

•■Brady, Capt. Samuel 581 

Brodhead, Gen. Daniel .... 582 

SUGAR CREEK, WEST FRANKLIN. 
NORTH AND SOUTH BUFFALO TOWN- 
SHIPS. 

Boggs, David C 584 

Boney, Samuel C 585 

Bouey, Robert W 586 

Bo\v6er, Van Buren 587 

Bowser, Jacob 587 

Bowser, David 588 



PIGB 

Brown, John F 588 

Claypoole, David H 589 

Claypole, Davitl D 590 

Claypool, Henry 590 

Cowan, Robert W 591 

Easley, James 592 

Easley, Casper W 592 

Gaiser, Martin 593 

Graff, Peter 593 

Hall, John A 597 

Hawk, John 598 



rJack, James S. . 
King, M.D., Jesse H. 

Lardin, Robert 600 

Leard, William H 601 

Maxwell, M.D., John K 001 

j Obey, James 603 

Williams, John M 603 



PARKS. BETHEL. GILPIN. BURRELL. 
AND KISKIMINETAS TOWNSHIPS. 

Alms, Henry J 606 

Altman, Amos 607 

Blyholder, Samuel S 608 

Bowman, George 608 

Carothers, William T 609 

Chambei-s, John S 610 

Dunmire, Henry 611 

Free, John S 612 



Guthrie, William G 613 

Heckman, Gideon 614 

Hill, Hiram 614 

Jackson, James Y 615 

Jones, George H 616 

Keppel, William 617 

Kirkland, John 618 

Klingensmith, Henry J 619 

Klingeusraith, Josiah W. . . . 619 

Kuhns, William K 621 

Lessig, Zachariah T 621 

599 ^ McAdoo, James 622 

599 I McAwley, John S 622 

McGrann, Philip R 623 

Meyers, Joseph 624 

Novinger, Isaac 625 

Parks, J. B 625 

Parks, Robert 627 

Townsend, George 628 

Townsend, Absalom K 629 

AVilson, John H 630 

Wilson, William T 631 

Wray, John M • 632 

. Wray, Daniel 633 

MISCELLANEOUS. 



Crawford, Archibald J. T. . . . 635 

McElhoes, Robert A 635 

Morrow, M.D., John W 634 



HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE. 



Historical sketoli of Indiaua and Armstrong counties 17 

Geological and historical sketch of Indiana county 45 

Geological and historical sketch of Armstrong county 299 



INDIANA COUNTV. 

Indiana 77 

Blaii-sville 181 

Saltsburg 217 

Homer City 23.S 

Marion 241 

Conemaugh 247 

Black I.ick 251 

Burrell 25.S 

East Wheattield 254 

West WheatHeld 254 

Rayne 209 

White 209 

Centre 209 

Cherry Hill 272 

Brush Valley 274 

Green 274 

Pine 275 

Bnftiugton 275 

Banks 283 

Montgomery 284 

Canoe 284 

Grunt 285 

North Mahoning 285 

East Mahoning 285 

South Mahoning 285 

West Mahoning 285 

Washington 291 

Armstrong 292 

Young 293 



ARMSTKONII COUNTY. 

PAOE 

Kittanning 325 

Apollo 387 

Leechburg 433 

Freeport 465 

Dayton 477 

Parker 477 

East Franklin 509 

Pine 509 

Boggs 509 

Valley 509 

Manor 509 

Kittanning . . 510 

Ked Bank 537 

Wayne 537 

Cowanshannoek 537 

Plum Creek 537 

South Bend 538 

Hovey 565 

Perry 565 

Brady's Bend 565 

Washington 565 

Madison 565 

Mahoniiig 565 

Sugar Creek 583 

West Franklin 583 

North Buflalo 583 

South Buflalo 583 

Parks 605 

Bethel G05 

Gilpin 605 

Burrell 605 

Kiskiminetas 605 



13 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FAUE 

320 



\y 



INDIANA COUNTY. ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 

PAGE 

Clark, LL.D.,Hon. Sii,.\s M 82 Court-house and Jail 

Clakk, LL.D., Hon. Silas M. Uesideuce of ) ... 86 Orr, Gen. Robkrt 338 

Normal School Building . . 148 Ruffinoton, Hon. Joseph 331 

County Court-house 180 ' <>wen, Rev. John W 373 

County Jail 78 i Fullerton, Rev. John Q. A 



399 



, Hall, D.L). David, . . 
^ Mitchell, William J. 



110 



131 



McBryar, M.D., William 412 

McBbyar, Mrs. Sarah J 415 

McCauley, M.D., Robert E 418 

McCauley, Mrs. Martha M 421 

Uncafer, Henry 420 

GossER, Albert M 442 

Wilson, M. M 213 Hicks, Capt. Alfred 446 

Young, Hon. John 297 Graff, Peter 598 



\ St. Clair, M.D„ Hon. Thomas 152 

■- Watson, M. C 172 i 



Klingensmitii, M.D., F.S.S., Israel P. 



201 



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V>H ■■ - ^ 'A' 



HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF 



Indiana and Armstrong Counties. 



Pre-hialoric races — Ihe Mound-builders — Tlie Indians — 
Race history of white pioneers — The Backwoodsmen 
of the Alleghenies — Irish, German, Scotch, EmjUsh, 
Welsh and Scotfh-Irish elements and the Backwoods- 
711(11 s place in our National Historij — Pcnnsi/lvania — 
William Penn — Territori/ of Indiana and Armstronr/ 
counties under Webtmoreland — French and English 
contest over the Ohio Valley— Early English settle- 
ments — Struggle of ihe Backwoodsmen and the Eng- 
lish over the Ohio Valley — Burning of Hannaslown — 
Pioneer settlements in Indiana and Armstrong — The 
history, growth and development of these counties — 
Their future. 

IT is impossible iu a work of this kind to 
allot sufficient space for a complete history 
of the present territory of these two im- 
portant counties of western Pennsylvania ; yet 
the publisher has deemed it most essential tiiat 
some account of the life-story of their ditferent 
inhabiting races should be given, and tiiat a 
brief presentation of the salient points of their 
history should be made before procee<iing to 
record the biographical sketches of their lead- 
ing citizens. 

The historical part of this work has been 
completed after a vast amount of research and 
was prosecuted at considerable expense ; but all 
2 



the time and expense is repaid by the fact that 
it leaves a solid foundation upon whieii tlie 
future historian can build a comprehensive and 
complete history, as well as suggesting to tlie 
student of history some sources of heretofore 
unknown historical information in regard to 
these counties and the deeds of their pioneer 
white settlers. 

The history of Indiana and Armstrong 
counties naturally divides itself into three 
distinct periods, each of which is characterized 
by a peculiar inhabiting race, as follows: 

1. Aboritrinal Period — Mound-builders. 

2. Savage Period — Indians. 

3. Civilized Period — White Race. 

There is but little known of the ancient his- 
tory of the North American continent despite 
the most exhaustive researches. Nearly three 
or four centuries ago, wlien human eyes in 
the track of the morning sun-rays first be- 
held the forest shores of America, it was 
as if a great curtain had rolled away from the 
western world of waters. 

But back of it lay a continent with only the 
Mound-builders' ruins and the Red men's tra- 

17 



18 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



ditions. No history in volumes traced, no 
record in rock-written inscription, to tell where 
the one race with a civilization but no history 
had gone, or the other race with a tradition but 
no civilization had come. Of the Mound- 
builders' origin and mysterious fate — first we 
have supposition, next theory from relics, then 
speculation and that is all. 

Came they from Asia when Abram sojourned 
in the land of Egypt? Came they at a later 
date across the trackless wilds of inhospitable 
Siberia, passing over the Behring strait on its 
ice-bound floor ; or did they, in the northern 
winter land's sickly smile of summer, coast 
along the chain of the Aleutian islands stretch- 
ing from Asia to America ; or left they fabled 
Atlantis, when it was sinking in earth-quake 
throes, to plant themselves westward on the 
North American shore? No one can tell. 
Mexican and Indian traditions and relics found 
in the mounds favor the hypothesis of their 
migration from Asia by Behring strait or the 
Aleutian islands, and that they were the an- 
cestors of the Toltecs and Aztecs of Mexico. 

The earliest traces of human life found in 
America indicate an age corresponding with the 
age of the mammoth and reindeer of Europe. 
Corresponding with the stone age and the be- 
ginning of the bronze age in Europe, was a 
semi-civilized state of life in America — a race 
of people who were Mound-builders, and who 
undoubtedly built all the great mounds in the 
United States. As to how far back this period 
extended, none can tell. David Cusick, an ed- 
ucated Indian, in a work entitled "Ancient 
History of the Six Nations," states an Indian 
tradition assigning the Mound-builders back 
twenty-two centuries before the landing of 
Columbus. Were they strong in numbers? 
Undoubtedly, as no traces exist of their pos- 
sessing domestic animals, it must have taken 
great numbei's of men, long periods, to build 
the great works whose ruins remain to this day. 

These great works were of two kinds : first, 



mounds; second, fortifications. The mounds 
may be considered in regard to form and use ; 
in form they were round, oblong and pyr- 
amidal ; as regards use they may be divided 
into four classes. 

Temple Mounds. — The first great class is pyr- 
amidal in form ; and in the west they are from 
50 to 90 feet high and from 300 to 700 feet 
long, with terraces or steps ascending to their 
summits, where clear traces and unmistakable 
signs of former buildings are to be found, in- 
dicating the past dwelling of chief or priest. 

Altar Mounds. — The second great class in 
form is round, aud found to be from two to 
four feet high, and five to eight feet across. 
On the top is always a depression in a layer of 
hardened clay ; and in this depression, ashes ; 
and in these ashes, evidences of burnt sacri- 
fices; while every object found in them is 
broken and has suffered from fire. 

Effigy Mounds. — The third great class in 
form body forth rude representations of dif- 
ferent animals, and north of the Wisconsin river 
are some representing the human form. Repre- 
senting animals, they are about two hundred 
feet long, 4 feet high, and 25 feet wide. 

Tomb Mounds. — The fourth great cla.ss of 
mounds in form is round and oblong, their di- 
mensions widely varying in different localities. 
One close to St. Louis is 40 feet high, and 300 
feet long. They are far more abundant than 
those of the other classes. They are of two 
kinds : first, interment mounds ; and second, 
battle mounds, where the slain were piled up 
and earth heaped over them. These mounds 
in the Ohio Valley are larger, and the bones 
in them, by an advanced stage of decomposi- 
tion, show them to be older than the mounds 
of the Atlantic Sta,tes. A careful examination 
of the interment mounds in many places gives 
unmistakable and indisputable evidence of the 
practice of cremation rites. 

Fortifications. — The second kind of these great 
works, may be considered in regard to form as 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONO COUNTIES. 



19 



circular, square or elliptical ; ia regard to use, ! 
they may be considered as of two classes. | 

Old Forts. — Tlie first great class existed all 
over the Mississippi Valley, enclosing from a 
fevf yards up to several acres of land. Red 
Stone Old Fort at what is now Brownsville, 
Pa., stood on the site of the Mound-builders' 
old fort. They were of different shapes, and 
stood on the banks of some water. Tliey were 
earth structures east of the Mississippi ; while 
west, stone was extensively used in their con- 
struction. I 

Fortified Heights. — The second great class in ' 
the east are chiefly found in Georgia; where, in 
one section of the State, all defensible moun- 
tains were fortified by this extinct race. Mt. 
Yond, 4000 feet high, and Stoue mountain, 2;3(JO 
feet high, were fortified with stone rolled and 
heaped, and built up into defensive walls. 

What tools did they employ in the construc- 
tion of their great works ? Revealed by the i 
plow-share, unearthed from the mouud, brought 
up from the half-hidden pit and concealed 
hiding-place, they are comprised, according to 
material, of two classes, stone and copper. Of 
stone, a rude flint chipped in shape of a spade 
to which a handle was attached was used for 
digging. Flint spades, axes, tomahawks, chis- 
els, wedges and knives constituted their tools of 
stone ; while as weapons of stone, they had 
arrow and spear-heads, besides pipes, tubes, 
pestles, pendants, sinkers and ornaments. Of 
copper, rudely hammered out, were tools, such 
as axes, hammers and spoons, weapons and 
ornaments obtained by working mines on Lake 
Superior, wiiere a block of copper weighing six 
tons was discovered some years ago, that they 
had commenced to take out, with their rude 
stone and copper tools lying by its side. Tiiey 
used bone and horn to make cups and spoons, 
clay and shells to make ceramic ware, and wood 
to make clubs and rude mauls. 

Tools and weapons were found iu a mound 
at Marietta, Ohio, on whose top trees were 



growing thirty years ago, and their age was es- 
timated at eight hundred years. This calcula- 
tion would give 1050 a.d. as the time wheu 
tiie mound was iu existence, whether built ear- 
lier or not. 

There were found at Moundsville, West Vir- 
ginia, in the great mound of that place, ivory 
beads and copper bracelets, and a siugular 
hieroglyphical stone incribed with characters in 
the aucient rock alphabet of 16 right and acute 
angled single strokes used by the Pelasgi and 
other early Mediterranean nations. Standing 
on an elevated plain 75 feet above the level of 
the Ohio river it was connected by low earthen 
intrenchments with other mounds. They took 
in a well, walled up with rough stones ; and 
back on a high hill were found the ruins of a 
stone tower, apparently a watch-tower, built of 
rough undressed stones laid up without mortar. 
A similar tower stands on a high Grave creek 
hill, and one across the Ohio river on a high 
projecting promontory. The three towers seem 
to have been built as watch-towers, or sentinel 
out looks for the numerous mounds dotting this 
elevated plain. Howe says: "On the Green 
Bottom iu Cabell and Mason counties vestigres 
of a large city, with traces of laid-out streets 
running to the Ohio river, covering the space of 
a half mile, were once visible." 

Wiiy left this mighty race this great empire? 
Did war from the Indian, famine or fever, waste 
them ? Or sought they a southern clime more 
warm than glows beneath our Northern skies ? 

None with certainty can tell. Cusick gives 
us Indian tradition, that the Indians drove them 
south 2000 years before Columbus came, and 
that the Mound-builders came from the south; 
which might have been either Louisiana or Mexi- 
co ; but there are many things to imj)air the story. 
Theory favors, but certainly does not stamp, 
the conclusion that the Mound-builders were 
the ancestors of the Aztecs and Toltecs, and 
obeying a migratory impulse, sweeping forward 
and southward to the plains of Mexico and Peru, 



20 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



established themselves uuder the reign of em- 
peror aud the rule of iuca. 

Leaving this country, these mounds may 
have been the rude model-structures of ideas 
they developed into those wonderful structures 
that greeted the greedy eyes of Cortez and 
Pizarro. The introduction of stone into their 
mound-structures here must have represented 
an idea of progress — an experimental mode of a 
proposed change, whose consummation might 
have been achieved in the great halls, cities, 
temples and aqueducts of the Montezumas. 

The Mound-builders' age stands as the twi- 
lisiht of American's earliest civilization. On its 
close fell a niglit of barbarism, resting all over 
the land and extending to the coming of Co- 
lumbus, the dawn of America's latest and the 
world's brightest civilization. 

The Mound-builders in Indiana and Arm- 
strong must have come up the Allegheny river 
in conformity with the great law that governed 
the race, in following the rivers and settling in 
their valleys. All evidence tends to sustain 
their coming up the Allegheny from the site of 
Pittsburgh or down that river from Lake Chau- 
tauqua, New York, where they had extensive 
settlements. The absence efforts, the indispensa- 
ble accompaniment of their established settle- 
ments would indicate their intention of but 
temporary residence, while the bones in their 
interment mounds would show temporary occu- 
pation for man}' years ; no doubt made for 
hunting the game then wonderfully abundant 
in the Allegheny Valley. The bones of chil- 
dren in the mounds and the remains of ancient 
pottery found prove that they brought their 
families and lived on the river close to their 
burial mounds while temporarily here. 

The early settlers paid but little attention to. 
the Mound-builders' ruins and generally re- 
garded them as the work of the Indians, hence 
but little trace has been preserved of them. One 
of the forts and mounds of the Mound-builders 
was in West Wheatfield township, and is de- 



scribed in Cauldwell's History of Indiana county 
as follows : " A few miles north from the 
river, on the old Sides farm, stands ' Fort 
Hill.' Tiie traditions tell us that it was known 
as su(!ii to George Finley aud the early settlers 
on the river. The soil of the hill is very rich, 
and till 1817 or 1818, it was nearly all covered 
with an improved forest. In the early part of 
the century the outlines of a fort were dis- 
tinctly marked, being slightly elevated. On 
the inside were several mounds." In Scott's 
Gazetteer of 1806 we read the following : " In 
Wheatfield township, Westmoreland county, 
Pa., is a remarkable mound, from which sev- 
eral strange specimens of art have been taken. 
One was a stone serpent five inches in diameter, 
part of the entablature of a column, both rudely 
carved in the form of diamonds and leaves ; and 
also an earthen urn with ashes." The mound 
above alluded to was on the inside of the fort. 
Beside the articles aforementioned, there were 
found at an early date, fragments of pottery of 
a much finer texture than that made by the 
Indians ; stones of peculiar shape, both carved 
and hollowed, as if intended for utensils for 
cooking purposes or receptacles. The latter 
were both large and small. 

Smith in his history of Armstrong county, 
page 254, makes mention of an ancient earth- 
work on Pine creek supposed by some to be the 
work of Mound-builders. On page 288 he 
ffivesan account of another fortified work in Cow- 
anshannock township enclosing an acre and a 
half of land. It was circular in form, had a 
wall some five feet high, and was surrounded 
with a trench. Mr. Smith describes (page 313) 
a military fortification and out-works in Manor 
township. It was on the left bank of the 
Allegheny river, and on some of its parapets 
were growing trees that were over 300 years in 
age. Numerous relics were found near it, and 
everything seems to warrant it of pre-historic 
origin. 

That the Mound-builders were cremationists 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



21 



is beyoud doubt. This is established by the ap- 
pearance of tlie bones, which everywhere show 
the action of fire, as well as by the ashes and 
charcoal found. Most probably they placed the 
corpses in a sitting posture, and piled wood 
around tiiem and fired it. On the remains earth 
was thrown. The dead were placed in one at a 
time. When one of their people died, the 
mound was opened, the corpse was placed be- 
side the one last put in, and the fiery process 
repeated. A careful examination of the bones 
show no traces of death by violence, and seems 
to contradict the theory that all the dead in their 
mounds were slain in great battles. 

From a mound, the writer obtained a strange 
skull out of the top layer of bones. Digging 
down, we came upon several skulls in the bot- 
tom layer, but could not get them out, as they 
crumbled to pieces in our hands ; finally the 
top of one was secured, and where the sutures 
meet on top of the Caucasian head, they were 
prevented in this head by a small bone of about 
one inch in length bv one half inch in width, of a 
peculiar .shape. All the other skulls possessed 
this .same peculiar bone. The top of the skull 
secured and the others tliat crumbled, showed the 
heads of the race to have been long and narrow, 
with low foreheads, and long narrow faces. 

The Hon. James C. McGrew and others, in 
1834, excavated this mound, and found in it a 
peculiar shaped stone pipe, and a very peculiar 
stone relic in the shape of an hour-glass, which 
was mechanically constructed, neatly dre.ssed, and 
capable of being used for the purpose of recording 
time. It might have been captured and placed in 
the mound for safe keeping by an Indian ; as 
the Mound-builder is supposed to have left Asia 
when the sun-dial was used, and before the 
invention and the introduction of the hour-glass. 
Fragments of ancient pottery have been plowed 
up close to these mounds, similar in appearance 
to the ancient ware described in the " Antiqui- 
ties of the West " and the " Ancient Monuments 
of the Mississippi Valley." 



The fate of the Mound-builders of the Alle- 
gheny Valley must have been the same as that 
of their whole race. When the race left the 
Mississippi Valley, those of the Allegheny 
Valley forsook their summer hunting-ground 
here, and added tlieir numbers to swell the 
migratory columns again in motion toward sun- 
nier regions farther south. 

Savage Period : Indians. — Twilight deepens — 
the Mound-builder is retreating. Night darkens 
— the Indian is advancing. Whence comes he? 
One theory credits the Indians as being descend- 
ants of the Jews. Succeeding theories blended 
tliera with the Carthageniaus, traced them to the 
Phenicians, derived them from the Egyptians, 
rendered them of the Grecians, established them 
of the Romans, gave them origin of the North- 
men, and made them natives of the .soil. The 
best supported and most plausible theory of 
their origin is that they are of JNIongolian 
extraction ; that while the wave of population 
in the old world was from east to west, in the 
new world it was from north to south ; that the 
Indian was the second wave of population from 
Asia following in the track of the first wave, 
— the Mound-builder who was then leaving this 
country and sweeping southward to the plains 
of Mexico and Peru. 

The first fact in favor of the Indians being of 
Mongolian extraction is that all their traditions 
state that they came from the North. 

The second is the grammatical affinity of all 
the Indian languages constituting the sixth or 
American group of language.s, which in princi- 
ple of formation and grammatical con.struetion 
bears unquestionable resemblance to the Tartar 
or third group of languages, which is one of the 
two great language families of the Mongolian 
race. 

The Indian occupation of the United States 
admits of two theories : first, a peaceable pos- 
session ; second, a forcible possession. The first 
is the most likely, as the Mound-builders were a 
semi-civilized race, and from their great works 



22 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



it is fair to presume as strong in numbers as 
the Indian invaders. But it is fair presump- 
tion, that between the inferior-advancing and 
the superior-retreating races, the clash of mor- 
tal conflict would be inevitable. The with- 
drawal of the Mound-builder from the field of 
battle after repulsing his Indian foe, to resume 
his south ward journey, would give to the Indian 
the idea that his enemy had fled; and on this 
his tradition of conquest, repeated to white 
prisoners in 1754-55 , was undoubtedly founded. 

The Indians east of the Mississippi were tall, 
and straight as arrows, with long, coarse, black 
hair, which they generally kept shaved off", 
except the scalp lock ; high cheek bones and 
black piercing eyes. Their limbs were supple 
by exercise and their muscles hardened by con- 
stant exposure to the weather. 

Their dress was the skins of wild animals, 
smoked or tanned with the brains of the 
animals killed. Their wigwams were poles 
stuck in the ground and bent together at the 
top, covered with chestnut and birch bark. 
Their weapons, war-clubs, bows and arrows 
and stone tomahawks, until they procured iron 
tomahawks and guns from the white traders. 
Their boats were log and birch bark canoes. 

Their religion was the worship of the Great 
Spirit, and they believed there was a happy 
hunting-ground in the spirit-land beyond the 
mountains of the setting sun, where brave war- 
riors went at death and pursued the chase for- 
ever and ever ; but which no coward was ever 
permitted to enter. 

Their laws were the customs handed down in 
the traditions of the old men. An offense 
against custom was punished by exclusion from 
society. If the offense was murder, it was 
punished by the nearest kinsman of the slain. 
Their legislation was enacted by the grand 
council called together by the chief of the tribe 
upon the urgency or necessity of the occasion, 
where the disposition of all questions rested 
upon the votes of the whole tribe, and where, 



commencing with the chief, all had a right to 
speak. 

Each tribe had its head chief or sachem. The 
succession of this office was sometimes hereditary, 
even in the elevation of a queen ; sometimes 
M'as bestowed for ability and bravery upon a 
warrior of another tribe, if he was living with 
them and was brave and daring. Each tribe 
had its medicine man, who, in addition to gath- 
ering herbs to effect cures, was its historian, 
teaching the young braves the traditions of their 
fathers, and to count time by the moon — as so 
many moons ago such a thing happened. Some 
tribes could only count up to ten, others up to 
ten thousand. The medicine man and the old 
men taught the young brave never to forgive 
an injury or to forget a kindness. They taught 
him that sternness was a virtue and tears were 
womanish, and if captured and burning at the 
stake to let no torture draw a groan or sigh 
from him ; but to taunt his euemies, recite his 
deeds of prowess, and sing his death-song. He 
was also taught that the great object of life was 
to distinguish himself in war and to slay his 
enemies. He was taught to be faithful to any 
treaty he made ; and to use any deceit or prac- 
tice any treachery upon an eneni}' was honor- 
able, and that it was no disgrace to kill an 
enemy wherever found, even if unarmed. 

Marriage among the Indians was attended 
with but little ceremony. An Indian could 
have several wives at one time if he wished, but 
seldom had more than one. The husband fur- 
nished the meat by hunting, and the wife or 
squaw raised the corn and did all the work. 
The husband when at home did not labor, so his 
limbs would not be stiffened, but would remain 
supple for war and the chase. The husband 
could leave his wife when he pleased, but on 
separation the children remained with the wife, 
and she kept the wigwam and had the privi- 
lege to marry again. 

The Indian copied after the Mound-builder. 
He used flint to make his arrow and spear- 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



23 



heads, and stone to make his tomahawks, ham- 
mers, pestles and ornaments ; clay and shells 
to make his pottery ware, but failed to work 
copper, and had lost all trace of the mines left 
by the Mound-builders. The stone-grave cham- 
ber of the Mound-builder suggested the stone- 
pile grave of the Indian. Stones of memorial 
constituted the second class of Indian stone 
heaps. They were thrown up iu heaps at the 
crossing of ti'ails, and on the summit of some 
mountain, and each Indian that passed added a 
stone. " Lawson's Carolina," published in 1 709, 
at page 309, makes mention of the Indians in 
the South piling up these memorial heaps. 
They were piled up in Asia by the Hindoos, 
according to " Coleman's Hindoo Mythology," 
page 271. 

The earliest mention we have of memorial 
stones was when the Children of Israel passed 
over Jordan, and Joshua pitched twelve stones 
as a memorial heap in Gilgal, to commemorate 
Israel's passing over on dry land. Joshua 4 : 22. 
And the earliest mention we have of stones piled 
over thedead is in II Samuel 18 : 17, when Ab- 
salom was cast into a great pit and a great heap 
of stones laid on him. 

Stone circles existed as the third class of the 
Indians' stone-heaps, being stones piled in a 
great circle and sometimes placed standing, in- 
side of which the East Virginia Indians gath- 
ered and went through a great many ceremon- 
ies, according to Berkly's History of Virginia, 
page 164. 

The Indians of the United States were divided 
into eight great families: Algonquin, Iroquois, 
Catawbas, Cherokees,Uchees, Mobilians, Natches 
and Dacotahs or Sioux. The great plains, the 
Rocky mountains and the Pacific coast were in 
possession of powerful tribes not in the above 
division. Each family was divided into numer- 
ous tribes, and these tribes were generally en- 
gaged in bloody wars with each other. 

The Lenni I^enape or Delaware Indians came 
about 1700 into the territory of Indiana and 



Armstrong counties on account of the game, and 
were soon followed by the Shawanees from east- 
ern Pennsylvania, where they had settled in 
1677 when driven out of Georgia and South 
Carolina. These two tribes were the tenants at 
will of the Allegheny Valley, which was under 
the dominion of the Six Nations of New York, 
who were called by De Witt Clinton the Romans 
of America, and whose council resembled the 
WiUenagamott of the Saxons. 

The Delawares and Shawanees did not have 
many villages, were chiefly hunters and a more 
complete account of them will be found in the 
description of the French and Indian war and 
in the individual histories of the two counties. 

Cusick gives the following tradition account- 
ing for the scarcity of Indian towns in the Al- 
legheny Valley : The Mound-builders, twenty- 
two hundred years before Columbus discovered 
America, lived in a Golden city in the south, 
under a great emperor. This emperor invaded 
the Mississippi Valley, and built all its mounds. 
The Indians, coming from the north, drove him 
back after terrible fighting and divided the 
country among themselves, excepting the Mon- 
ongahela and Allegheny Valleys, over which 
various tribes waged long and bloody wars. 
They finally called a grand council, and agreed 
that no tribe was to inhabit them or build towns 
on their soil, but that, on account of the wonder- 
ful abundance of game, they were to remain a 
common hunting-ground for all the tribes. 

The M'Tiife Race. — It is not foreign to the 
history of Indiana and Armstrong counties, and 
will add much to a right understanding of the 
great movement by which they were conquered 
and peopled by the white race, to glance back 
over the race-history of their English, German, 
Irish, Welsh and Scotch pioneers; and that 
wonderful Scotch-Irish people whose advent 
into the territory of these counties was but a 
part of the initial step of the winning of the 
" Great West " by the Backwoodsmen of the 
.Vlleghenies. 



24 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



It is not inappropriate of this substantial 
section of country to make more intelligible the 
hastily sketched record of its English-speaking 
people, to notice, also, the part which they have 
played in modern history. 

The empires of the ancient world were under 
the domination of a single idea, while the 
nations of modern times are composed of di- 
verse elements that hold each other in check 
and prevail together. Religious motives have 
influenced the political movements of modern 
iiistory which commenced with the barbarian 
ascendancy of the fierce north-land German 
races of Europe when they subverted the Roman 
Empire and conquered the sea-girt realm of 
Great Britain. 

In the dawn of modern history arose the 
rival systems of Christianity and Mohammed- 
anism which immediately entered into a great 
struggle for the mastery of Europe. In the 
mighty contest which followed the Crescent fell 
before the Cro.ss and the barbarian conquerors 
of Rome, who had vanquished the hosts of the 
Prophet, finally embraced the Christian faith. 
In the afterward struggle of the barbarians to- 
wards civilization, two great leaders loomed up 
in Charlemagne, the Fraukish sovereign, and 
Alfred the Great of England. The next period 
in barbarian history was that of Feudalism, a 
system growing out of the peculiar military in- 
stitutions of the Teutonic race. In due time 
came the Crusades, which were followed by the 
rise of tiie Free Cities, wlierein were born po- 
litical liberty, and by the establishment of 
Modern Monarchy. 

The overflow of the Germanic peoples upon 
the continent of Europe, while it stimulated the 
Latin nations into vigorous life, yet added noth- 
ing to the increase of German territory, nor con- 
tributed in the least to the spread of the German 
language. But " the day when the keels of the 
low Dutch sea-thieves first grated on the British 
coast was big with the doom of many nations. I 
These sea-rovers who won Etigland, to a great ' 



extent, displaced the native Britons, and England 
grew to ditfer profoundly from the German coun- 
tries of the mainland." Celtic and Scaudinaviaa 
elements were introduced into the Euglish blood, 
and the Norman conquest brought about " the 
transformation of the old English tongue into 
the magnificent language which is now the 
common inheritance of so many widespread 
peoples." 

After the alleged Pre-Columbian discoveries 
of portions of the North American continent, 
Spaiu was the first nation to discover, to con- 
quer, and to colonize any portion of this coun- 
try, but England soon won from her the mas- 
tery of the sea and the " sun of Spauish world- 
dominion set as quickly as it had ri.sen." In 
the colonization of this country Spaiu had pow- 
erful rivals in England, France and Holland. 
. In the English settlements and conquests of 
the Atlantic sea-board, southern colonization 
was (Mimmenced by the Cavalier at Jamestown, 
northern occupation dates to the landing of the 
Roundhead or Puritan on Plymouth Rock, and 
central .settlement was inaugurate<l by Calvert, 
the Catholic, at St INEary's, in behalf of relig- 
ious toleration, and by Penn, the Quaker, at 
Philadelphia, in the interests of universal lib- 
erty. 

The Puritan swept King Philip and his tribes 
from the face of the earth and extended New 
England to the Hudson. The Cavalier crushed 
Powhattan's thirty-tribe confederation and car- 
ried westward his line of .settlenients in Virginia 
and the Carolinas to the Blue Ridge mountains ; 
and Peun by treaties secured the peaceable pos- 
session of his province to the Su.squehanna river. 

The Bnckwoodsmcn nf the Alleghenies. — At 
the opening of the eighteenth century the Alle- 
ghenies constituted the western boundary of 
Engli.sh colonial territory, but in the mountain 
valleys between the tide-water regions of the 
south and the Alleghenies, and in the same lon- 
gitudinal mountain valleys between the Susque- 
hanna river and the Allegheny mountains, arose 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



25 



a wonderful class of people whose arms and 
whose courage won the great west from the Al- 
leghenies to the Rio Grande and the Pacific. 
They will be known in tlie future as the Back- 
woodsmen of the Alleghenies, a name applied 
to them by Roosevelt iu his work entitled " The 
Winning of the West." 

The backwoodsmen were American by birtii 
and parentage, and of mixed race, Irish, German, 
Scotch, English, Welsh and Scotch-Irish. But 
the dominant strain in their blood was the Scotch- 
Irish, whose preachers taught the creed of Knox 
and Calvin. The English clement of this back- 
woods race was represented by Daniel Boone 
and its Cavalier spirit had fitting exemplification 
in Clarke and Blount, while the German element 
produced the Whetzels and the Welsh contribu- 
ted the Morgans. 

Of these different elements the Irish possessed 
all those traits of national character for which 
they have been di.stinguished for centuries, and 
bore well their part in the frontier struggle. 

They were warm-hearted, impulsive and gen- 
erous, and when a settlement was established 
they were among the first to open taverns, build 
mills and distilleries and speculate in land. 
Many of that blood and race have ever since 
been prominent in military and civil life. ' 

The next distinctive class was the German, 
who came principally from eastern Pennsyl- 
vania, although some of them were from the 
Rhine provinces and various portions of Ger- j 
many. G. D. Albert says of them : " They were 
not so aggressive as the former (Scotch-Irish), 
and, as a rule, they laid out a life-work devoted 
to labor. They were a strong body, yet, owing 
to their detached locations and their character- 
istics in not meddling in public affairs, the 
whole controlling of affairs in the first years of 
our history was monopolized by the Scotch- 
Irish and the Americans of English descent." 
Toward the end of the Revolution, however, 
the German had coalesced with the other ele- 
ments, and they were prominent iu civil as well 



as military affairs. Sober, economic, plain, 
honest, religious and firm in discharge of duty, 
they were reliable soldiers and scouts and indus- 
trious and moral citizens. Their progress was 
slow but sure, and they devoted themselves to 
agriculture with the best of results. 

The Scotch were few in numbers, but were a 
hardy, moral and fearless people, who preserved 
amid the Alleghenies the lofty spirit of inde- 
pendence which they inherited from their fore- 
fathers in the highlands of Scotland. They 
were strong-willed, and self-reliant, and were 
distinguished for intelligence, morality, pru- 
dence, patient industry and honest thrift. Brave 
on the battle-field, sagacious on the march and 
wise in council, they were a valuable element of 
the frontier population. 

The English were principally of Cavalier 
strain, and, in addition to the resolute will and 
great determination of their race, were noted for 
a high sense of honor and a lofty .spirit of inde- 
pendence, such as was possessed by their ances- 
tors at Runnymede when they wrested from 
King John the immortal 3Iar/na Charta. They 
fought bravely and furnished many leaders. 

The Welsh were principally from Virginia, 
and were the smallest element in numbers, but 
were always foremost in liDurs of danger, and 
the race which gave Morgan and Jefferson to 
American history can never be disparaged for 
bravery or intelligence. 

Scotch-Irish Element. — It was the largest and 
most important element of the Allegheny Back- 
woodsmen. At the begiiniing of tlie eighteenth 
century the Scotch-Irish from the north of Ire- 
land commenced to c(ime to the Colonics, and by 
17;50 they were fairly swarming across the ocean 
in two streams ; the larger landing at Philadel- 
phia and j)ushing west of the Susquehanna 
river, and the smaller landing at Charleston and 
•seeking the Carolina back-country from which 
they pushed up along the Alleghenies till they 
met the downward stream from western Penn- 
sylvania, their great breeding-ground and uur- 



26 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



sery. They stretched a broad belt from north 
to south, a shield of sinewy men thrust in be- 
tween the people of the sea-board and the red 
warriors of the wilderness. 

The Scotch- Irish as a race has been ably de- 
scribed by Dr. J. S. Macintosh, in the follow- 
ing language : " John Knox, under God, made 
the Scotch and Scotch-Irish and theircharacter- 
istics — unyielding grit, granite hardness, close- 
mouthed self-repression, clear, firm speech when 
the truth is to be told, God-fearing honesty, loy- 
alty to friendship, defiant of death, conscience 
and knee-bending only to God. Before Knox 
wrought and eustamped himself, our race had 
abilities. After him, we have achievements. 
Before him we have powers ; now j^erformances. 
Before him strugglings ; now success. In long 
years of close historic reading and interested 
study of national departures and racial trends, I 
have found many a marked and self-impressing 
leader who, for some time, has made a nation 
wax and molded it at will ; but then new fires 
came and a new stamp. But I have not found 
one single leader lias so deeply, pervasively and 
permanently enstamped himself on a people 
who, of all folks, stand foremost among the 
self-asserting races." 

Andrew Jackson was of Scotch-Irish descent, 
and under his lead many of his race served with 
distinction in the Creek war and the acquisition 
of west Florida, while numbers of them immor- 
talized themselves at New Orleans, where, clad in 
hunting shirt and leggings, they fought in the 
ranks of the frontier companies. 

Another Scoth-Irish leader was Houston, who 
won Texan independence from Mexico and was 
largely instrumental in urging and securing the 
annexation of the " Lone Star State " to the 
American Union. 

These frontiersmen in a single generation 
were welded together into one people — a free- 
dom-loving and bold, defiant race. They dif- 
fered from the world in dress, in customs and 



in mode of life. As a class they neither built 
towns nor loved to dwell in them. 

In the conquest of the west the backwoods 
axe, shapely, well-poised, with long and light 
head, and the long, small-bore, flintlock, fron- 
tier rifle, were the national weapons of the 
American Backwoodsmen, who have never been 
excelled in their use. " The Backwoodsman was 
always clad in the fringed hunting-shirt, of 
home-spun or buckskin, the most picturesque 
and distinctively national dress ever worn in 
America. It wtis a loose smock or tunic, 
reaching nearly to the knees, and held in at the 
waist by a broad belt, from which hung the 
tomahawk and scalping-knife." 

In 1748 Conrad Weiser crossed the Alle- 
ghenies as a messenger from the governor of 
Pennsylvania to the Indians at Logstown. Two 
years later Christopher Gist, the explorer of the 
Ohio land company, with his own and several 
other families made the first settlement west of 
the AUeghenies. This settlement was destroyed 
by the French in 1754 and the French and 
Indian war stopped Backwoodsmen from further 
settlement until the fall of Ft. Duquesne in 
1758. By 1769 the American Backwoodsmen 
had increased in numbers in the valleys along 
the AUeghenies, so that they were ready to flood 
the continent beyond. From 1769 to 1774 
they poured in a steady stream into western 
Pennsylvania and northwestern Virginia de- 
spite the king of England's proclamation pro- 
hibiting settlement west of the AUeghenies. 

In the south during the above named period 
they pushed across the mountains into Kentucky 
under the lead of Boone and into Tennessee, 
where Robertson and Sevier founded the 
" Watauga Commonwealth. " They plunged 
into a great forest region, where between their 
scattered settlements intervened miles on 
miles of shadowy, wolf-haunted woodland, in 
whose tangled depths lurked the hawk-eyed and 
wolf-hearted Indian. 

The Indian was a terrible and cruel foe. On 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



their own ground in the woods they were far 
more forraidable than the best European troops. 
Although inferior in numbers, tliey defeated 
Braddock's grenadiers and Grant's higidanders. 
The finest drilled veteran troops of the world 
failed when led against the dark tribesmpn of 
the forest. When on his own ground and any 
ways near equal in numbers the Indians were 
never defeated by any enemy except the Back- 
woodsmen of the Alleghenies, who won their 
most notable victory over the Indians at the 
battle of Point Pleasant, or the Great Kanawha 
in 1774. 

Before the Revolution commenced, in 1774, 
the British Parliament had by the Quebec Act 
declared the country between the Great Lakes 
and the Ohio to be part of Canada and had 
not the Backwoodsmen under Boone and 
Clarke and other frontier leaders been successful 
in conquering it we would be cooped up to-day 
between the sea and the Allegheny mountains, 
while the Dominion of Canada wonld now in- 
clude the greater part of the Mississippi Valley. 
This act has been entirely overlooked by most 
American historians, while ignored by others ; 
yet it was intended to have a decided bearing 
on Colonial affairs, and but for the Revolution- 
ary struggle for Independence it would have 
been an important event in the history of this 
country as a part of the Empire of Great 
Britain. The founding of this great Republic 
was on the Atlantic shore by the Puritan, the 
Cavalier, the Patroon, the Catholic, the Quaker 
and the Huguenot ; but its wonderful growth 
and great increase of tei'ritory is due to the 
Backwoodsmen of the Alleghenies, who passed 
off the stage of action without ever realizing 
tlie importance or magnitude of the work 
which they accomplished in the building of the 
United States. 

" During the Revolutionary war the men of 
the west for the most part took no share in the 
actual campaigning against the British and 
Hessians. Their duty was to conquer and hold 



the wooded wilderness that stretched westward 
to the Mississippi ; and to lay therein the foun- 
dation of many future commonwealths. Yet 
at a crisis in the great struggle for liberty, at 
one of the darkest hours for the patriotic cause, 
it was given to a band of western men to come 
to the relief of their brethren of the sea-board 
and to strike a telling and decisive blow for all 
America. When the three southern provinces 
lay crushed and helpless at the feet of Corn- 
wallis, the Holston backwoodsmen suddenly 
gathered to assail the triuni])hant conquerer. 
Crossing the mountains that divided them from 
the beaten and despairing j)eople of the tide- 
water region, they killed the ablest lieutenant 
of the British commander, and at a single 
stroke undid all that he had done." 

The Backwoodsmen, under Campbell, Wil- 
liams and Shelby, used Indian tactics in captur- 
ing the British forces at King's Mountain, and 
the next year another backwoods leader, in the 
person of Morgan the " Wagoner General," de- 
feated the daring and dashing Tarleton at the 
ever memorable battle of the Cowpens. 

" The Backwoodsmen were above all things 
characteristically American ; and it is fitting 
that the two greatest and most typical of all 
Americans should have been respectively a 
sharer and an outcome of their work. Wash- 
ington himself passed the most important years 
of his youth heading the westward movement of 
his people ; clad in the traditional dress of the 
backwoodsmen, in tasseled hunting-shirt and 
fringed leggings, he led them to battle against 
the French and Indians, and helped to clear the 
way for the American advance. The only other 
man who in the American roll of honor stands by 
the side of W^ashington, was born when the 
distinctive work of the pioneers had ended ; 
and yet he was bone of their bone and flesh of 
their flesh ; for from the loins of this gaunt 
frontier folk sprang mighty Abraham Lin- 
coln." 

Another peculiarly distinctive and eminently 



28 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



great Backwoods leader and politician was 
Andrew Jackson, who was born of Scotch-Irish 
parents. In 1796 Albert Gallatin describes 
him as follows ; "A tall, lank, uncouth-looking 
personage, with locks of hair hanging over his 
face and a cue down his back, tied with an eel 
skin : his dress singular, his manners and de- 
portment those of a rough backwoodsman." 

The famous victory of January 8, 1815, 
crowned Jackson's fame as a soldier, and made 
him the typical American hero of the nine- 
teenth century. In 1823 Jackson was elected 
to the United tStates Senate, and nominated by 
the Tennessee Legislature for the presidency. 
This candidacy, though a matter of surprise, and 
even merriment, speedily became j)opuIar, and 
iu 1828 he was triumphantly elected president 
over Adams after a campaign of unparalleled 
bitterness. 

During his closing years he was a professed 
Christian and a member of the Presbyterian 
church. No American of this century has been 
the subject of such opposite judgments. Kewas 
loved and hated with equal vehemence during 
his life, but at the present distance of time from 
his career, while opinions still vary as to the 
merits of his public acts, kw of his countrymen 
will question that he was a warm-hearted, 
brave, patriotic, honest and sincere man. If his 
distinguishing qualities were not such as consti- j 
tute statesmanship, iu the highest sense, he at 
least never pretended to other merit than such 
as were written to his credit on the page of 
American history, not attempting to disguise 
the demerits which were equally legil)lc. The 
majority of his countrymen accepted and honored 
him, in spite of all that calumny as well as truth 
could allege against him. His faults may 
therefore be truly said to have been those of his 
time; his magnificent virtues may also, with the 
same justice, be considered as typical of a state 
of society which has nearly passed away. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 

BEFORE proceeding to speak of the history 
of these counties a word in regard to the 
State of which they are political divisions 
might not be out of place. 

Pennsylvania is situated between 39 deg. 43 
min. and 42 sec. north latitude, and 2 deg. 17 
min. east, and 3 deg. 31 min. west longitude, 
from Washington. Its mean length is 280.39 
miles ; mean breadth, 158.05 miles ; its greatest 
length, 302 13-40 miles, and greatest breadth 
175 miles and 192 perches. 

The latitude of Greenwich is 51 deg. 27 min. 
39 sec. north, and the latitude of Washington 
38 deg. 53.3 min. The longitude of Philadel- 
phia from Greenwich is 75 deg. 18 min. west, 
and the longitude of Greenwich from Washing- 
ton is 77 deg. 00.6 min. east. 

Topographically Pennsylvania is divided into 
three parts — a southeastern or sea-board district 
of scatteretl hills, a middle belt of mountains, 
and a great western table land or bituminous 
coal district, which is everywhere deeply seamed 
by numerous tributaries of the Allegheny, 
Monongahela and Susquehanna rivers. In the 
first district is the garden portion of the State. 
In the Ap]ialacl)ian belt is the great anthracite 
coal field of the United states while the western 
district is rich with treasures of oil, iron ore and 
bituminous coal and the Connellsville coking 
region, which produces the typical coke of the 
world. The third district embraces one half of 
the area of Pennsylvania, being bounded on 
three sides by State lines and on the east by the 
last westward ridge of the Alleghenies. 

The Allegheny mountains also divide the 
State into two nearly equal parts which are en- 
tirely different in geological formation and sur- 
face relief The western one of these parts, or 
western Pennsylvania, lies in the Mississippi 
Valley ; while the eastern part, or eastern 
Pennsylvania is embraced within the area of 
the Atlantic sea-board. 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



29 



Western Pennsylvania is almost an unbroken 
bituminous coal-field which originally united 
witii the eastern anthracite coal-bed when both 
extended over the whole State. Western 
Pennsylvania is divided by the rock-wave of 
Chestnut ridge (150 miles long) into two sec- 
tions — the eastern highlands or Allegheny 
mountain region and the western hill country 
extending westward from the mountains to tlie 
Ohio State line. The Pittsburgh coal bed once 
extended all over western Pennsylvania, but has 
been so swept away during the countless ages of 
the past that it is now limited in area to Wash- 
ington and Green and to parts of Westmorland, 
Allegheny, Indiana and Somerset counties. The 
bituminous coal measures of western Pennsyl- 
vania are divided by rock-waves into six grand 
basins whose combined coal-beds can furnish 
fuel for the United States for many centuries to 
come. 

The geological structure of Pennsylvania is 
complicated of form, and various of quality and 
age. The Laurentian or oldest system of geol- 
ogy is slightly represented in some of the 
eastern counties, while its successor in age, the 
Hurouiau System, has never been recognized in 
the State. But the Paleozoic or Older Sec- 
ondary System — beginning with No. 1, the 
Potsdam sandstone, and terminating with No. 
XIII., the coal measures of Carboniferous for- 
mation, is grandly developed in every section of 
the State. 

The subterranean floor of Pennsylvania is 
formed of granite, gneiss, mica, slate and marble, 
lies beneath tiie present surface at from a thou- 
sand to twenty thousand feet and rests upon 
the same rocks which form the hill country of 
Lake Superior and contain vast deposits of iron 
ore, but at inaccessible depths beneath every 
county of the State. The rocks composing this 
great floor were originally sandstone and lime- 
stone, but were converted into granite, slate, 
gneiss, mica and marble, by pressure, heat and 
chemical action. 



On tills floor was deposited formation alter 
formation of the Paleozoic System until its ter- 
minal coal measures were formed just at sea- 
level, when the second great change in the rela- 
tive level of sea and laud occurred in the sur- 
face of Pennsylvania. The land rose into the 
air in the central and western part, erosion com- 
menced and drainage was established. A third 
])rincipal change in laud and sea-level followed 
when the eastern borders of the continent arose 
and carried up in its swell the surface of tlie 
eastern part of the State, which had l)een mostly 
in the bed of a long salt-water bay. Frost and 
rain then commenced their work of destruction 
on these elevated surfaces and drainage carried 
the soil and rock thus loosened on the east to 
build up New Jersey, Delaware and the tide 
water region of Maryland and Virginia, while 
on the west it bore the eroded earth to form 
Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. 

The Paleozoic System has been divided into 
thirteen formations, of which in Indiana and 
Armstrong counties, numbers I, IV, VII, IX, 
X and XII are massive sand-rocks ; III, V, 
VIII, XI, are slate formations, II and VI, 
are principally limestone strata and the Xlllth 
includes the coal measures. 

The coal measures are the highest series of 
number XII or the Carboniferous formation, 
which is three thousand feet in thickness. They 
are divided into three parts ; the first or lower 
coal series carries coal beds A, B, C or Kittan- 
ning (3 feet), D or Lower Freeport (3 feet) E 
or LTpper Freeport (G feet) and F or Elk Lick 
(1 foot) ; the second or Barren Measures with 
coal bed G (1 foot) and the third or upper coal 
series, with coal beds H or Pittsburgh Bed (6 to 
12 feet), I or Limestone coal (2 feet), K (3 feet), 
and L or Brownsville (6 feet). 

By the waters of the calm-flowing Delaware, 
in 1634, Gustavus Adol|)hus, "the greatest 
benefactor of mankind in the line of Swedish 
kings," sought to establish a mighty empire in 
which religious thought should be free and 



30 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



human servitude should never exist. But to 
other hands was left the founding of this grand 
ideal State and upon the weak and feeble New 
Sweden of the warrior King of Sweden was 
planted the strong and prosperous Quaker 
province of William Penn, which is now the 
powerful and populous Keystone State of the 
American Union. Prior to Gustavus Adolphus' 
idea of founding a State on the Delaware, the 
Dutch West India company and the English of 
Connecticut had made ineffectual attempts at 
colonization on the " South River." The first 
permanent settlement in Pennsylvania was made 
at Upsal (now Chester) in 1638, by Swedes and 
Finns and was under the direction of Oxeu- 
stiern. These settlers came from Gottenburg, 
on two vessels named the "Key of Calmar" and 
the " Griffin." They were sent out by a Swedish 
West India company which was founded by 
William Usselinex, who had been instrumental 
in forming the Dutch West India company. 
Their first governor was Peter Minuet, a former 
governor of the New Netherlands. In 1655 
New Sweden was captured by the Dutch and 
was New Netherlands until 1664, when it was 
wrested from the Dutch by the English. In 
1673 a Dutch squadron recaptured the country, 
but one year later gave it up to the English by 
the treaty of Westminster. 

In 1681 the province of Pennsylvania was 
granted to William Penn in liquidation of a 
debt of 16,000 pounds which the British gov- 
ernment owed to his distinguished father, Ad- 
miral Sir William Penn, 

The following from Dr. Egle's History of 
Penu.sylvania will throw light upon the naming 
of the State: "The King affixed his signature 
on March 4, 1681, naming the province Penn- 
sylvania, for the reasons explained in the sub- 
joined extract from a letter of William Penn to 
his friend Robert Turner, dated 5th of 1st 
month, 1681 : 'This day my country was con- 
firmed to me under the great seal of England, 
with large powers and privileges, by the name 



of Pennsylvania; a name the King would give 
it in honor of my father. I chose New Wales, 
being, as this, a pretty hilly country, but Penn 
being Welsh for a head, as Penmaumoire in 
Wales, and Penrith in Cumberland, and Penn 
in Buckinghamshire, the highest land in Eng- 
land, called this Pennsylvania, which is, the 
high or head woodlands, for I proposed, when 
the Secretary, a Welshman, refused to have it 
called New Wales, Sylvania, and they added 
Penn to it, and though I much opposed it, and 
went to the King to have it struck out and 
altered, he said it was past, and would take it 
upon him ; nor could twenty guineas move the 
under-secretary to vary the name, for I fear lest 
it be looked on as vanity in me, and not as a 
respect in the King, as it truly was, to my father, 
whom he often mentioned with jiraise.' " 

William Penn landed in his province in 1682. 
He founded the city of Philadelphia which 
afterward became the metropolis of the thirteen 
colonies and the birthplace of American inde- 
pendence. He established his colony upon the 
broad principles of Christian charity and con- 
stitutional freedom. Penn was proprietor of 
Pennsylvania until 1693, when the crown as- 
sumed the government which it did not restore 
to him for two years. He then continued as 
proprietor until his death in 1718, and was suc- 
ceeded by his sons John, Richard, and Thomas, 
who were successively proprietors until 1776. 

The first governor of Pennsylvania was 
elected in 1790, and since then Pennsylvania 
has had a regular succession of governors under 
the constitutions of 1790, 1838 and 1873. 

At the opening of the Revolutionary war 
the settlers between the Susquehanna and the 
Hudson owned larger farms than the people of 
New England, although their farms were less 
than the plantations of the south. There was a 
greater diversity of nationalities in Pennsyl- 
vania than in any other colony. From the 
southeast and north and westward were the 
following elements of population: "First 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



31 



Swcvles, next English, then Germans, and lastly 
New Englanders ; while the whole front of this 
mass, from the west branch of the Susquehanna 
southward, was Irish, \\^elsh, Scotch and Scotch- 
Irish." The spirit of liberty in Pennsylvania 
was stubborn but not fierce. 

During the Revolution Pennsylvania bore 
her part in achieving independence, and since its 
close the State has increase*! rapidly in popu- 
lation and wealth until the present time. 

The Indian title to the State was liquidated 
by six successive purchases, made respectively 
in 1682, 1736, 1749, 1758, 1768, and 1784. 

The Whiskey Insurrection occurred in 1794, 
in the western counties, where frontier and In- 
dian history will be given under a succeeding 
topic. 

In 1798 the Fries Insurrection occurred in 
eastern Pennsylvania, and the next year the 
State capital was removed from Philadelphia to 
Lancaster, where it remained until 1822, when 
it was established at Harrisburg. 

As early as 1825 Pennsylvania inaugurated 
a vast and important sy.stem of internal im- 
provements in a great canal uniting the eastern 
and western parts of the State. This canal was 
the succes.sur of extensive turnpikes, and be- 
came the predecessor of her present magnificent 
system of railways. 

In 1834 the State established one of the most 
progressive and successful free-school systems 
that has ever been put into successful operation, 
and to increase its efficiency, in 1854, created 
the office of county superintendent. 

The bloodless " Buckshot War '' occurred in 
1889, and seven years later Pennsylvania sol- 
diers served in the Mexican War with the same 
unflinching courage which distinguished them 
in the War of 1812. 

In 1861 Penn.sylvania responded nobly to 
the call of President Lincoln for troops, and 
Pennsylvania soldiers were the first to reach 
the National capital. During the war Penn- 
sylvania sent to the Union army 270 regi- 



ments, numbering 287,284 men, which included 
25,000 militia, which were in service in Sep- 
tember, 1862. The decisive battle of the 
late civil war was the great struggle at Gettys- 
burg, on the soil of Pennsylvania, where Lee's 
veteran legions suffered their first great defeat. 
The State suffered three Contiederate invasions, 
in one of which the town of Charabersburg was 
burned. 

In 1865 the Legislature passed the act estab- 
lishing the Soldier's Orphan Schools of Penn- 
sylvania, and under its provisions the State has 
done handsomely by the orphans of her .soldiers 
who fell during the late civil war. Governor 
Geary said : " The.se children (soldiers') are not 
mere objects of charity or pensioners upon our 
bounty, but the wards of the Commonwealth, 
and have just claims, earned by the blood of 
their fathers, upon its (the State's) support and 
guardianship." 

In 1871 there were some labor troubles at 
W^illiamsport, and five years later the First 
Centennial ot American Independence was ap- 
propriately celebrated in Philadelphia, where 
for six months the centennial exposition build- 
ings were filled by an immen.se throng from all 
parts of tiie world. The next year was noted 
for the labor riots of Pittsburgh, and on May 
31, 1889, occurred the Johnstown Flood, which 
filled the whole land with a thrill of horror 
over the loss of the thousands who were swept 
down to death by the raging waters of the bro- 
ken South Fork dam. 

Pennsylvania ranks first among the " Iron 
States" of the Union, and produces more of 
this metal, and articles manufactured from it, 
than all the other states and territories together. 
The State was chiefly agricultural till 1790, 
when Nicho Allen discoveretl coal on Broad 
Mountains. The next year Philip Ginter 
found coal near Mauch Chunk, and from that 
time on Pennsylvania has been prominent as a 
mining and manufacturing Commonwealth. No 
State has better facilities than ours in its abund- 



32 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



ance of water-power, coal and iron. In addi- 
tion to colve and iron manufactures, marble, 
zinc, graphite, copper and nickel mines are 
worked, and in the western part of the State 
productive salt wells are operated. In 18u9 
petroleum came into commercial importance on 
Oil Creek, and to-day the oil product of the 
State is above 5,000,000 barrels. In 1883 the 
great natural gas reservoirs west of the Alle- 
ghenies were tapped, and since then natural gas 
has been largely used for fuel. The State con- 
tains 19 canals and nearly 150 railroads, which 
are engaged in transporting her products to 
mai'ket. 

In 1867 a law was passetl for the establish- 
ment of 12 normal schools, the most of which 
are now in operation. Over 30 universities 
and colleges, ably representing the leading 
professions are located in the State, while the 
press, now recognized as a public e<lucator, is 
in a flourishing condition. The American 
Weekly Mercury was issued in 1719. In 1776 
there were 9 papers, in 1880, 620; and now 
nearly 700 are published in the State. 

The old militia system of the State has been 
replacetl by the National Guard of Pennsylva- j 
nia, which has achieved an enviable record for j 
itself ! 

The population of Pennsylvania in 1790 was 
434,373; in 1800,602,365; in 1810, 810,091 ; 
in 1820, 1,348,233; in 1840, 1,724,033; in 
1850,2,311,786; in 1860, 2,906,215; and in 
1870, 3,512,951; in 1880, 4,547,096; and in 
1890 was over 5,000,000. j 

We have not deemed it advisable to give in 
this sketch census .statistics of the State beyond 
those of population, and in place of numerous 
lists of statistics omitted (which can be found 
readily in census reports) we give the presiden- 
tial vote of the State since 1824. This vote 
has been carefully compiled from reliable 
sources, and if it has ever been published be- 
fore we have been unable to find it. 



Popular Vote of Pennsylvania at Presidential Elections 
From 1824 to 1888. 



1824. 

1828. 
1832. 

1836. 
1840. 

1844. 

1848. 
1852. 
1856. 
1860. 

1864. 

1868. 
1872. 

1876. 

1880. 

1884. 



Republican . 
Coalition . . 
Republican . 
Republican . 
Democrat . . 
Nat. Rep., . 
Democrat . . 
Nat. Rep., . 
Anti-Masonic 
Democrat . . 
Whig. . . . 
Whig. . . . 
Democrat . . 
Liberty . . . 
Democrat . . 
Whig. . . . 
Liberty . . . 
Whig. . . . 
Democrat . . 
Free Soil . . 
Democrat . . 
Whig. . . . 
Free Dem., . 
Democrat . . 
Republican . 
American . . 
Republican . 
Democrat . . 
Ind. Dem. . 
Cona't Union 
Republican . 
Democrat . . 
Republican . 
Democrat . . 
Republican . 
Dem. & Lib. 
Temperance . 
Democrat . . 
Republican . 
Democrat . . 
Greenback . 
Prohibition . 
Republican . 
Democrat . . 
Greenback . 
Prohibition . 
Republican . 
Democrat . . 
Greenback . 
Prohibition . 



, Andrew Jackson . . 
. John Q. Adams . . . 
. William H. Crawibrd 
. Henry Clay .... 
. Andrew Jackson . . 
. John Q. Adams . . . 
. Andrew Jackson . . 
. Henry Clay .... 
. William Wirt. . . . 
. Martin Van Buren . 
. William H. Harrison 
. William H. Harrison 
. Martin Van Buren 
. James G. Birney . 
. James K. Polk . . 
. Henry Clay . . . 
. James G. Birney . 
. Zachary Taylor . . 
. Lewis Ca?.s .... 
. Martin Van Buren 
. Franklin Pierce . . 
. Winfield Scott . . 
. John P. Hale. . . 
. James Buchanan, . 
. John C. Fremont 
. Millard Fillmore . 
. Abraham Lincoln . 
. John C. Breckinridgi 
. Stephen A. Douglas 
. John Bell .... 
. Abraham Lincoln . 
. George B. McClellan 
. Ulysses S. Grant . 
. Horatio Seymour . 
. Ulysses S. Grant . 
. Horace Greeley . . 
. James Black . . . 
. Charles O'Connor. 
. Rutherford B. Hayes 
. Samuel J. Tilden . 
. Peter Cooper . . . 
. Green Clay Smith . 
. James A. Garfield . 
. Winfield S. Hancoc 
. James B. Weaver . 
. Neal Dow .... 
. James G. Blaine . 
. Grover Cleveland . 
. Benjamin F. Butler 
. John P. St. John . 



k 



36,100 

5,440 

4,206 

1,609 

101,652 

50,848 

90,983 

56,716 

91,475 

87,111 

144,021 

143,676 

343 

167,535 

161,203 

3,138 

185,513 

. 171,176 

11,263 

198,568 

179,174 

8.525 

230,710 

147,510 

82,175 

, 268,030 

178,871 

16,765 

12,776 

296,391 

276,316 

. 342,280 

. 313,382 

. 349,589 

. 212,041 

. 1,630 

, 348,122 
. 366,158 
. 7,187 
1,319 
. 444,704 
. 407,428 
. 20,668 

. 473,904 
. 392,785 
. 16,992 
. 15,283 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



33 



1888. Republican . . Benjamin Harrison . . 526,091 

Democrat . . . Grover Cleveland . . . 446,033 

Prohibition . . Clinton B. Fisk .... 20,947 

Greenback . . Alson J. Streeter . . . 3,873 

PeiHLsylvania needs no eulogiiim ; her past 
honorable career and present commercial suprem- 
acy are sufficient guarantees of lier future 
greatness. 

WU/niin Pain, — In concliuliiig this brief 
account of the " Keystone State " we append 
Lossing's sketch of lier founder : " In glorious 
contrast witii the inhumanity of Spaniards, 
Frenchmen and many Englishmen, stands the 
record on Hi.story's tablet of tlie kindness and 
justice toward the feeble Indian of the founder 
of Pennsylvania. 

" ' Thou'lt find,' said the Quaker, ' in me and mine, 
But friends and brothers to thee and to thine. 
Who abuse no power, and admit no line 

'Twixt the red man and the white.' 
And bright was the spot where the tjuaker came 
To leave his hat, his drab, and his name, 
That will sweetly sound from the trump of Fame. 
Till its final blast shall die. 

— Hannah F. Gould. 

"William Penn was born in the city of Lon- 
don, on the 14tli of October, 1644, and was 
educated at Oxford. His father was the emi- 
nent Admiral Penn, a great favorite of royal- 
ty. William was remarkable, in early youth, 
for brilliant talent and uuatl'ccted piety. While 
yet a student he heard one of the new sect of 
(Quakers preach, and, with other students, 
became deeply impressed with the evangelical 
truths which they uttered. He, with several 
others, withdrew from the Established Church, 
worshipped by themselves, and for non-con- 
formity were expelled from the college. Penn's 
father sought, in vain, to reclaim him ; and 
when at length, he refused to take off his hat 
in the presence of the admiral, and even of the 
king, he was expelled from the parental roof. 
He was sent to gay France, where he became 
a polished gentleman after a residence of two 
years ; and on his return he studied law in 
3 



Loudon until the appearance of the great 
plague in 1665. He was sent to Ireland in 
1666, to manage an estate there belonging to 
his father, but was soon recalled, because he 
associated with Quakers. Again expelled from 
his father's house, he became an itinerant 
Quaker preacher, made many proselytes, suffered 
revilings and imprisonments ' for conscience' 
sake,' and at the age of twenty-four years 
wrote his celebrated work, entitled No Cross, 
HO Crown, while in prison because of his non- 
conformity to the Clnu'ch of England. He was 
released in 1670, and .soon afterwards became 
the possessor of the large estates of his father, 
who died that year. He continued to write 
and preach in defence of his sect, and went to 
Holland and Germany, for that purpo.se in 
1677. 

" In March, 1681 , Penn procured from Charles 
the Second, a grant of the territory in America 
which yet bears his name ; and two years after- 
wards he visited the colony which he had 
established there. He founded Philadelphia — 
city of brotherly love — toward the close of the 
same year; and within twenty-four months 
afterward, two thousand settlers were planting 
their homes there. Penn returned to England 
in 1684, and through his influence with the 
kins:, obtained the release of thirteen hundred 
(.Quakers, then in prison. Because of his per- 
sonal friendship toward James, the successor of 
Charles (who was driven from the throne by 
the revolution of 1688, and had his place filled 
by his daughter, Mary, and William, Prince of 
Orange), he was suspected of adiierence to the 
fallen monarch, and was imprisoned, and 
deprived of his projirietary rights. These 
were restored to him in 1694; and in 1699 he 
again visited his American colony. He 
remainetl in Pennsylvania until 1701, when he 
hastened to England to oppose a parliamentary 
proposition to abolish all proprietary govern- 
ments in America. He never returned. In 
1712 he was prostrated by a paralytic disorder. 



34 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



It terminated his life on the 30th of July, 1718, 
at the age of seventy- four years. Penu was 
greatly beloved by the Indians ; and it is 
worthy of remark that not a drop of Quaker's 
blood was ever shed by the savages." 

Time in his flight has numbered nearly a 
decade over two hundred years since William 
Pcnn set foot on the soil of the present mighty 
and populous State of Pennsylvania, and the 
results of his work on the Delaware are ti'uth- 
fully given on the tablet in Independence Hall 
on which is inscribed, " William Penn, born in 
London, October 14th, 1644, laid the founda- 
tion of universal liberty A. D. 1682, in the 
privileges he then accorded the emigrants to 
Pennsylvania and thus enabled their descendants 
to make the colony the Keystone State of the 
Federal Union in 1789." 

Territory of Indiana and Armstrong coun- 
ties. — This territory is traced back as portions 
ol previous counties until 1682, when the origi- 
nal counties of Pennsylvania were Philadelphia, 
Chester and Bucks, whose boundaries were in- 
definite. May, 1729, an act was passed erect- 
ing the county of Lancaster, to embrace " all 
and singular the lands within the province of 
Pennsylvania lying to the northward of Octo- 
raro creek, and to the westward of a line of 
marked trees running from the north branch 
of the said Octoraro creek northeasterly to the 
river Schuylkill; . . . and the said Octoraro 
creek, the line of marked trees and the river 
Schuylkill aforesaid, .shall be the boundary line 
or division between said county and the coun- 
ties of Chester and Philadelphia." 

Thus the nominal jurisdiction of Lancaster 
county extended westward to the western limits 
of the province, including the larger part of the 
territory which now forms the counties of In- 
diana and Armstrong. 

In 1749 the inhabitants of the western parts 
of I^ancaster county prayed for the formation 
of a new county from that part of Lancaster ; 
whereupon, on the 27th of January, 1750, it 



was by the General Assembly enacted, " That 
all and singular the lauds lying within the 
province of Pennsylvania aforesaid to the west- 
ward of Susquehanna, and northward and west- 
ward to the county of York, be and are hereby 
erected into a county named and hereafter to be 
called Cumberland, bounded northward and 
westward with the line of the province, east- 
ward partly with the river Susquehanna and 
partly with the said county of York, and south- 
ward in part by the said couuty of York, aud 
part by the line dividing the said province from 
that of Maryland." 

For more than twenty years, a period cover- 
ing tlie campaigns of Washington and Brad- 
dock and the planting of the earlier settlements 
in the valleys of the Allegheny and Monon- 
gahela, Cumberland couuty continued to include 
the region west of the Laurel Hill range. On 
March 9, 1771, that region (embracing the 
present counties of Indiana and Armstrong and 
contiguous country) passed to the jurisdiction 
of Bedford county, which was erected by an 
act of that date to include " all and singular 
the lands lying and being within the boundaries 
following, that is to say, beginning where the 
province line crosses the Tuscarora mountain, 
and running along the summit of that moun- 
tain to the Gap near the head of the Path val- 
ley ; thence with a north line to the Juniata; 
thence with the Juniata to the mouth of Shav- 
er's creek ; thence northeast to the line of 
Berks county ; thence along the Berks county 
line northwestward to the western bounds of 
the province ; thence southward, according to 
the several courses of the western boundary of 
the province, to the southwest corner of the 
province, and from tlience eastward with the 
southern line of the province to the place of 
beginning." 

The territory of Bedford couuty west of 
Laurel Hill became Westmoreland by the pass- 
age (February 26, 1773) of an act erecting the 
last-named county to embrace " All and singu- 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



35 



lar the lauds lying within the province of Penn- 
sylvania, and being within the boundaries fol- 
lowing, that is to say, beginning in the province 
line, where the most westerly branch, common- 
ly called the South, or Great Branch of Yough- 
iogheny river crosses the same ; then down 
the easterly side of the said branch and river 
to the Laurel Hill ; thence along the ridge of 
the said hill northeastward, so far as it can be 
traced, or till it runs into the Allegheny Hill ; 
thence along the ridge dividing the waters of 
the Susquehanna and the Allegheny rivers to 
the purchase line at the head of Susquehanna ; 
thence due west to the limits of the province, { 
and by the same to the place of beginning." 

This purchase line of Nov. 5, 1768, extended 
from the site of Cherry Tree, on the east Indi- 
ana county line, to the site of Kittanning, in 
Armstrong county, on the Allegheny river; 
and thus the larger part of Indiana and the 
smaller part of Armstrong counties were in- 
cluded in tiie territory of Westmoreland until 
the two first-named counties were established 
respectively in 1800 and 1803. The portion 
of Armstrong north of the purciiase line be- 
longed to Allegheny and Lycoming counties 
from 1785 to 1800, and that part of Indiana 
north of the same line was a part of Lycoming 
from 1784 to 1803. The detailed history of 
these county establishments and the purciiase 
line of 1708 will be given in tlie respective 
sketches of the two counties, in which will also 
be included full accounts of the early settlers. 

Of the territory of Indiaua and Armstrong 
Prof Leslie says: "The Allegheny and all its 
head-waters flow through rocks below the coal, 
in valleys with precipitous sides, seldom exceed- 
ing five hundred feet high, supporting a general 
table-land of the Lower Coal Measures. Bor- 
ings in the valley beds always reach, at the 
depth of a few hundred feet, sand-rocks charged 
with rock oil and salt water, in scant or copious 
measure. 

" In the valley of theConemaugh and Kiski- 



minetas, however, the lower coal-beds rise from 
the water six times, and six times sink beneath 
it, the upper coal-beds occurring in the hill- 
tops only at Blairsville and Saltsburg." 

The climate of these counties is the best of 
the temperate latitudes. They lie between the 
isothermal lines of 48 and 50 degrees, and are 
favored with an annual rain-fall of thirty-six 
inches. 

The fauna and flora of these counties are 
similar to the fauna and flora of the other 
counties of western Pennsylvania. 

French and Emjlish Contest. — Many of the 
early settlers of these counties had been partici- 
pants in the struggle of England and France 
over the Ohio Valley, and all of them were Alle- 
gheny Backwoodsmen. 

In the era of English colonization in what is 
now the United States, the Appalachian moun- 
tains stood for many years as a great bar against 
the westward tide of emigration, and the plant- 
ing of the line of settlement along the western 
mountain slopes was a herculean task. The 
period of its complete establishment spanned 
the years of half a century. The story of many 
of its founders has been quaintly told by Pritts, 
Withers, Doddridge, Kercheval, McClurg, Day, 
De Haas, McDonald and others. The account 
of some of its divisions and founders has formed 
the theme of the volumes of McKnight, Draper, 
Irvine, Butterfield and Veech. A limited his- 
tory of its establisluiient and the struggles over 
it are topias in the later and more comprehen- 
sive efforts of Tripplett in " Conquering the 
Wilderness;" Kelsey in "Pioneer Heroes," 
and Mason and Ridpath in " Conquering the 
Ohio Valley." But none have traced this great 
frontier line of mighty mountain ridges, or even 
outlined its full history ; whereby some actors 
and events that should be general remain as 
local. Its full history and the true part played 
in it by the Allegheny Backwoodsmen has only 
within the past five years been secured from State 
archives and governmental papers, and presented 



36 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



by Roosevelt iu "Winning the West" and by 
some otiiers who have made careful and con- 
scientious research among authentic records, 
which in many cases were beyond the reach of 
the early historians. 

The movement of population in the Atlantic 
colonies of His Britannic Majesty George II. 
was pushing the great frontier line, by settle- 
ment, westward to the Appalachian mountains, 
then called Green and White mountains in 
New England, and known as the Allegheny 
mountains in Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 
1750, in New England, the great frontier line 
extended along the southern coasts of Maine ; 
then sweeping north to Lake Champlain, with 
a great curve, only included about one-half of 
Vermont and New Hampshire. With another 
srreat curve it came down to the mouth of the 
Mohawk in New York; next following a 
straight line down the Hudson river to the 
Delaware, and with it to the Alleghenies, and 
with these mountains, with a great curve, it fell 
away toward the northwest corner of Maryland ; 
here it sent out a narrow tongue of population 
toward the great lakes via the site of Pitts- 
burgh ; with another inward curve from the 
Maryland corner it swept on to the Kanawha, 
and thence within 100 miles of the Alleghenies 
to their base in Alabama, round which it bent, 
and, sweeping with another inward curve, it i 
struck the Atlantic along the Georgia and 
Florida lines. This great frontier line, with ins 
and outs, from where it left the coast of Maine 
until it fell back on the Atlantic seaboard, at ' 
Florida, was over 2000 miles in length — over 
two millions English were enclosed within its ! 
limits ; a few thousand Spaniards were south of 
it in Florida. One hundred thousand French 
were iu Canada, and with a feeble line of settle- 
ments they stretched along the Mississippi on 
the west. 

Between the French and English were the 
Indians, principally occupying the east Missis- 
sippi Valley. Careful estimates place the fight- 



ing strength of these Indians at ten thousand 
warriors. In New York were the celebrated 
Six Nations of the Huron-Iroquois family. 
West of the Alleghenies were the Shawanees, 
Delawares, Wyandottes, Ottawas, Miamis and 
several other tribes. Along the southern part 
of the line were the Creeks, Cherokees, Cataw- 
bas and other tribes. On the south were the 
Serainoles, while in New England were the rem- 
nants of several tribes who were in daily com- 
munication with the Indians of Canada. 

The unreasonable policy pursued by the Eng- 
lish officers and some unjust measures enacted 
on the part of the Colonial authorities, alienated 
nearly all of the Indians in the Ohio Valley, 
and made them allies of the French. 

There were white explorers west of the Alle- 
gheny mountain line before 1750, but they 
came in the character of traders, and not for the 
purpose of settlement. The French came from 
Canada to trade with the Indians for furs. The 
English were largely Pennsylvanians, who came 
by the way of the Juniata, and also by Wills 
Creek, Md. Veech says these traders made 
their trips before 1740, and Ellis traces them 
as early as 1732. The Pennsylvania Archives, 
Vol. II., p. 14, gives a list of Indian traders 
licensed in 1748 by Pennsylvania, in which 
occur the names of George Croghan and Hugh 
Crawford. 

The French in Canada, by the freezing of the 
St. Lawrence, were shut up from intercourse 
with Europe for a large portion of the year. 
Fj'cnch statesmen formed a grand idea of open- 
ing communication between Canada and their 
settlements on the Mississippi by the way of the 
lakes and the Illinois river. This scheme 
would have given them uninterrupted inter- 
course with Europe, secured all the territory 
west of the Mississippi and the Illinois, and 
placed them in possession of nearly all the In- 
dian trade. But instead of establishing this 
great water-line boundary, and protecting it 
with a chain of forts, the French were dazzled 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



37 



with the brilliant but rash idea of a line of 
forts from Lake Erie to the Allegheny, and 
down the Ohio, virtually making the Ap])ala- 
chian mountains a boundary to Anglo-Ameri- 
can power, and hemming the English in to the 
Atlantic sea-board. " Out of the nettle danger 
they hoped to pluck the flower safety, but, 
grasj^ing for a little more, they lost all that they 
had already." 

England would cross this great mountain- 
line boundary to secure the Indian trade and to 
push commerce to the Mississippi. Sargent 
answers the question why English settlements 
were not sooner attempted west of the Alleghe- 
nies : the conflicting claims of Virginia and 
Pennsylvania to the territory prevented Eng- 
lish settlement between 1730 and 1750. 

The French and the English fur traders were 
in constant rivalry for the Indian trade. Galis- 
sioniere, the governor of Canada, sent in 1748 
a command of three hundred men along the 
Allegheny i-iver to bury leaden plates with in- 
scriptions claiming the country. In 1750 some 
French troops under Joncaire visited the Ohio 
country, and captured all the English traders 
they could find. 

In the mean time, on the part of the English, 
the Ohio company (which had been chartered 
in 1749), of Virginia, was preparing to take 
possession of its grant of 600,000 acres from 
George II. Its objects were to wrest the In- 
dian trade from Pennsylvania and to anticipate 
France in the possession of the Ohio Valley. 
The company was to locate its lands between 
the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers. 
Christopher Gist was employed to explore the 
country west of the mountains, while Nema- 
coliu, an Indian, was to mark a road from 
Wills creek (Cumberland) to the forks of the 
Ohio (Pittsburgh). 

The Ohio company erected a stoi'e-house at 
the mouth of Redstone creek which was called 
the Hangard, and then commenced a fort at 
" Forks of the Ohio," which was captureil by 



the French on the 18th of April. The Indian 
name for the spot was Deundaga. The French 
first named their fort the Assumption of the 
Holy Virgin, but changed it to Fort Duquesne 
in honor of the governor of Canada. As the 
Oiiio company fell back from the disputed 
territory, a new opponent — the Colony of Vir- 
ginia — came forward to contest with the French 
the occupation of their new-won possessions, 
Ijut the termination of Washington's campaign 
in the valley of the Youghiogheny, in 1754, 
left France master of tiie disputed territory. 
In this same year occurred the " Delaware Re- 
volt," which was caused by an egregious colonial 
blunder made on June 19, 1754. Several 
colonies sent commissioners with presents to the 
Indians at a treaty held at Albany, New York. 
The Six Nations agreed not to aid the French, 
and to assist the English ; but the Pennsylvania 
commissioners secretly bought of the Iroquois 
tribe all the lands in dispute. Thus the Dela- 
wares and Shawanees had their hunting-grounds 
sold out from under their feet, and to aggravate 
their distress, the Iroquois ordered them to re- 
move. For over two hundred years the Six 
Nations had ruled the Delawares and Shawanees, 
and received unquestioning obedience; but now 
the " nephews " became unruly to their "uncles," 
they revolted and \vent over to the French ; and 
English treasure was largely expended, and 
PjUglish blood flowed freely to pay for this 
greedy blunder. The Delaware tribes on the 
Susquehanna formed a league, with Tadeuskund 
{ King of the Delawares) at its head, hostile to the 
Six Nations and the English. Thompson (p. 
77) says the Six Nations, afterward, in their 
grand council at " Onondago," repudiated the 
sale, but it was too late to remedy the fault. 

The crossing of the Alleghenies was proving 
to be a very serious matter to the English. The 
Ohio company had been defeated. Virginia 
had failed and a united expedition of Virginia, 
Maryland and North Carolina was abandoned. 
England now proposed to secure what the 



38 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



colonies had failed to win,aud authorized Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Horatio Sharpe, of Maryland, 
to raise a force from Maryland, Virginia and 
North Carolina and recapture the " Forks of 
the Ohio." Sharpe failed in his projected cam- 
paign ; he acted an important part in the pre- 
cijjitation of the Revolutionary struggle — in 
connection with Dinwiddle, he was responsible 
for the royal order of November 12, 1754, set- 
tling the comparative rank of provincial and 
regular officers. This order, so unjust to 
American officers, aroused their opposition to 
English authority, and, although hitherto un- 
noticed, yet was an important cause of the Revo- 
lutionary war. 

England, in 1765, sent Braddock to capture 
the Ohio Valley, and his dreadful defeat at the 
battle of the Monongahela is so well known as 
■ to need no description here beyond the correc- 
tion of the error existing in so many histories, 
that Washington, after Braddock's fall, assumed 
command of the army and conducted the re- 
treat. 

The Destruction of Kittanning. — On Septem- 
ber 8, 1756, Gen. John Armstrong surprised 
and destroyed the Indian town of Kittanning 
on the Allegheny river, from which Capt. 
Jacobs and Shiugas sent forth many war parties 
to harass the frontier settlements, but a full ac- 
count of this will be found in the sketch of 
Armstrong county. 

Forbes' Expedition. — In 1758 Gen. John 
Forbes, with an army of seven thousand men, 
was sent by England to regain what Braddock 
had lost and to capture Fort Duquesuc Wash- 
ington urged Forbes to take the old Braddock 
road, but Col. Bouquet prevailed upon Forbes 
to cut a new road from Bedford, Pa., through 
what is now Westmoreland county, to Fort 
Duquesne. Bouquet led the advance, and in Sep- 
tember made hiscamp onthebank of Loyalhanna 
creek, where his engineers erected a stockade 
which he named Fort Ligonier, in honor of Sir 
John Ligonier, under whom Bouquet served 



in Europe. On the 11th of September, Bou- 
quet sent Maj. Grant with eight hundred men 
to reconnoitre. He drew up in order of battle 
before Fort Duquesne, on September 13th, where 
he was attacked and his force routed, M'ith the 
loss of three hundred men. The French and 
Indians, fourteen hundred strong, marched from 
Fort Duquesne after defeating Grant, and on 
the 12th of October made two attacks on Bou- 
quet, at Fort Ligonier, but were repulsed and 
retreated. The English lost twelve men killed 
and fifty-five wounded. In November, Forbes 
arrived with the main division of the army, 
and Washington was sent forward to open the 
road to Fort Duquesne, which was cut out past 
the sites of Hannastowu and Murrysville. On 
November 24th, Gen. Forbes captured Fort 
Duquesne and the soil of Westmoreland, 
Indiana and Armstrong counties, and the Ohio 
Valley passed into the hands of the Anglo- 
Saxon race. 

The principal actors in the French and In- 
dian war wei'e the English and French. The sub- 
ordinate actors were the American colonies and 
the Indians. The mistake of France in fighting 
for a mountain-line boundar}' instead of accepting 
and establishing a water-line boundary, which 
resulted in the loss of all her North American 
territory, was equaled by the error of the 
English in employing American colonial troops 
in the war, which drilled them for the Revo- 
lutionary war, whereby England lost the most 
valuable part of her North American territory. 

Battle of Bushy Enn. — The country was 
garrisoned by the English from 1758 to 1763. 
In that year Pontiac led the Indian tribes 
north of the Ohio against the English forts, 
from Detroit to Ligonier. Colonel Bouquet 
was dispatched to the relief of the forts of 
Western Pennsylvania. He raised the siege 
of Fort Ligonier, and marched for the relief of 
Fort Pitt, with a force of five hundred Scotch 
highlanders and Colonial volunteers. On Au- 
gust 5, 1763, near the site of Harrison city, 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



39 



Westmoreland county, he was drawn into an 
Indian ambuscade. Darkness saved his army 
from terrible defeat, and on the next day, by 
masterly strategy, he drew the Indian force 
into an ambuscade by a feigned retreat, and 
finally route<l them with great slaughter. This 
battle, so nearly lost on the first day by the 
carelessness, and so brilliantly won on the sec- 
ond day by the masterly generalship of Colonel 
Henry Bouquet, is classed by Parkman (the 
historian) as one of the " decisive battles of the 
world ;" for mighty Pontiac's grand dream of 
Indian empire was wrecked when his warrior 
hosts were crushed and scattered at Bushy 
Run. 

With the army of Forbes came the first set- 
tlers of Westmoreland county. Many of them 
located at Fort Ligonier, without any legal 
right to the soil but that of possession, and 
were reinforced the next year by quite a num- 
ber of Forbes' soldiers, who settled by military 
permit. One of the earliest settlements in the 
county, after the one at Fort Ligonier, was 
made by Andrew Byerly in 1759, on Bushy 
creek, and, ten years later, Westmoreland 
county settlers had pushed north of the Forbes 
road into the territory of Indiana and Arm- 
strong counties. 

Struggle of the Backwoodsmen and Englwh. 
— By the treaty of 1758, the authorities of 
Pennsylvania surrendered to the Six Nations 
all the teri'itory northward and westward of 
the Allegheny mountains ; and Virginia, who 
also claimed all territory west of the Alleghe- 
nies, forbade all settlement. Penal laws were 
passed by both provinces against hunting and 
settling west of these mountains, but had no 
effect to check the tide of settlers who came 
into the Monongahela and Allegheny valleys. 
Proclamations were issued by the Penns and 
the Governor of Virginia, and by the King of 
England ; but the Scotch-Irish, Germans and 
other backwoodsmen paid no attention to Qua- 
ker or Cavalier, and gave no heed to even roy- 



alty itself. The Pennsylvania authorities sent 
agents to warn off tiiese settlers, and Euglish 
soldiers were sent out from Fort Pitt to enforce 
the King's proclamation ; but the Backwoods- 
men only retired east of tiie mountains until 
the agents and soldiers left, and then returned 
to their clearings. In this struggle the Back- 
woodsmen were successful, and in 1768 Penn- 
sylvania purchased a large portion of the land 
which was offered it for sale as early as 17G9. 
Virginia also claimed this territory as a part 
of lier county of Augusta, which was organized 
in 1738, and offered ranch of the present coun- 
ties of Fayette and Westmoreland for sale. 
Often the same piece of land was sold by both 
Pennsylvania and Virginia, and the respective 
claimants for possession were on the vei'ge of 
coming to bloodshed over their conflicting titles ; 
but this threatened strife between the two 
provinces was averted by the opening of the 
Revolution, when the hostile factions harmo- 
nized in the common war waged for independ- 
ence. The struggle over this territory between 
Pennsylvania and Virginia was finally settled 
in Baltimore in 1779, wheu Virginia relin- 
quished all claim to the present territory of 
Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny moun- 
tains. 

Revolutionary War. — The rifle shots on 
" Lexington Common " awoke patriotism in 
the hearts of the Westmoreland pioneers, whose 
answer was emphatically given in the Hannas- 
town Declaration of Independence. It was 
' made on the 16th of May, 1775, and in the 
form of resolutions condemned the system of 
English tyranny imposed on Massachusetts, 
and declared that Westmorelanders " would 
oppose it with their lives and fortunes." The 
inhabitants of Westmoreland, at this general 
meeting, also resolved to form themselves into 
a military body, to consist of several compa- 
nies, and to be known as the " Association of 
Westmoreland County." This regiment of 
Westmoreland Associations was organized un- 



40 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



der Colonel Proctor, and most of its members 
afterwards served iu different Pennsylvania 
regiments, and fought in nearly all the battles 
of the Revolution. Westmorelanders were with 
Arnold amid the snows of Canada, suffered 
untold privations at Valley Forge, were with 
Washington at Trenton and Princeton, won 
imperishable renowu at Saratoga under Arnold 
and INIorgan, fought with Wayne at Stony 
Point, and were at Yorktown. Six companies 
were enlisted iu Westmoreland county for the 
Continental army. Their captains were John 
Nelson, William Butler, Stephen Bayard, Jo- 
seph Erwin, James Carnahan and Matthe\^■ 
Scott. Seven of the eight companies of the 
Eighth Pennsylvania were raised in the county. 
This regiment was organized in July, 1776, to 
protect the western frontier, but iu three months 
was called to the front, served under Washing- 
ton and Gates, and in 1778 were sent to Fort 
Pitt for the defence of the western frontiers. 
General Arthur St. Clair was the leading char- 
acter of Westmoreland county in the Revolu- 
tionary war, while prominent among her many 
brave sons in that great struggle were Lieuten- 
ant John Hardin (afterwards General John 
Hardin), of Kentucky, C^aptains Van Swearin- 
geu and David Kilgore. Some of those who 
afterward became pioneers in settling Indiana 
and Armstrong counties were officers and sol- 
diers from Westmoreland iu the Eighth Penn- 
sylvania. 

Lochry's Expedition. — In the spring of 1781 I 
General Rogers Clarke j)roposed to lay waste the 
Oiiio Indian country, and thus protect the fron- 
tiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Penn- 
sylvania authorities ordered Colonel Archibald 
Lochry to raise fifty volunteers in Westmore- 
land county and join Clarke's forces. Lochry 
collected one hundred and seven men at Carna- 
lian's block-house, eleven miles northwest of 
Hannastowu. He had two companies of rang- 
ers, commanded respectively by Captain Thomas 
Stokely and Captain Samuel Shearer, and one 



company of horse under Captain Charles Camp- 
bell. On July 25, 1781, Colonel Lochry de- 
parted to join Clarke at Wheeling (then Fort 
Henry). Arriving there he found Clarke gone, 
and, according to orders left by the general, 
proceeded down the Ohio river, but did not 
overtake him. General Clarke had failed to 
receive troops from Kentucky, and was com- 
pelled to push rapidly down the Ohio, as his 
men were deserting in cousiderable numbers. 
Lochry's force, when it arrived at the mouth of 
the Kanawha river, was nearly out of provi- 
sions and needed ammunition. Lochry sent 
foin- men in a boat to overtake Clarke and 
notify him of their condition. The Indians 
cajjtured these men, learned from Lochry's let- 
ter, which they carried, of his destitute condi- 
tion, and made preparations to attack him. On 
the 24th of August Lochry landed at the inlet 
of a creek on the Ohio river, some nine miles 
below the mouth of the Muskingum. He was 
here attacked by the Indians, and a desperate 
encounter ensued, in which Lochry and forty- 
two of his men were killed and the remainder 
of his command taken prisoners. The Indians 
held these prisoners until 1783, when they were 
ransomed by the British in Canada and ex- 
changed. But more than half of Lochry's 
command never returned to Pennsylvania, and 
Westmoreland county lost over fitly of her 
bravest sons by that unfortunate expedition. 

Crairford's Expedition. — In May, 1782, Col- 
onel William Crawford led an expedition of 
four hundred and eighty men against the Ohio 
Indians. In May, 1782, his force was attacked 
on the Sandusky plains by the Indians and 
badly defeated. Colonel Crawford was cap- 
tured and burned at the stake. His men were 
from what is now Fayette and Washington 
counties, and his home was near the site of 
Connellsville, Pa. 

Biiruinf/ of Hannastown. — From 1781 to 
1783 was the midnight period in the early his- 
toi'v of Westmoreland county. It seems that 



i 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



41 



in the sutiimer of the latter year the Brit- 
ish iu Canada projected an expedition against 
Fort Pitt, in which they were joined hy a con- 
siderable force of Indians and a large number 
of Tories. A report of reinforcements at Fort 
Pitt deterred them from an attack on tiiat 
place, and several small bodies were detached 
from the main force against defenceless points 
along the western frontiers. One of these de- 
tachments, numbering about one hundred, and 
composed of Tories and Indians, was sent 
against Hannastowu. On Saturday, July 13, 
1782, this band arrived at Michael Hutlhagle's, 
about one and one-half miles north of Han- 
nastown, where the settlers had gathered on 
that day to cut Huffnagle's harvest. The 
Indians were discovered in time for the set- 
tlers to make good tlieir escape to tlic fort at 
Hannastowu. Tradition has suggested, but 
history is silent as to who the leaders of the 
Tories and Indians were. By the time the 
renegades and Indians arrived at Hannas- 
towu, the court, which was in session that day, 
and all the inhabitants of the town, were safely 
within the palisades of the fort. The exasper- 
ated enemy set fire to Hannastowu, which con- 
sisted of about thirty K)g houses and cabins. 
All the buildings were burned, except Robert 
Hanna's and another house, which stood close 
to the stockade. Within the fort were twenty 
men, who had only nine guns ; without, one 
hundred savages and Tories, who were well 
armed. Foiled in their attempt to surprise 
the place, they invested the stockade, and sent 
out a party of forty or fifty, who surprised and 
captured Miller's block-house. Burning the 
block-house and surrounding cabins, they re- 
turned with several prisoners. None of the in- 
mates of the stockade fort were killed or 
wounded by the desultory fire of the force, ex- 
cept ]\Iargaret Shaw, who lost her life in res- 
cuing a child which was crawling toward the 
stockade pickets. In the evening the enemy 
fixed their camp in the Crabtree hollow, where 



they killed one prisoner and made the others 
run the gauntlet. During the night thirty men 
from George's station succeeded iu approaching 
and entering the Hannastowu fort. (Japtain 
Matthew Jack and David Sliaw risked their 
lives in notifying the settlers outside the forts. 
Towards morning the Indians became apprehen- 

■ sive of their retreat being cut off by forces from 
Fort Ligouier, and fled. They killed Captain 
Brownlee and several of their captives during 
their retreat. They crossed the Kiskiminetas 
near the site of Apollo, and distanced the pur- 
suit of the whites. They took about twenty 
prisoners, and killed over one hundred head of 
cattle, with a loss of only two warriors, who 
were shot at Hannastowu. The Indians traded 
their scalps and prisoners to the British in Can- 

1 ada. The prisoners were afterwards exchanged 
and returned to ^\'estmoreland county. 

Among those who helped defend the Hannas- 
towu stockade was Captain Clark, the grand- 
father of Judge Clark, of Indiana. 

Hannastowu, where the first English court of 
justice was established west of the Allegheny 

j mountains, made the first protest against Brit- 
ish tyranny, and was really the last battle-field 
of the Revolution. 

Harmar's Defeat.— From 1782 to 1784 the 
settlers west of Chestnut ridge, in AVestmore- 
laud county, planted no crops and were gathered 
into the frontier forts and block-houses. From 
1784 to 1790 was a period of peace in West- 
moreland, and many settlers came into the 
county. In 1790 Gen. Harmar collected one 
thousajid one hundred and thirty-three militia, 
and marched from the site of Cincinnati toward 
Miami to punish the Indians for their continued 
depredations in Ohio. In October he was at- 
tacketl and badly defeated, with a loss of two 
hundred men and half his horses. One of his 

I bravest officers was Col. Christopher Truby, of 
Greensburg. 

St. Clair's Defeat. — The next year Gen. St. 
Clair set out with two thousand men to retrieve 



42 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



Harmar's failure, but at the battle of the 
Wabash, ou November 4, 1791, he suffered a 
terrible defeat at the hands of the Indians, by 
which he lost over seven hundred men and his 
artillery. One company of Westmoreland mi- 
litia was in his army and fought very creditably 
in this disastrous battle. 

Last Indian Troubles. — The success of the 
Indians in Ohio emboldened the tribes along the 
Allegheny river, and the northern part of 
Westmoreland and Indiana and Armstrang 
counties were frequently raided by war parties 
from 1790 to 1795. During this period ranger 
and militia companies were stationed at the 
forts and block-houses throughout these counties. 
In 1792 a party of Cornplanter Indians came 
into Derry township, Westmoreland county, 
where they killed Mrs. Mitchell and took her 
son Charles prisoner. In the same year they 
captured Massy Harbison, whose captivity and 
sufferings have so often been related in the his- 
tories of the frontier. 

Wayne's victory at the battle of the Fallen 
Timbers forever broke the Indian powerand gave 
peace to the frontier of western Pennsylvania. 

Pioneer Settlements. — Indiana county had 
been explored in 1766 and in 1769 a settle- 
ment was made at the juncture of Conemaugh 
river and Black Lick creek. Among the first 
settlers were Fergus, Samuel and Joseph Moore- 
head and James Kelly, who commenced im- 
provements near the town of Indiana in 1772. 
The early settlers were principally Scotch-Irish 
of Presbyterian fiith and came from AVest- 
luoreland county and the Cumberland Valley. 

The early pioneers of Arm.strong were prin- 
cipally Scotch-Irisi) and (Tcrman and came from 
the same counties of Pennsylvania as the early 
settlers of Indiana county. Thrifty, moral and 
economical, they soon cleared out large farms 
and formed settlements which within the course 
of a couple of generations became populous 
and wealthy. 

These counties possess an interesting history 



which will be given in the sketch of each 
county. Settled by the Backwoodsmen of the 
Alleghanies, their early settlers were prominent 
in the Indian wars of the Colonies and the 
early years of the Republic, while their de- 
scendants fought well in the war of 1812 and 
the Mexican war and made an enviable record 
for devotion to the Union and bravery in battle 
during the late civil war. The pioneer stock 
of the " Great AVest," for over three-quarters of 
a century, has drawn largely of its numbers 
from the green hills and pleasant valleys of 
Indiana and Armstrong, and thousands of 
loving hearts throughout this great rejiublic 
cherish them fondly as the land of their birth 
and the home of their fathers. 

The growth and development of these coun- 
ties have been slow but steady and sure. The 
record of their progress shows that they stand 
in the front rank of the counties of western 
Pennsylvania — a rank which they are justly 
entitled to by their immense material resources ; 
by their educational advantages ; by their re- 
ligious standing, and by an intelligent press, 
wielding a potent influence for the public weal 
and contributing to the high moral character 
which these counties have abroad for peace and 
good order. 

Their Future. — In all the features which dis- 
tinguish a prosj)erous and progressive country 
as connected with religion, morality, benevo- 
lence, industry and education, Indiana and 
Armstrong are behind no counties of their size 
in the Union. 

Their vast resources — iron, coal, limestone, 
timber, soil and climate — have only been brought 
to public notice within the last decade. Their 
great mineral wealth, from present indications, 
will be developed in a sound and business-like 
manner, and the new era which is just dawning 
will lead to the establishment of numerous and 
varied manufacturing industries, which in 
time, will make these counties one of the im- 
portant and favored manufacturing regions of 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



43 



the United States. This development will not 
be confined to manufactures alone, but will pre- j 
vail in agriculture, commerce and railroad 
building, for these counties are but in tlie infancy 
of a long career of future prosperity. 

In the vote on prohibition, in 1889, Indiana 
gave a majority for prohibition, and Armstrong, 
in a vote of over seven thousand, only recorded ' 
a majority of a little over one hundred against 
it. In the Whiskey Insurrection of 171)1-95, 
when all western Pennsylvania was more or less 
engaged in that uprising, we can find no instance 
of any of the citizens of Indiana or Armstrong 
counties participating in any of the proceedings 
of the insurgents. When the United States 
army, that was sent out to repress it, arrived in 
the rebellious region, there were no ti'oops sta- 
tioned in either of these counties. 

The ^yhiskey Insurrection was the first re- 
bellion against the United States. It was con- 
fined to Fayette, Washington and Allegheny 
counties, Pa., and Monongalia and Ohio coun- 
ties, Va. (now West Virginia). As early as 
1785, Graham, the excise collector for West- 
moreland county, was driven out of Greensburg, 
and in June, 1794, John Wells, who was serv- 
ing in the same capacity, was captured and 
escorted beyond the county line. William 
Findley and many other citizens were promi- 
nent in this insurrection, that died for want of 
military leaders. Its undeveloped elements of 
strength were such that Alexander Hamilton 
said that it endangered the foundations of the 
newly established republic, and that Washing- 
ton purposed leading in person again.st it an 
army of fifteen thousand men, whose divisions 
were commanded by his ablest generals of the 
Revolutionary war. On October 22, 1794, a 
meeting was held at Greensburg, and resolu- 
tions were passed by the citizens present to 
yield obedience to the laws of the country. The 
insurgents dispersed before the United States 
army arrived, and all of the guilty participants 
were eventually pardoned by the government. 



Western Pennsylvania was specially adapted 
to the production of grain, and there was at 
that time (1791) nothing produced which was 
marketable but ginseng, beeswax, snake-root 
and whiskey. It is true that some trappers on 
the Laurel Hill could get something for wolf- 
scalps, which had to be taken over the moun- 
tains or two thousand miles down the rivei"S. 
Judge Veacli says that while improved land in 
W estmoreland could be assessed at five dollars 
per acre, and in Lancaster at fifty dollars per 
acre, a percentage of taxation might be fair, but 
a ta.x of seven cents per gallon on whiskey 
made on Chartiers was one-fourth its value, 
while if made on the banks of the Braudywine 
it was perhaps less than one-eighth its value. 
William Findley, in a letter to Gov. Mifflin, in 
November, 1792, says plainly that the injustice 
of being obliged to pay as much excise out of 
two shillings, with difficulty procured, as other 
citizens better situated have to pay out of per- 
haj)s three times that sum, much easier obtained, 
comes home to tlie understanding of those who 
cannot comprehend theories. 

Under the confederation the appropriation of 
Pennsylvania for the allowance to the army, 
under an act of Congress of 1780, remaining 
unpaid, an eifort was made about 1785 to col- 
lect some of the fund still remaining unpaid, 
out of her excise law of 1772. This law met 
with great opposition, especially west of the 
Alleghenies, and there is no evidence that the 
excise was ever paid in that section. The ex- 
cise tax not being collected, gave occasion to 
the eastern part of the State to grumble, and in 
June, 1785, a collector by the name of Graham 
. was sent out. With much trouble he collected 
some in Fayette county and a little in West- 
moreland. 

This State law was repealed, and the people 
scarcely looked for it again, but in 1791 Con- 
gress passed a law levying a tax of four pence 
per gallon on all distilled .spirits. The mem- 
bers of western Pennylvania — Smiley, from 



44 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF INDIANA AND ASMSTEONG COUNTIES. 



Fayette, and Findley, from Westmoreland — ! 
stoutly opposed it. This tax led to the Whis- 
key Insurrection that has been so much dis- 
cussed and is so little understood. 

These counties are wonderfully blessed with 
fuel for heating and manufacturing purposes in i 
their natural gas and Connellsville coking coal. 

In 1865 the soldier was lost in the citizen, 
and peace, the "gladness-giving queen/' reigned 
supreme throughout the land. After the war ! 
the people of Westmoreland county, very 
soon turned their attention largely to the de- 
velojjment of their immense coal beds in the 
Connellsville coking belt. In 1873 the South- 
west Pennsylvania railroad was completed 
from Greensburg to Scottdale, and from that 
time until the present the coke industry has 
increased with wonderful rapidity. The num- 
ber of coke ovens in the county has increased 
from a few hundred in 1873, to many thou- 
sands in 1890. These ovens produce the typi- 
cal coke of the world, and now are beginning 
to light lip at night the valleys of Indiana 
county. 

The natural gas wells in the Murrysville and | 
Grapeville districts, in Westmoreland county, 
are conceded by ge(jlogists to be the greatest on 
the globe. These wells have given no sign of 
failure for over ten years, and supply Pitts- 
burgh and many towns over thirty miles away. 



The abundance and cheapness of this gas has 
bi'ought steel, iron and glass works to the 
county, and has increased three-fold Its volume 
of business. It has led to a buildiny; boom iu 
all the main towns of that county, and led to 
the founding and growth of Jeannette, "the 
magical city of glass," that in one year after 
being laid out numbered two thousand people. 
If such is the j)rosperity of the southern border 
at the present time of Westmoreland county, 
brought about by the use of natural gas as a fuel, 
we need not lye surprised, when the wells in the 
last-named two counties are developed, to see 
them increase wonderfully in wealth and popu- 
lation. 

To write the history of these counties, treat- 
ing of the living as well as the dead, is a deli- 
cate task. To write this history, making a 
faithful presentation of facts, may not render it 
acceptable to the extreme euthusiastical, too 
prone to over-exalt ; or the over-critical, too 
liable to under-estimate. To gather a large 
portion of the events of this history, from scant 
records and imperfect sources — is an undertak- 
ing of no small degree. While it unavoidably 
possesses considerable to make it a wearisome 
task, it also necessarily contains much to I'cnder 
it a work of pleasure to some citizen of these 
counties, either of which possesses men compe- 
tent to perform such a work. 



%:xxxixxixxxz!:ixxizxxixxxixxxxxxxxzxxxxxzxizxxxzzzzzzzxzxxzxxzxzi»i3f 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH 



OF 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



Boundaries and area — Geology — Surface features — In- 
dians — Conrad Weiser — Armstrong's march — The 
Purchase line — Early seltlements — -Frontier forts — 
Old Frankstown road — County formation — Salt wells 
— Pennsylvania canal — Underground railroad — Mail- 
roads — Great Civil war — Progress and material de- 
velopment — The press, education, churches and banks 
— The bar and medical profession — Political history — 
Census statistics — County officials — Miscellaneous. 

INDIANA COUNTY, Pennsylvauia, lies 
-■- between forty degrees twenty-three min- 
utes and forty degrees fifty-six minutes 
nortli latitude ; and seventy-eight degrees forty- 
nine minutes and seventy-nine degrees fourteen 
minutes west longitude from Greenwich, or be- 
tween one degree forty-nine minutes and twenty 
degrees fourteen minutes west longitude from 
Washington C'ily. As a political division of the 
State it is bounded on the north by Jefferson 
county ; on the east by Clearfield and Cambria 
counties ; on the south by Westmoreland coun- 
ty, from which it is separated by the Cone- 
maugh river, and on the west by Armstrong 
county. Indiana county occupies the centre of 
western Pennsylvauia and its bituminous coal 
fields. The western boundary line has a 



straight course from the Conemnugh river 
northeast twenty miles; aud thence due north 
nine miles to the Jefferson county line. The 
northern boundary line runs due east twenty- 
one and a quarter miles to a point from which 
the eastern boundary line starts and runs due 
south thirteen miles to Cherry Tree corner ; 
thence south fifteen degrees west twenty-three 
miles to the Coneraaugh river, which makes the 
southern boundary from the centre of the gap 
through Laurel Hill range to Salina post-office, 
a distance of twenty-eight miles in a straight 
line. Indiana county has a computed area of 
828 square miles, or 529,920 acres. Its geo- 
graphical centre aud centre of population are 
supposed to be not very far apart, and both but 
a short distance from the county-seat. 

That pai't of the present territory of Indiana 
county, south of the purchase line, was a part 
of the following counties for the respective 
times specified : 

Chester, from 1682 to May 10, 1729. 

Lancaster, May 10, 1729, to Jau. 27, 1750. 

Cumberland, Jan. 27, 1750, to March 9, 
1771. 

46 



46 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



Bedforfl, March 9, 1771, to Feb. 26, 1773. 

Westmoreland, Feb. 26, 1773, to March 30, 
1803. 

That part of ludiana county which is north 
of the purchase line was a part of the general 
unorganized territory of Peiinsylvania until 
1784, when the Indian title to it was extin- 
guished by treaty and it became a part of 
Northumberland county, and remained as such 
until April 13, 1796, when it was included in 
the county of Lycoming, which was that day 
formed from a part of Northumberland. It 
remained under the jurisdiction of Lycoming 
county until March 30, 1803, when it became 
a part of the then created county of Indiana. 

Geology. — Prof. Leslie, in the second geo- 
logical survey of Pennsylvania, describes the 
geological structure of Indiana county as fol- 
lows : " With the exception of five spots in as 
many gaps, and four other spots on the anti- 
clinal axes, the whole surface of the county is 
occupied by the coal measures. The southeast 
county corner is in the bed of the Conemaugh 
river in the centre of the Johnstown gap through 
Laurel Hill, where XII, XI, X, and perhaps j 
a little Catskill IX arch over each other. The ; 
northeast corner is on the crest of the continu- 
ation of the Chestnut Hill arch, in the midst of 
a wilderness elevated 2000 feet above tide. 
The east line of the county therefore crosses 
diagonally the Ligonier valley coal basin, 
which, however, is divided into two sub-basins 
by a low anticlinal arch running through Nolo 
P. O. and Kimball P. O., bringing up the con- 
glomerate (XII) on Yellow creek, at Strongs- 
town. Both sub-basins are so deep that they 
are filled with the Barren measures, but the 
Productive coal-beds crop out along the valleys 
which follow or cross the anticlinals, and an 
irregular belt of them, two or three miles wide, 
follows the great Chestnut ridge axis from 
Blairsville to the Jefterson -Clearfield county 
corner. This belt widens to five miles on the 
Conemaugh, and in the district of the south 



[ branch of Little Mahoning creek, around Rob- 

! ertsville, Smethport corners and the heads of 
Bear run, where coal out-crops are abundant. 

"At the first great bend below Blairsville the 
'Indiana anticlinal' arch crosses the Kiskimi— 
netas river and runs in a wonderfully straight 

I line past Indiana (one mile east of the town) 
and Kintersburg on the Jeiferson line at the 
northeast corner of Canoe township. The basin 
between this axis and that of Chestnut ridge, 
drained by Two Lick and Black Lick runs, is 
only deep enough to hold the Productive coals, 

■ with some areas of Barren measures in its hill- 
tops ; but going south the Barren measures take 
possession of the whole surface west of the Two 
Lick, and then invade the whole basin from 
Homer (Phillips' mills) southward. In the 
east end of Black Lick township the basin gets 
deep enough to take the Pittsburgh coal-bed into 
its hill-tops, and in Burrell township the hills 
north and east of Blairsville hold this bed (un- 
der a cover of one hundred and fifty feet of upper 
measures) running about six feet thick, and not 
very good, and lying about 200 feet above the 
river. At the second bend above Saltsburg the 
' Saltsburg anticlinal ' arch crosses the river 
and runs on straight to the southwest corner of 
East Mahoning township, where it flattens out 
and is lost; but here, on a line four miles fur- 
ther west, the ' Perryville anticlinal ' arch 
stands and runs on into Jefferson county, at the 
northeast corner of West Mahoning township. 
The Saltsburg axis crosses McKee's riui near 
the mill, and exposes the Freeport Upper coal- 
bed (E), but all the others are underground, and 
the surface of the whole country is occupied by 
the Barren measures. Bed E is also brought 
to the surface in the bed of the Little Mahon- 
ing by the Perryville axis. The basin west of 
the Indiana axis, and between it and the Salts- 
burg and Perryville axes, is nowhere deep 
enough to allow the Pittsburgh bed to be jjre- 
served in any of its hill-tops. But west of the 
Saltsburg axis all the higher lands of Young 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



47 



aud Conemaugh townships between the sti'eams 
whicli enter Black Leg creek from Armstrong 
county contain the Pittsburgii bed, ten feet 
thick, with its regular upper bench and main 
clay parting, as in the Monongahela river coun- 
try. The highest geological ground in the 
county is in Elder's ridge, four miles northeast 
of Coalport, where 200 feet of measures, capped 
by the great limestone, and containing the Se- 
wickley coal and limestone, the Redstone coal 
and the Pittsburgh Upper sandstone overlie the 
Pittsburgh coal-be<l. On Harper's run 217 
feet of Barren measures may be seen beneath 
the Pittsburgh coal-bed, containing thin fossil- 
iferous limestone beds, olive and red shales, and 
the ]\Iorgaotown sandstone (fifty feet thick), 
the massive upper fifteen feet member of which 
makes the picturesque cliff scenery of this quar- 
ter of the county. The Barren measures in 
Indiana county may be called GOO feet thick. 
Nowhere in the Ligonier basin has more than 
the lower 400 feet been preserved. Seven or 
eight coal-beds exist in the Barren measures, 
but no reliance can be placed on any of them, 
although one or another may be fouud in a good 
condition (three or four feet thick) in some re- 
stricted locality, like Painter's coal, at Nineveh, 
and the Philson coal, at Armagh. The beds 
seem to be pretty persistent throughout the 
region, but running only oue or two feet thick. 
The Green Crinoidal limestone and the Black 
Fossiliferous limestone of the Barren measures 
are of not much economic importance, but have 
great geological value as bases of measurement 
down to the Productive coal beds. Limestone 
is very abundant in the county, and the beds 
very numerous. Besides the two above-men- 
tioned there are three others iu the Barren 
measures and six in the Productive coal series, 
of which the Freeport Upper limestone is 10 
feet thick in several parts of the county; the 
Freeport Lower, 6 feet on Two Lick ; the 
Johnstown Cement bed (under coal D) varies 
from 2 to 16 feet, and is 15 feet in Black Lick 



gap ; but the Ferriferous Limestone, which is 
the great key rock of all the more western and 
northern counties, fades away to nothing at the 
Indiana anticlinal, aud is nowhere to be found 
to the eastward of that line. 

" The coal-beds of the county will in future 
years be mined mostly by shafts. The upper- 
most oue of the series (Freeport Upper coal E) 
is 150 feet beneath the Conemauirh river at 
New Florence, and 600 feet at Blairsville; 400 
feet underground beneath the turnpike between 
Armagh and Ling's, and so on elsewhere ; 
where it comes to the surface it is a fine bed 
from 8| to 6 feet thick ; at Griffith's and other 
mines on Yellow creek, 7 feet ; at Agey's and 
St. Clair's, on Two Lick, 7 feet 3 inches; on 
McKee's run, 7 feet 4 inches. The Freeport 
Lower coal (D) gets up to 4J feet on Little 
Yellow creek, and oh feet in the German settle- 
ment. The middle coal is 3 feet (C feet) ; the 
lower coal (C) small, but is 4 feet at McFar- 
laiid's, at Greenville. The Clarion coal (B) is 
a noble bed, ranging widely, as 4 to 8 feet 
thick, over a valuable fire-clay; but the famous 
fire-clay l»d of Bolivar is under the Brook- 
ville coal (A). There seems to be very little 
workable iron ore in the county. No evidence 
of the existence of productive oil sands has 
been obtained ; most of the wells bored have 
been too short to reach the Venango oil rocks, 
much less the Warreu and Bradford horizons. 
Of the natural gas springs, that of ' Burning 
spring,' in Deep Hollow, two miles below 
Blairsville, is best known, but it comes from 
the Mahoning sandstone, which yields oil and 
gas on Dunkard creek, in Greene county." 

Prof W. G. Piatt, in his report of progress in 
Indiana county in 1878, says : " The geological 
structure of the district is one of extreme sim- 
plicity. Briefly stated, it consists of a series of 
seven anticlinal aud six cyuclinal folds of the 
strata, or broad rock waves, the crest of lines 
which run nearly parallel to each other across the 
map in a northeast-southwest direction through the 



48 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



county. Tlie rocks therefore dip northwest and 
southeast, except in places where the antielinals 
and synclinals are sufficiently tilted along their 
central line to effect the normal incline of the 
strata. If then we start in the extreme south- 
east corner of the county, say about a mile 
above the old Conemaugh furnace, and proceed 
in a straight line northwest to where the Jeffer- 
son and Armstrong county lines join in the 
northwest corner of West Mahoning township, 
we shall cross the following anticlinal and syn- 
clinal axes : 

"The Laurel Hill Anticlinal. (First Axia of the old 

Survey.) 
The Centreville Synclinal. "^ 
The Nolo Anticlinal. V Ligonier Basin. 

The Mechanicsburg Synclinal, j 
The Chestnut Ridge Anticlinal. (Second Axis of the 

old Survey.) 
The Blairsville Synclinal. 
The Indiana Anticlinal. (Third Axis of the old 

Survey.) 
The Marion-Fillmore Synclinal. 
The Saltsburg Anticlinal. 1 

The West Lebanon Synclinal. I Westmoreland gas- 
The Perryville Anticlinal. [ coal basin. 

The Smicksburg Synclinal. j 
The Roaring run-Port Barnet Anticlinal. (Fourth 

Axis.) 

" Excepting- the small patches of Upper Pro- 
ductive Measures at Blairsville and Saltsburg, the 
Lower Productive group are the only rocks that 
can be depended upon for coal in Indiana 
county ; and by reference to the geological map 
it will be seen at a glance that west of Chestnut 
ridge these measures are chiefly below the 
present water-line of the streams. The}' there- 
fore underlie the whole of the western uplands, 
and to reach them at many points would require 
deep shafts, but fortunately for this part of the 
county such a necessity is avoided by sufficient 
coal having been raised at a few localities above 
water-level for a short distance by the anticlinal 
axes. Cheap fuel, therefore, while not every- 
where obtainable in the western townships, is 
easily accessible from almost any point. 



" In the Ligonier Basin (east of Chestnut 
ridge) the greater part of the area is occupied 
by Lower Productive rocks, and coal therefore 
abounds in that section in prodigious cjuantities. 
Many hillsides contain for a long distance the 
entire Lower Productive group with all its en- 
closed coal-beds, lime-stones, etc. Some day 
these vast stores of fuel will be needed for the 
arts and manufactures. 

" The amount of available lime-stone in the 
county is no less great than the coal, while its 
distribution is wider and much more even, for 
layers of this valuable rock are intercalated not 
only in the Lower Productive group, but in the 
Barren series as well. 

" The fire clays, although existing in great 
abundance in all parts of the county, have as 
yet been developed only along the lines of rail- 
road communication. At these points the clays 
worked are of excellent quality, the bricks and 
retorts made from them being well and favor- 
ably known, 

" The compact and heavy bedded sand-stones 
prevailing in some parts of the county furnish 
building material almost without limit. 

" The iron ores of the county have never 
been systematically investigated." 

And while Prof. Piatt seemed to think there 
were not workable beds of iron ore, yet some of 
the leading citizens are of a different opinion, 
and discoveries of very rich iron ore deposits in 
the county have been recently reported. Some 
coal veins, also, have been opened who.se exist- 
ence was not stated in the State geological report. 

Surface Features. — " In the eastern part of 
the district the topography is easily separable 
into a succession of high anticlinal ridges sepa- 
rated by shallow synclinal valleys, out of which 
have been scoured, generally at right angles to 
the strike of the rocks, a number of ravines 
and deep, narrow valleys. West of Chestnut 
Ridge the country is more in the nature of a 
high rolling table-laud. 

" The increase in the general elevation of the 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



49 



surface from south to north is very gradual. 
The country is of course very much broken and 
diversified by small hills and valleys; but the 
topography nevertheless presents in substance 
one bi'oad incline plane tilted gently towards the 
southwest. 

"The country maybe divided by tlie main 
arteries of its drainage system into four parts : 
The first comprehending the Conemaugh river 
with its intricate system of tributary streams ; 
the second, Crooked creek draining a central 
zone ; the third, the Mahouings in the northern 
part of the district; and the fourtii, the affluents 
of the Susquehanna. 

" Generally speaking, the surface of Indiana 
county requires only intelligent cultivation to 
yield abundant and profitable returns. 

" A few kinds of wood make up the bulk of 
the forests. These leading varieties may be 
enumerated in the order of their extent as fol- 
lows : white oak, pine, hemlock, chestnut, pop- 
lar, hickory, ash, beech, rock oak (sometimes 
called chestnut oak), wild cherry, black walnut, 
sugar maple and locust." 

Indians. — Of the aboriginal inhabitants, 
mention has been made on page 17 of the 
Mound-builders, and it remains to notice the 
Indian occupants of the territory of the county. 
They were the Delawares and Siiawanees, and 
their occupation was principally for the purpose 
of hunting. Tliey had a few villages whose sites 
are unknown to-day, and their war-paths or 
trails were the Kittanuing trail, over whicii 
Colonel Armstrong passed, and a trail intersect- 
ing the great " Catawba War-path," which 
passed tiirough Westmoreland county from 
South Carolina to New York. Besides this, 
they had several minor trails which cannot be 
traced from the information at our command. 
The Delawares and Shawanees had all left the 
county by 1770 to locate in Ohio. Jonathan 
Row and Richard B. McCabe rescued much of 
what little information exists at the present time 
concerning the Indians of this county. 
4 



Conrad Weiser. — Probably the first white 
man that ever was on the soil of Indiana coun- 
ty was Conrad Weiser, who, in his mission to 
Logstown, in 1748, passed down the Cone- 
maugh river. 

Armstrong's march. — In his march against 
Kittanning, in 1756, Colonel Armstrong camped 
on September 7th at the " Forks of the Kit- 
tanning and Shenango trails," in what is now 
Green township, and the next night, it is said, 
he halted his force at a spring just south of the 
present county-.seat. The next day he passed 
out of the county over the site of Shelocta. 

The Purchase Line. — On November 5, 17G8, 
a treaty was made with the Indians at Ft. 
Stanwix, New York, by which the Six Nations 
ceded all the land w'ithin a boundary extending 
from the New York line, on the Susquehanna, 
and up the west branch of that river to a 
cherry tree that once stood close to the site of 
the present town of Cherry Tree, and then to 
Kittanning, and thence down the Ohio. It is 
said that those who established the line was to 
run up the west branch of the Susquehanna as 
far as a canoe could go. This point was where 
a cherry tree stood, which was a perch above 
the island, near the town of Cherry Tree, 
the spot has since been known as "Canoe 
Place." 

Early Settlements. — As early as 1766 white 
explorers had come into the territory of Indiana 
county and found the country clear of timber 
or brush. It was a prairie, in fact, being 
clothed in high grass. The first settlement was 
in 1768, in the forks of the Conemaugh and 
Black Lick. About this time George Findley 
settled in what is now East Wiieatfield town- 
ship, and was said to have been the first settler 
in the county. William Clark, William Bracken 
and Alatthew Dill settled near him and soon 
afterward came Robert Rogers, John Bolar, 
George Farmer, Daniel McClentock, David 
Wakefield, F. Pershing, Jr., John Elder and 
others. In 1769 William Evans was on Two 



50 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



Lick creek ; Francis Waddel and George Pum- 
roy, Sr. (at Long Bottom) on Black Lick creek ; 
and Michael Worley, Samuel Waddel and 
Thomas Jameson were near the Conemaugh. 

In 1772 Fergus, Samuel and Joseph Moor- 
head and James Kelley commenced improve- 
ments near Indiana, and Fergus Moorhead was 
one of the first, if not the first, settler iu the 
county. Moses Chambers, who had served on 
an English war vessel, was another early settler 
near Indiana. In 1773 ^Yilliam Bracken built 
a grist-mill on Black Lick, and neat him set- 
tled John Stewart, Joseph McCartney, John 
Evans, Thomas Barr and John Hustin. 

On Crooked creek located Andrew Sharp, 
who was killed by the Indians in 1794, Jacob 
Anthonv, James McCreight, John Patison, 
David Peelor, Israel Thomas and Benjamin 
Walker. Philip Altman, Jacob Bricker, 
Charles Campbell, Archey Coleman, William 
Clark, Samuel Dixon, Jonathan Doty, James 
Ewing, Peter Fair, James Ferguson, William 
Graham, the Hices, John Harrold, Robert Lig- 
got, William Loughry, George Mabon, Samuel 
McCartney, James ISIcComb, John McCrea, 
James ^McDonald, Patrick McGee, John Neal, 
David Reed, Daniel Repine, George Repine, 
Alexander Rhea, William Robertson, John 
Shields, Hugh St. Clair, Malachia Sutton and i 
Ephraim Wallace. 

In early days the northern part of the county 
was called "the Mahoning country," and was 
settled at a more recent date. Among the early 
settlers were the Bradys, the Thompsons, Hugh 
Cannon, R. Robert Hamilton, John Jamison, 
John Leasure, Joshua Lewis, William McCall, , 
William McCrery, John Park, the Pierces and 
William Work. In addition to those named, 
among the early settlers, in the central portion of 
the county, were Blaney Adair, Gawin Adam.s, 
John Agey, Andrew Allison, Thomas Allison, 
Thomas Burns, Andrew Dixon, Daniel Elgin, 
William I^owry, Patrick Lydick, John Lytle, 
Thomas McCrea, Daniel McKisson, James 



Mitchell, Robert Pilson, Conrad Rice, James 
Simpson, William Smith, Christopher Stuchal, 
Alexander Taylor, John Thomp.sou, George 
Trimble, Thomas Wilkins and John Wilson. 

Frontier forts. — Richard Wallace, in 1765, 
erected " Wallace's Fort " somewhere in the 
southern or southeastern part of the county, 
about six miles from New Derry, in Westmore- 
land county, but in the accounts of this fort 
which are accessible at this writing, its location 
is not given. Two Indian attacks Mere pro- 
jected against this fort. In the first one over a 
hundred Indians invested the log: stockade. 
Major James Wilson (grandfather of the late 
Wilson Knott, of Blairsville), with forty men 
from " Barr's Fort," relieved the besieged gar- 
rison. In 1783 an Indian half-breed, serving 
as an English officer, led a body of Indians 
against the fort, but while displaying a white 
flag was shot, and his followers hastily beat a 
retreat. Richard Wallace was captured by the 
Indians and carried to Canada, where he soon 
escaped. 

On a map of Indiana county, given by Cald- 
well, he locates an old fort near Indiana, a 
block-house near CHambersville, and marks the 
sites of forts, block-houses, stations or fortified 
houses near Indiana, Saltsburg, Newport, Cen- 
terville, Strongtown, Elder's Ridge, Homer 
City, Tannery P. O., Jacksonville, Crete P. O., 
and Lewisville. 

Several of the early settlers were captured 
and killed by Indians, and the county has an 
interesting Indian history, if it were carefully 
collected and then put in proper shape, which, 
however, would require several years' work, 
to secure accuracy. 

Old Frankstoum Road. — The first road west 
of the Alleghenies was the old Braddock road 
from Cumberland to Ft. Pitt. The second road 
was the Forbes military road, which passed just 
south of Indiana county. The first main road 
in the county was the " Old Frankstown Road," 
which was surveyed in 1787 and established 



TNDIANA COUNTY. 



51 



" between the navigable waters of the Franks- 
town branch of the river Juniata and the river 
Coneinaugh." Its course was somewiiat 
changed in 1800, and some parts of its route 
was parallel with the latter northern turnpike. 
It passed through Sharpstown, Armagh, crossed 
the track of the present Indiana railway, and 
left the county at Williams Ferry, on the Cone- 
maugh (west of Blairsville). Prior to this road 
the Kittanning path was the road to tiie east as 
well as to Fort Pitt, while a pack-saddle trail 
or road ran from Indiana town south to Ft. 
Ligonier, where it intersected the Forljes road, 
and some distance beyond that point a road con- 
nected with the old Braddock road. 

In 1807 the following reports of county 
roads were confirmed : " Rogei-'s mill to Indi- 
ana, Clark's mill to Indiana, Indiana to inter- 
sect at McFarland's mill, Armstrong county 
line to Brady's mill ; David Fulton's to Brady's 
mill, and Newport to intersect with Indiana 
road." In 1810 the State road from Milesburg 
to Lebouf was surveyed through the northeast- 
ern part of the county, and a road was soon 
opened from Indiana and connected with it. In 
1818 tiie Bedford road was surveyed and passed 
through Armagh and Indiana to Franklin in 
Venango county. Seven years later the " old 
State Road " was located from Centre county 
via Indiana to Pittsburgh, and the next year 
the Ligonier, Blairsville and Indiana I'oads 
were surveyed. In 1838 the "New State 
Road " was located from Curwensville, Clear- 
field county, to East Liberty, Allegheny county, 
and in 1842 the road from Cherry Tree to the 
Susquehanna turnpike was surveyed. 

County Formation. — Indiana county was cre- 
ated by an act of the Legislature passed March 
30, 1803, and its erection and boundaries are 
described in the following language : 

" An act to erect certain parts of Westmore- 
land and Lycoming counties into a separate 
county. 

"Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and 



' House of Representatives of the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and 
it is hereby enacted by the authority of the 
same, that those parts of the counties of West- 

! moreland and Lycoming, included within the 
following boundaries, viz. : Beginning at the 
corner of Armstrong county on the Kiskimine- 
tas river ; thence up said river to the mouth of 
Conomauch (Coneraaugh) river; thence up said 
river to the line of Somerset county ; thence a 
straight line to Canoe place on the west branch 
of Susquehanna ; thence a north course along 
Potter's district line twelve miles; thence a due 
west course to Armstrong county line ; thence 
along said line to place of beginning, — be and 
the same is hereby erected into a separate 
county, to be henceforth called Indiana county, 
and the place for holding the courts of justice 
in and for said county shall be fi.xed by the 
Legislature at any place at a distance not 
greater than four miles from the centre of the 
said county." 

By the same act the governor was empow- 
ered to appoint three commissioners to run the 
boundary lines and ascertain the centre of tlie 
county ; and William Jack, James Parr and 
John Pomroy, of Westmoreland county, were 
named as trustees for locating the county-seat, 
which they estiiblished at Indiana in consider- 
ation of a gift of 250 acres of land at that 
place from George Clymer, of Philadelphia. 

! The " fork " of Two Lick and Yellow creeks 
was an unsuccessful competitor for the county- 
seat. (See Indiana borougii.) 

The first court which was held at Indiana is 
thus described on the records : " December term, 
A. D. 1806. Pleas returnable to the County 
Court of Common Pleas held at Indiana for 

' the county of Indiana on the second Monday 
of December, Anno Domini, one thou.sand eight 
hundred and six, by virtue of an act of Gen- 

' eral Assembly of the Commonwealth of Penn- 
sylvania passed the 10th day of March, A. D. 
180G. Before John Young, Esq., president, 



52 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



and Charles Campbell, associate judge of the 
court of Common pleas iu and for the county 
aforesaid." The first attorneys admittefl were 
George Armstrong, John B. Alexander, Samuel 
S. Harrison, James M. Riddle, Samuel Massey 
and Samuel Guthrie. Of the first court of 
quarter sessions, we have the following record : 

" Minutes of a court of quarter sessions of 
the peace held at Indiana for the county of In- 
diana, the second Monday in March, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and seven. Present, Charles Campbell and 
James Smith, esquires, justices of the same 
court." 

The sheriff was Thomas McCartney, and the 
coroner was Samuel Young. The acting con- 
stables were Andrew Speedy for Armstrong, 
Daniel Falloo for Wheatfield and Samuel Kelly 
for Conemaugh township. Seventeen grand 
jurors were summoned as follows : Joseph Mc- 
Cartney, Jacob Hess, William Bond, Matthew 
Winesap, Robert Ligget, John McKee, Robert 
Robertson, James McKnight, Joseph Harbison, 
Henry Hire, Alexander Lytle, John Matthews, 
Thomas Boals, Thomas M. Sloan and William 
Hamilton. The traverse jurors numbered 
twenty-nine, and were Alex. Ray, Richard 
Wilson, Samuel Smith, Francis Boals, John 
Loughry, James McDonald, John Bowers, Pe- 
ter Hoover, Jeremiah Brown, Andrew Simp- 
son, Robert Nixon, Samuel Wallace, William 
Parker, Tliomas Reed, James Mahon, Peter 
Fair, Israel Thomas, William Deveny, John 
Lowry, John White, Moses Curry, Meek Kelly, 
John Laughlin, Francis Louther, Thomas 
Wakefield, James Longstreth, Joseph Hutch- 
inson, James Findley and Robert Ewing. At 
this session Andrew Speedy deputized Philip 
Rice to act as constable of the township of 
Centre, and John Bell for the township of 
Washington. During its sessions Henry Shry- 
ock, William Bond and James Moorhead were 
recommended by the court as fit persons to 
keep public houses of entertainments, and the 



following persons were naturalized : Joseph 
Wilson, Hugh Junkius, James Lesley, George 
Turner, William Johnston, Arch. Matthews, 
Robert Craig, James Anderson, James Graham, 
Andrew Fee and David Campbell. 

The constables appointed at June sessions 
were Benjamin Clawson, for Black Lick town- 
ship; Arch. Marshall, Conemaugh; Jac. An- 
thony, Armstrong; Robert Allison, Centre; 
John Bell, Wheatfield, and David Tomb, Ma- 
honing. 

Wheatfield township, which was created in 
1779 as one of the townships of Westmoreland 
county, included all of what is now Indiana 
county, south of the purchase line. The re- 
maining townships have been erected in the 
following years: Armstrong, 1785; Conemaugh 
and Mahoning, 1803; Centre, Black Lick and 
Washington, 1807; Green, 1816; Young, 1830; 
Cherry Hill and Montgomery, 1834; Brush 
Valley, 1835; White, 1843; Rayne, 1845; 
North, East, South and West Mahoning town- 
ships, 1846; Canoe, 1847; Pine, 1850; Bur- 
rell, 1853; East and West Wheatfield, 1859; 
Buffington, 1867, and Banks, 1868. 

Salt Wells.— la 1812 an old lady by the 
name of Deemer discovered salt water at low- 
water mark on the Conemaugh river, two miles 
above Saltsburg, and William Johnston (from 
Franklin County) sank a well in which, at two 
iuindred and eighty-seven feet, he found an 
abundance of salt water. The Conemaugh 
Valley soon became noted for its great number 
of salt wells and the value of its salt trade. 
Crude machinery was first used for boring and 
pumping, which was afterwards supplanted by 
the steam engine. As the wells increased, 
competition brought down the price of salt, 
and many salt-works were abandoned. Several 
works are still running which manufacture an 
excellent quality of salt. (See Conemaugh 
township.) 

Pennsylvania Canal. — In 1826 the Legisla- 
ture provided for the construction of the Penn- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



53 



sylvania Canal, and in 1831 the main line of 
the canal from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was 
completed at an expense of over 35 millions 
of dollars. The Kiskiminetas was slacked, and 
boats ran from the Quaker to the Iron city. 
Blairsville and Saltsburg increased rapidly in 
population and wealth ; but the completion of 
the Pennsylvania in 1852 rendered the canal 
useless, and for a time checked the growth of 
the above-named boroughs. 

Underground Railroad. — About 1840 the 
slavery question was agitated in Indiana county, 
and after the passage of the fugitive slave law 
a branch of the " Underground Railroad " 
ran through the county. Indiana was a depot 
on this road, and many citizens of the county 
were actively engaged in piloting runaway 
slaves to other parties further northward, who 
assisted the fleeing slaves on their way to 
Canada. 

Railroads. — The Pennsylvania railroad was 
completed in 1852, and on June 5, 1856, 
the Indiana Branch railroad was opened 
from Blairsville intersection in Westmoreland 
County, — a distance of nineteen miles ; but 
railroad building was arrested by the opening 
of the late war. 

The western Pennsylvania railroad was char- 
tered in 1853 to run from Blairsville to Free- 
port, in Armstrong county ; but the company 
(the Northwestern Pennsylvania) failed after a 
portion of the grading had been done, and the 
road was sold at Philadelphia in 1859 to the 
Western Pennsylvania company, which com- 
menced work on the road in 1863. In 1864 
trains ran to Freeport, and one year later ran 
into Allegheny City. 

The Butler Branch was completed in 1871, 
and for a period of twenty years the people of 
the county were adapting themselves to a new 
life of pros{>erity inaugurated by these railways. 
The public-spirited citizens of the county com- 
menced to develop the coal and invest in man- 
ufacturing establishments, and the county is 



now destined to rank high in the State for 
wealth and manufactures. 

Within the last year the railway outlook for 
the county is bright. The Rochester & Pitts- 
burg R. R. company have surveyed a line from 
Punxsutawney, via Plumville, Shelocta, South 
Bend and Apollo, to Pittsburgh. An effort is 
being made to establish a competing line to the 
Pennsylvania R. R., and a road has been pro- 
jected from Clearfield to connect with the Pitts- 
burgh & Western at Butler, while the American 
Midland i,ine (an air-line road from New 
York to Chicago) road, which, if built, will 
cross the county as far north as Marion. The 
Homer City & Cherry Tree railroad has been 
surveyed, and present indications warrant its 
construction at an early date. 

Ch'eat Civil War. — Soldiers from Indiana 
county served in the war of 1812 aloDg the 
northern lakes, and Indian ians were in three 
companies of the second Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers, which fought under Scott in the Mexican 
war. Daniel Kuhns was killed and James 
Kellv, William Matthews and Matthias Palmer 
died in Mexico. William Campbell and Pliny 
Kelly also served in the Mexican war. 

When the late war commenced the sons of 
Indiana were among the first to take up arms 
in defence of the government, and served with 
distinction in nearly all of the battles of the 
Army of the Potomac and under Sherman. 
Soldiers from Indiana county served in the 
Ninth Reserves and companies B and E and 
most of companies A and D of the Eleventh 
Reserves were from this county. One company 
of the Twelfth Reserves was recruited near 
Armagh and thirty men of the Fourteenth 
Reserve were Indianians. Citizens of the 
county served in the forty-sixth, fifty-fifth, 
fifty-sixth, sixty-first, sixty-seventh, seventy- 
fourth, seventy-eighth, one hundred and third, 
one hundred and fifth, one hundred and thirty- 
fifth, one hundred and forty-eighth, one hun- 
dred and fifty-ninth, one hundred and seventy- 



54 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



seventh, and two hundred and sixth regiments 
of Pennsylvania Volunteers. Co. B of the 
fifty-sixth, Co. A of the sixty-first, Co. E of 
the one hundred and forty -eighth and companies 
A, C, D, F, G, H and I of the two hundred | 
and sixth regiment were recruited in Indiana 
county. I 

In 1862, when Governor Curtin called for 
militia to defend Pennsylvania against Gen. 
Lee, Indiana county in eight days sent Co. H, 
of the tenth regiment, four companies of the 
twenty-third regiment and one independent 
company to the aid of the threatened border of 
the State. In 1863, when Lee was marching on 
Gettysburg, the county between July 3d and 8th 
sent eight companies into the field, and by the 
23d had forwarded six more companies or 
fourteen companies in all. These companies 
served principally in the fifty-fourth and fifty- 
seventh regiments, Pennsylvania Militia, and 
aided largely in the capture of Morgan in 
Ohio. Two companies of Indiana county men 
were mustered into the Union service in 1864 
and served nearly one year, doing general 
guard duty wherever needed. During 1864 
fifty men were recruited in the county for the 
United States Signal Corps. Indiana county's 
war record of the great Rebellion is one of 
which she may well be proud, for her sons 
served faithfully and with honor on a hundred 
bloody battle-fields where many of them fell to 
rise no more. Our limits forbid extended 
notice of their deeds. 

" On fame's eternal camping grounds 
Their silent tents are spread, 
And glory guards with solemn round, 
The bivouac of the dead." 

Material Development. — One-third of the 
772 miles of territory included in the county, 
it is said by competent judges, contains coal 
above water levels. Within the next few years 
the southern part of the county will be changed 
from an agricultural section to a great mining 
region. The coke industry was inaugurated in 



the county in 1886, by George A. Mikesell, who 
built ten ovens and then sold them to Jacob 
Graff and J. M. Guthrie, who increased the 
ovens to twenty-four in number. They in turn 
sold the plant to J. W. Moore, of Greensburg, 
Pa., who organized the McCreary Coke com- 
pany, whose members are Harry and John 
McCreary and J. W. Moore. Their works are 
at Mikesell siding, in Centre township, where 
they already employ nearly nearly two hundred 
men. They have fifty oveus burning and one 
hundred and forty-two more in process of cou- 
struction. They have six hundred and forty 
acres of coal besides sevei'al large leased 
tracts, and manufacture a coke which ranks high 
and sells readily in the market. 

The next coke plant is that of the Indiana 
Coal and Coke company, whose members are 
Jacob and Paul Graff, J. M. Guthrie, G. W. 
Hoover, John P. Elkins and John R. Cald- 
well ; their coke-works are just below the Mc- 
Creary plant and consist of twenty -four ovens 
now burning and quite a number in process of 
construction. They own two hundred and 
forty acres of coal land and have leased one 
hundred and sixty-five acres of additional coal 
territory. They also have mines opened for 
shipping raw coal. Their coal, like the Mc- 
Creary vein, is six feet four inches in thickness. 
A town is rapidly being built at each of these 
coke plants. 

The shipping of raw coal has rapidly de- 
veloped. In 1879 the present Foster Coal 
company, of Saltsburg, commenced shipping 
raw coal to Pittsburgh, while in the north- 
eastern part of the county are the Glen 
Campbell mines, located on a thirteen-mile 
branch of the Bell Gap Railroad, and the 
Passmore Burns and Bryson mines on a sub- 
branch of the railroad, some three miles from 
Glen Campbell. They mine the Lower Free- 
port coal, which is five feet thick in that part 
of the county. 

The lumbering interest, which was once the 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



55 



leading industry of the county, is still of large 
proportions and is principally centred at 
Homer City and on Two Lick creek. At 
Homer City are large mills operated by J. M. 
Guthrie, and on Two Lick creek are the mills 
of the Guthrie Lumber company. These mills 
cut hundreds of thousands of feet of lumber 
every year. The finest timber in the county | 
has been worked up, although considerable 
quantities yet remain in the eastern and north- 
eastern part of the county. In Wheatfield 
township and in Cambria county, Joseph 
Cramer, who formerly operated several portable 
saw-mills in Indiana county, is engaged in the 
charcoal business and makes about 10,000 
bushels of that article yearly. At Jeannette, in 
Westmoreland county, works have been erected 
to extract the juice of chestnut and chestnut 
oak woods to be used for tanning purposes, and 
most of the wood for these works is furnished 
by Indiana county. 

Mineral paint beds of exceeding richness are 
found on Chestnut ridge. Large and prosper- 
ous glass-works are located at Blairsville and 
Saltsburg, and the pressed brick-works of the 
the Black Lick Manufacturing company turn 
out a brick noted for durability and ex- 
cellence of manufacture. Standard flouring- 
mills are located throughout the county, which 
does not now possess a single brewery or dis- 
tillery. 

A large number of wells for oil and natural 
gas are being drilled in the county. The few 
furnaces, among which were the Indiana iron- 
works and Black Lick furnace, have all gone 
down, but of late some little move has been 
made to build two or three furnaces near the 
railroads. 

The Indiana Chemical company has ex- 
tensive works at Two Lick, and the straw- 
board mill of J. W. Sutton & Bro., at 
Indiana, has a capacity of 5000 pounds per 
day, while the machine-shops and manufacturing 
establishment of Sutton Bros. & Bell, of 



Indiana, supply a large county and State trade, 
besides making shipments to different parts of 
the United States, Mexico and South America, 

Telegraph lines extend along the railways 
and the principal towns will soon be lighted by 
electricity, while they seem to have favorable 
chances to be heated yet by natural gas. 

The Indiana Telephone company was organ- 
ized, in 1887, when the parent line was run 
from Indiana to Marion . It was chartered in 
1889 with a capital of $10,000, and has six 
lines in active operation, running in all over 
200 miles, and reaching every town of any size 
or importance in the county. 

For much valuable information in regard to 
early settlers and material resources, we are in- 
debted to County Surveyer John R. Caldwell. 

The Press. — In the beautiful Holland city of 
Haerlem, Laurentius conceived the idea which 
afterward ripened into the grand art of print- 
ing. The printing press was introduced into 
Indiana county about 1814, when James Mc- 
Cahan established the American, a federal sheet, 
at Indiana. In 1821 came the Indiana and 
Jefferson Whig, the first democratic paper in the 
county. In 1826 the American,, under James 
Moorhead, became Anti-Masonic and in 1827 
was merged into iheWhig. The first paper at 
Blairsville was The Blairsville Record, which 
was established in 1827. The following eleven 
weekly papers are now published in the county : 
Enterprise, Record, Port Monitor, Democr'at, 
Messenger, News, Progress, Times, Gazette, In- 
dependent and Press. 

Churches. — The Bethel Presbyterian church 
of Centre township, and Ebenezer Presbyterian 
church of Conemaugh township were organized 
in 1790. The following churches of this de- 
nomination were organized in the years given : 
Armagh, 1792 ; Saltsburg, 1796 ; Indiana, 1807; 
Gilgal and Glade Run, 1808; Blairsville, 1822 ; 
Washington, 1828; Elder's Ridge, 1830; 
Cherry Tree, 1837 ; Currie's Run, 1838 ; Cen- 
tre, 1851 ; West Lebanon, 1853 ; Smicksburg 



56 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



and Mt. Pleasaut, 1854 ; Clarksburg and Jack- 
sonville, 1857; Marion, 1860; Pluniville, 1863; 
Black Lick, 1867 ; and Homer City, 1870. 

The United Presbyterian congregations of 
Crete and Conemaugh were organized in 1794; 
The Indiana and Bethel congregations were or- 
ganized in 1808; West Union was organized in 
1814; Beracha, 1824; Mahoning, 1828 ; Me- 
chanicsburg, 1833 ; Jacksonville, 1841 ; Sus- 
quehanna, 1842 ; Shelocta, 1854 ; Greenville, 
1858 ; Decker's Point, 1859 ; Homer City, 1873, 
and Richmond, 1874. 

The first Evangelical Lutheran church in the 
county was formed at Indiana about 1798; 
Brush Valley congregation was next organized 
and about 1830 the Blairsville church was 
formed ; Plum Creek congregation was organ- 
ized in 1830 ; Smicksburg, 1842. In 1822 the 
Indiana church organized probably the first 
Sunday-school in the county. 

The Reformed Presbyterian church was es- 
tablished in the northern part of the county 
about 1842. 

The Methodist Episcopal church of Indiana, 
was founded about 1822; Blairsville church 
organized in 1824; Nineveh, 1836; Marion, 
1837 ; and Jacksonville, 1839. 

Baptist churches were organized in the county 
in the following years : Two Lick, 1824 ; Loyal- 
hanua, 1828; Mahoning, 1830; Brush Valley 
and Shiloh, 1839; Richmond and Pine Flat, 
1845; West Lebanon, 1847; Pluniville, 1849; 
East Mahoning, 1850; Indiana, 1858; Black 
Lick, 1861, and Fairview, 1877. 

The first Methodist Protestant church in 
Indiana county was organized as Hazlett church 
in 1832; Salem church was organized in 1839; 
Cookport, 1843; Gettysburg, 1857, and Cherry 
Tree, 1873. 

In 1 865, the Protestant Episcopal denomina- 
tion organized Christ church of Indiana. 

Catholic families had settled in the vicinity as 
early as 1814, but not in sufficient numbers to 
establish a church. About 1844, or earlier. 



congregations were organized at Indiana and 
Cameron's Bottom. S. S. Simon and Jude's 
church, of Blairsville, was organized in 1829. 

In 1843 the Evangelical Association organ- 
ized a church in North Mahoning township and 
now have several congregations in the county. 

The German Baptists organized Manor and 
Montgomery churches in 1843. 

The Wesleyan Methodists organized Pine 
Grove church in 1848. Their church at Dixon- 
ville was organized in 1855. Manor and Spruce 
churches of this denomination were organized 
in 1856 and 1862. 

Nero congregation of theCalvinistic Method- 
ist was organized in 1842, and Pine Flat con- 
gregation of the Church of Christ was formed in 
1856. 

In 1850 the census report gave the number 
of churches as 61, of which 29 were Presby- 
terian; 10 Lutheran; 10 Methodist; 7 Catholic ; 
4 Baptist and 1 Protestant Episcopal. 

Educational. — Of the pioneer schools, Ex- 
County Superintendent Samuel Wolf says, in 
his excellent centennial historical sketch, that 
the first settlers of Indiana county were Scotch- 
Irish presbyterians and brought with them 
their rifles, their Bibles and their spelling- 
books. He states that Revs. Power, Jamison, 
and Henderson were instrumental in establish- 
ing the first elementary schools in which spelling, 
reading, writing and arithmetic were taught six 
days of each week that they were in session and 
that the teacher received a yearly salary of from 
four to six dollars per pupil, never had less than 
twenty-five pupils and " boarded round." One 
of the class of school -houses that were in use 
from 1777 to 1815 is described by John M. 
Robinson in the following language : " The 
building was 18x22 feet, of round logs (7 feet 
high), the cracks daubed with mortar called ' kat 
and klay ; ' a large log (mantel) was placed 
across the building, four feet from the end wall, 
and five feet high, upon which the chimney was 
built of split sticks, the cracks and inside of 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



57 



which was daubed with tough mortar ; the floor 
was made of split logs, hewed, called puncheons ; 
the hearth was of stone and at its end a space 
was left unfloored in which the goose-quills for 
writing were stuck to make them of uniform 
pliability. The ceiling was made of puncheons 
and the roof of clap-boards, eaves-poles and 
weight-poles. There was a ledge door in the 
side, with wooden hinges and latch. The win- 
dows were the whole length of tiie building; 
they were from eight to ten inches high, with 
little posts set in about every foot, on which 
oiletl paper was pasted in lieu of glass. Writ- ; 
ing-boards on slanting wooden pegs, even with 
the under edge of windows, hewed slab benches 
without backs and a short slanting board in one ' 
corner near the hearth, for the teacher's desk, 
comprised the furniture." Mr. Smith makes 
record of a school taught by James McDowell, 
some time between 1777 and 1785, in a cabin 
owned by Robert Robinson in the Conemaugh : 
settlement. He also states that in 1790 a mau j 
named Atwell taught near Campbell's mill in 
the Black Lick settlement and from tliat time 
ou schools were opened in every settlement un- 
til 1815, when there were at least twenty-five 
schools in the county. 

From 1815 to the passage of the common 
school law, in 1834, there was a gradual in- 
crease in the number of elemeutary schools and 
a steady improvement in buildings. 

At an early day in the history of the county 
a movement was made for the establishment of 
higher education and Indiana academy was 
founded in 1816, on the site of Judge Clark's 
residence at Indiana. This institution of learn- 
ing received $2000 of State aid and continued 
in existence until 1862. A female seminary 
was opened shortly afterwards, but soon went 
down. In 1832 a class commenced to recite to 
Rev. Alex. Donaldson, in the secoud story of a 
log spring-house, and led to the establishment 
of Elder's Ridge academy, which has become 
an educational power in the Uuitetl States, 



through the three thousand students who have 
gone forth from its walls. Blairsville academy 
was established in 1842 and eleven years later 
was founded Blairsville Female semiuary, whose 
graduates are an honor to it and to society. 
Close to Saltsburg is the flourishing " Kis,ki- 
minetas school for boys," under charge of 
Profs. A. W. Wilson and R. W. Fair. 

At the county institute held at Indiana in 
December, 1860, an effort was made to obtain 
funds sufficient to secure the establishment, at 
that place, of the State Normal school for the 
Ninth Normal school district of Pennsylvania. 
Twenty thousand dollars were raised and the 
matter rested until two years later, when Pro- 
fessor A. N. Raub spoke so forcibly upon the 
subject that Judge Clark, Peter Sutton, A. W. 
Wilson and other public-spirited citizens gave 
freely of their time and money until their 
labors were crowned with success in the erection 
of the present magnificent State Normal school 
building at Indiana. It was built in 1875, at 
a cost of $200,000, has received extensive 
improvements since and as a building is second 
to none in the State. 

The first teachers' association was formed in 
June, 1852, by the students of Elder's Ridge 
academy, who intendtd to teach, and was 
followed by a teachers' institute at Blairsville 
in November, 1852, held for one week by the 
teachers of Indiana and Westmoreland coun- 
ties. The teachers of Washington district 
organized an institute iu 1853, which has been 
continued ever since. White and Centre organ- 
ized institutes in 1854. The first county 
institute was called by Superintendent Bollman, 
on August 22, 1854, and led to the formation of 
the present Teachers' Association of Indiana 
county. 

Banks. — The prosperity of the banks of any 
city or county is indicative of an era of com- 
mercial progress. Indiana county is especially 
favored in the management of her banks which 
is done upon conservative and intelligent meth- 



58 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



ods. As far as we have had opportuuity to 
examine records, we find no trace of any bank 
in the county until 1855, after which the bank- 
ing-house of Hogue & Co. was established at 
Indiana, as the predecessor of the First National 
bank of that place. 

The Bar. — The position which the legal pro- 
fession has always occupied in the history of 
Pennsylvania has been a very high and honor- 
able one. The bar of Indiana county, from its 
very organization, has ranked as among the 
best of the western counties. It con^prises 
many able lawyers and eloquent orators, and is 
a credit to the State. The legal history of the 
county, to be intelligently and interestingly 
written, can only be written by one well versed 
in the law and well acquainted with the lives of 
most of the leading lawyers of the Indiana bar 
since its organization. 

The president judges who have presided over 
the courts of Indiana county have been : John 
Young, 1806 to 1836 ; Thomas White, 1836 to 
1847; J. M. Burrell, 1847 to 1848; J. C. 
Knox, 1848 to 1850; J. M. Burrell, 1851 to 
1855; Joseph Buffington, from 1855 to 1871 ; 
John P. Blair, 1871 to 1885, and Harry White, 
1885 to 

The Medical Profession. — The first physician 
to practice in the county was Dr. Samuel Tal- 
mage, who resided at Newport for many years, 
but finally removed to Westmoreland county. 
Dr. Reed, of the above-named county, practiced 
in the Conemaugh section, and Dr. George 
Hays, of New England, came, about 1805, to 
the Black Lick creek settlement, where he re- 
mained for several years. Dr. Jonatlian French 
located at Indiana in 1807, and Dr. E. P. Em- 
erson, at Blairsville, in 1819. The Indiana 
County Medical society was organized June 23, 
1858, and one of its members. Dr. William 
Anderson, in 1880, wrote a very comprehensive 
as well as exceedingly interesting history of the 
medical profession of Indiana county, which was 
published in Caldwell's history of the county. 



Political History. — No county in the State has 
a more complete record of township elections 
than Indiana. These election records extend 
back to the formation of the county. Instead 
of discussing the history of political parties, or 
giving township, county, congressional or State 
votes, which are sometimes cast in revolt against 
party leaders, we have carefully compiled the 
popular vote of the county for president since 
1824, when the citizens of this State were given 
the first opportunity to vote for president, and 
think that this vote will be the best exponent 
of the political history that can be given. 



1832. 



Popular vok of Indiana county at presidential elections 
from 1824 to 1888. 

. Andrew Jackson .... 258 
. John Q. Adams .... 27 
. William H. Crawford . . 2 
. Andrew Jackson .... 926 

. John Q. Adams 245 

. Andrew Jackson .... 654 

. William Wirt 683 

1836. Whig William H. Harrison . . 1,169 

Democratic . . Martin Van Buren . . . 692 

1840. Whig William H. Harrison . . I,9.i3 

Democratic . . Martin Van Buren . . . 1,209 

1844. Whig Henry Clay 2,200 

Democratic . . James K. Polk 1,443 

Liberty . . . James G. Birney .... 80 
1848. Whig Zachary Taylor 2,410 



1824. Republican . 

Coalition . . 

Republican . 
1828. Democratic . 

Nat. Rep. . . 

Democratic . 

Anti-Mason . 



Democratic . 

Free Soil . . 
1852. Whig . . . 

Democratic . 

Free Dem. . 
1856. Republican . 

Democratic . 

American . . 
1860 Republican . 

Democrat. . 

Cons't Union 

Ind. Dem. . 
1864. Republican . 

Democratic . 
1868. Republican . 

Democratic . 
1872. Republican . 

Dem. & Lib. 

Democratic . 



. Lewis Cass 1,544 

. Martin Van Buren ... 204 

. Winfield Scott 2,387 

. Franklin Pierce 1,827 

. John P. Hale 142 

. John C. Fremont .... 3,612 
. James Buchanan .... 1,762 
. Millard Fillmore .... 263 
. Abraham Lincoln .... 3,910 
. John C. Breckinridge . . 1,347 

. John Bell 22 

. Stephen A. Douglas . . . 
. Abrsiham Lincoln .... 4,320 
. George B. McClellan . . 2,179 
. Ulysses S. Grant .... 4,809 
. Horatio Seymour .... 2,223 
. Ulysses S. Grant .... 4,386 

. Horace Greeley 1,266 

. Charles O'Connor .... 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



59 



Temperance . 
1876. Kepublican . 

Democratic . 

Greenback . 

Prohibition . 
1880. Kepublican . 

Democratic . 

Greenback . 

Prohibition . 
1884. Republican . 

Democratic . 

Greenback . 

Prohibition . 
1888. Republican . 

Democratic . 

Greenback . 

Prohibition . 



James Black .... 
. Rutherford B. Hayes 

Samuel J. Tilden . . 

Peter Cooper .... 

Green C. Smith . . . 

James A. Garfield . . 

Winfleld S. Hancock 
, James B. Weaver 

Neal Dow . . . 

James G. Blaine 

Grover Cleveland 

Benjamin F. Butler . 

John P. St. John . . 
, Benjamin Harrison . 
, Grover Cleveland . . 
, Alaon J. Strceter . . 
, Clinton B. Fisk . . . 



4,934 
2,248 
3 
42 
4,617 
2,119 
1,488 

4,607 

1,979 

1,186 

385 

5,084 

2,231 

483 

294 



The vote of Indiana for 1824 includes the 
vote of Jefferson county, wiiich was attached to 
Indiana at that time in judicial and political 
matters. 

Census Sfatisties. — Population of Indiana 
county at each decade from 1810 to 1890, in- 
clusive, as given in the United States census 
reports : 

1810, 6,214. 1840,20,782. 1870,36,178. 
1820, 8,882. 1850, 27,170. 1880, 40,526. 
1830,14,252. 1860,33,687. 1890,42,100. 

Colored population from 1810 to 1890: 

1810, 41. 1840, 155. 1870, 186. 
1820, 61. 1850, 254. 1880, 227. 
1830, 97. 1860, 186. 1890, 

By the Census of 1880, the following places 
were reported having the population given : 

Advance, 34 ; Bells Mills, 79 ; Black Lick, 
237; Brownstown, 243; Centreville, 169; 
Colfax, 75; Cookport, 192; Covode, 85; 
Creekside, 50; Davidsville, 49; Dixonville, 
93; Elder's Ridge, 37; Georgeville, 104; 
Gettysburg, 161 ; Greenville, 196 ; Locust Lane, 
51 ; New AVaishington, 38 ; N. Blairsville, 100; 
O'Hara, 135 ; Pine Flats, 115 ; Plumville, 191 ; 
Richmond, 93 ; Smethport, 48 ; Taylorsville, 
106; Unioutown, 49; West Lebanon, 150; 
and Willet. 50. 



By the census of 1820 there were in Indiana 
county 3 cardiug machines, 277 looms, 
1,239 spinning wheels, 3 fulling-mills, 6 hat- 
teries, producing 2,400 hats; 1 salt works, 
making 600 bushels of salt; 18 blacksmith- 
shops, doing $9,000 worth of business ; 27 dis- 
tilleries, makiug 18,000 gallons of liquor; 16 
wh eat-mills, grinding 48,000 bushels of wheat ; 
17 saw-mills, cutting 985,000 feet of lumber ; 
2,715 horses and 5,995 neat cattle. There was 
also 20,400 gallons of maple molas.ses made. 

By the census reports of 1880 Indiana county 
had 4,438 farms, containing 457,095 acres. 
There were in the county 12,066 horses, 
14,118 milch cows, 20,218 other cattle, 61,732 
sheep and 31,465 swine. 

In 1879 the following amounts of grain were 
rai.sed from the number of acres given : 



Grain. 


Acres. 


Bmheh. 


Barley, 


23 


362 


Rye, 


9,262 


77,166 


Buckwheat, 


9,035 


109,159 


Oats, 


31,269 


775,383 


Corn, 


29,146 


914,695 


Wheat, 


31,358 


309,752 



There were 37,266 acres of meadow, yielding 
321,143 tons of hay and 15 acres in tobacco, 
with a yield of 10,181 pounds of that article. 

In 1880 Indiana county had 279 manufact- 
uring establishments, with an invested capital 
of $890,000 and in which over 700 hands 
were employed. 

While numbers are not the progress measure 
of county life, yet their rapid increa.se indexes 
every great .stride in the development of a 
county's material resources ; and their marked 
decrease chronicles ever}' great drain by emigra- 
tion. 

The census table to a certain extent is a 
numerical chart — an arithmetical map — where 
progress and decay can be partly traced in the 
.swelling and the ebbing of the tide of numbers. 

Let us see what the census tells us of the story 



60 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



of Indiana county life : It showsa steady increase 
of population at the end of every decade despite 
the drain by emigration to the west. In the 
three decades from 1820 to 1850, the remark- 
able increase of population tells the story of the 
influence of the Pennsylvania canal on the 
county. From 1850 to 1870, notwithstanding 
the check of business by the war, yet an 
increased growth is traced in the railroads built 
in and through the county. The slowly increas- 
ing population from 1870 to 1880 and nearly 
up to 1890, is traceable to the railroads while 
the wonderful growth of the county during 1889 
will be fully illustrated in the census of 1900 
when it will give, as other coke counties have 
given, a wonderful increase of population in 
Indiana county as the result of her coke and 
other industries. 

The following table gives the population of 
the boroughs and townships of Indiana county, 
as recorded in the last two census reports : 

Borough and Township. 1880. 1890. 

Armagh 123 170 

Armstrong 1340 1195 

Black Lick 924 798 

Banks 919 1485 

Blairsville 1162 3113 

Brush Valley 1365 1179 

Bufiington 819 644 

Burrell 1770 1415 

Canoe 1217 1245 

Centre 1265 1277 

Cherry Hill 2243 1974 

Cherry Tree 380 364 

Conemaugh 1346 1530 

East Mahoning 1160 1085 

East Wheatfield 937 775 

Grant 1318 1351 

Green 2606 2401 

Homer City 381 513 

Indiana 1907 1971 

Jacksonville 114 133 

Marion 398 381 

Mechanicsburg 226 198 

Montgomery 1211 1079 

North Mahoning 1317 1251 

Pine 1189 1003 

Eayne 1958 1924 



Saltsburg 855 

Shelocta 121 

Smicksburg 221 

South Mahoning 4369 

Washington 1668 

West Indiana 1077 

West Mahoning 1170 

West Wheatfield 1359 

White 1716 

Young 1376 



1114 

86 

299 

1343 

1589 
1631 
1055 
1699 
1612 
1238 



Total 40527 42100 

Senators of Pennsylvania House of Represen- 
tatives. — 1803 to 1815, James Brady; 1815 to 
1819, John Reed ; 1819 to 1822, Henry Alls- 
house; 1822 to 1825, Robert Orr, Jr.; 1823 to 
1830, Eben S. Kelly; 1830 to 1835, Robert 
Mechling; 1834 to 1838, Meek Kelly; 1839, 
Findley Patterson; 1841 to 1844, William 
Bigler, of Clearfield ; 1847, William F.John- 
ston; 1850, Augustus Drum; 1851 to 1853, 
C.Myers; 1854 to 1856, Samuel S.Jamison; 
1863, Harry White; 1864 to 1865, Thomas St. 
Clair; 1866 to 1874, Harry White; 1877 to 
1879, Thomas St. Clair; 1885 to 1888, George 
W. Hood. 

Members of the Assembly. — 1803, James Mc- 
Comb; 1808, James Sloan; 1809, James Mc- 
Comb; 1815, David Reed; 1816, James M. 
Kelly and Joshua Lewis; 1818, James M. 
Kelly and Samuel Houston ; 1819, Robert Orr, 
Jr., and Samuel Houston; 1820, Robert Orr, 
Jr., and Robert Mitchell; 1822, John Taylor 
and Robert Mitchell; 1823, John Taylor and 
Joseph Rankin; 1825, David Lawson and 
Joseph Rankin; 1826, David Lawson and 
1827, David Lawson and 
1828, Robert Mitchell and 
1829, David Lawson and 
Joseph Rankin; 1830, Robert Mitchell; 1831, 
William Houston; 1833, James M. Stewart; 
1834, William Banks; 1836, James Taylor, 
1838, William McCaran, Jr.; 1839, Allen N. 
Work; 1840, John Cummins; 1842,JohnMc- 
Ewen; 1844, John McFarland; 1846, William 



Thomas Johnson ; 
Joseph Rankin; 
Joseph Rankin; 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



61 



C. McKuight; 1848, William Evaus; 1852 
Alexander McConuell; 1856, R. B. Moor- 
head; 1858, John Bruce; 1859, A. W. Tay- 
lor; 1861, James Alexander; 1862, Richard 
Graham; 1863, J. W. Houston; 1865, George 
E. Smith; 1867, W. C. Gordon, A. W. Kim- 
mell; 1868, W. C. Gordon; 1868, R. H. Mc- 
Cormiek; 1869, D. M. Marshall; 1871, 
Thomas McMullin, H. K. Sloan; 1872, 
Thomas McMullin; 1873, Daniel Ramey; 
1875, A. W. Kimmell, J. K. Thompson ; 1877, 
A. H. Fulton, Jacob Creps; 1878, A. H. Ful- 
ton, Jacob Creps; 1879, A. H. Fulton, John 
Hill; 1881, William C. Brown and 

; 1883, John Lowry and ; 1885, 

John P. Elkins and ; 1887, S. J. 

Craighead and John P. Elkins; 1889, N. 
Seanor and J. W. Morrow. 

Associate Judges from 1806 to 1875.— 1806, 
James Smith, Charles Campbell ; 1818, Joshua 
Lewis (succeeded Smith); 1828, John Taylor; 
1829, Andrew Brown ; 1830, Samuel Moorhead, 
Jr.; 1836, Robert Mitchell, M.D.; 1842, Meek 
Kelly, James McKeunon; 1843, John Cun- 
ningham; 1845, Fergus Cannon; 1846, Joseph 
Thompson; 1849, James M. Stewart, M.D.; 
1851 to 1856, Peter Ditts.Sr.; 1851 to 1861, 
Isaac M. Watt; 1856 to 1866, John K. Thomp- 
son, M.D.; 1861 to 1866, Peter Sutton; 1866 
to 1871, T. B. Allison; 1866 to 1871, Joseph 
Campbell; 1871 to 1876, Peter Ditts, Jr.; 
1871 to February, 1874, James S. Nesbit (re- 
signed); February, 1874, to January 1st, 1875, 
William Irwin. 

District Attorneys. — Edmund Page, 1850 to 
1853; Henry B. Woods, 1856 to 1859; John 
Lowry, 1862; Daniel S. Porter, 1865 to 1868; 
William R. Allison, 1871 ; Samuel Cunning- 
ham, 1874; M. C. Watson, 1877; M. C. Wat- 
son, 1877 to 1884; S. M. Jack, 1884 to 1890; 
John Leech, 1890. 

The Indiana RegUter in 1859 gave the fol- 
lowing list of attorneys of the Indiana county 
bar from 1806 to 1859: John B. Alexander, 



' Samuel S. Harrison, Samuel Massey, Daniel 
Stennard, Walter Forward, Samuel F. Riddle, 
James M. Kelley, Henry Baldwin, John John- 
ston, William H. Breckenridge, Walter M. 
Denny, Ephraim M. Carpenter, John William- 

i son, Daniel M. Broadhead, Thomas White, 
Thomas R. Peters, George Canan, George 
Armstrong, James M. Riddle, Samuel Guthry, 

; Joseph Weighley, Paul Morrow, Alexander W. 
Foster, Beal Howard, John Maintain, Thomas 

I Blair, A. Lawrence, Charles B. Seely, William 
M. Kennedy, Jacob M. Wise, Henry Shippen, 
John Y. Barclay, W. R. Smith, John Reid, 
R. B. McCabe, Henry G. Herron, George Car- 
son, John Miles, J. McWilliams, Joseph H. 
Kuhne, W. F. Boon, George W. Smith, John 
Frances, Thomas Knox, William Banks, Stew- 
art Steel, Alexander McCalmont, Michael Dan 
McGehan, James Hepburn, Thomas Struthers, 
George Shaw, Charles S. Bradford, Joseph Buf- 
tiugton, James H. Devor, Joseph J. Young, 
H. D. Foster, Benjamin Bartholomew, Robert 
Brown, Martin Brainard, William M. Watson, 
Caleb A. Alexander, William B. Conway, 
Barnwell D. Basford, Joseph B. Musser, 
Michael Galliher, Richard Arthurs, John Fen- 
ton, John Brady, Darwin Phelps, Albert Mer- 
chand, John Meyers, William M. Stewart, 
Samuel Johnston, John F. Beaver, Thomas 
Sutton, Alexander W. Taylor, Robert L. John- 
ston, Michael Hasson, S. Hay, Edgar Cowan, 
James Nichols, Samuel A. Purviance, Jeremiah 
M. Burwell, Wilson Riley, Ephraim Buffing- 
ton, A. L. Hamilton, B. Cornyn, T. C. Mc- 
Dowel, John Potter, James W.Johnson, Charles 
H. Heyer, P. C. Shannon, H. P. Laird, G. P. 
Reed, Alexander W. Taylor, S. F. Cox, Wil- 
liam A. Campbell, Jackson Boggs, Matthew 
Taylor, Levi McElhose, Edward Hutchison, 
L. S. Cantwell, Edmund Paige, John Crisswell, 
O. H. Brown, T. J. Coffey, John Stanard, Wil- 
liam Houston, Jr., Richard Coulter, Jr., Joseph 
Frantz, Samuel H. Tate, Samuel Sherwell, J. 
Alexander Fulton, David Barclay, John A. 



62 



QEOLOOICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



Willis, Robert Suttou, Edward S. Golden, ' 
Samuel Douglass, H. B. Woods, Hugh Weir, 
Thomas E. Morgau, G. W. Bounen, Jacob 
Turney, George M. Reed, William H. Coulter, 
Charles Wyngard, Phineas M. Jenks, J. K. 
Coxson, Lewis M. Stewart, Harry White, 
Mathews Coleman, Joseph M. Thompson, Mar- 
tin R. Cooley, C. D. Steel, Eklward J. Belch, 
William H. McKee, John Conrod, Alexander 
McKinney, Philip S. Noon, Benjamin F. Lucas, 
James A. Getty, John McClaran, Silas M. 
Clark, John Campbell, T. J. McCullough, 
William Kittell, John T. Crawford, John K. ''' 
Kalhoun. 

S/imJs.— Thomas McCartney, 1806; Thomas 
Sutton, 1809; Robert Robinson, 1812; Thomas 
Sutton, 1815; James Elliott, 1818; Henry 
Kinter, 1821; Clemence McGara, 1824; James 
Gordon, 1827; James Taylor, 1830; Joseph 
Lowry, 1833; James Kier, 1836; William 
Evans, 1839; David Ralston, 1842; Simeon 
Truby, 1845; Gawin Sutton, 1848; John Mul- 
lin, 1851; John Montgomery, 1854; Joseph R. 
Smith, 1857; A. P. Thompson, 1860; James ^ 
R. Dangherty, 1863; Jacob Creps, 1866; Hen- j 
derson C. Howard, 1869; James R. Dangherty, 
1872; William C. Brown, 1875; Daniel Ans- 
ley, 1878; M. F. Jamison, 1882; James Me- ; 
Gregor, 1885; D. C. Mack, 1888. 

Prothonotaries and Clei-ks. — James McLain, 
1806; John Taylor, 1818; James McCahan, 
1821; Alexander Taylor, 1824; William Banks, 
1828; R. B. McCabe, 1833; Thomas Langh- 
lin, 1836; Fergus Cannon, February, 1839, to 
December, 1839; Robert Craig, 1839; Alex- 
ander W. Taylor, 1845 ; N. B. Loughrey. 1851 ; 
John Myers, 1854; J. R. Porter, Jr., 1857; 
E. P. Hildebrand, 1860; John Lowry, 1866; 
A. C. Boyle, 1872; W. S. Daugherty, 1882; 
John A. Scott, 1888. 

Registers and Recorders. — James McLain, 
1806; John Taylor, 1818; James McCahan, 
1821; Alexander Taylor, 1824; William 
Banks, 1828; R. B. McCabe, 1833; W. Doug- 



lass, 1836; Isaac M. Watt, 1839; William 
McClaren, 1842; William McClaran, 1845; 
Isaac M. Watt January, 1847, to December, 
1847; David Peelor, 1847; John H. Lichte- 
berger, 1853; A. L. McClusky, 1862; W. R. 
Black, 1868; David R. Lewis, 1874; B. F. 
McCluskey, 1881, who died August 18, 1882, 
and was succeeded by J. A. Findley; James 
McGregor, 1890. 

Treasurer. — James McKnight, 1811 ; Thomas 
Sutton, 1813; John Taylor, 1815; William 
Lucas, 1817; William Douglas, 1820; Alex- 
ander Taylor, 1822; William Trimble, 1824; 
William Lucas, 1827; Blaney Adair, 1830; 
James Todd, 1833; I. M. Watt, 1836; W. W. 
Caldwell, 1839; William Bruce, 1842; W. 
Douglass, 1843; W. W. Caldwell, 1845; 
Samuel R.Rankin, 1847; W. W. Caldwell, 
1849; James Hood, 1851; Garviu Sutton, 
1853; Thomas McCandless, 1855; Jolin Briuk, 
1857; Charles N. Swoyer, 1859 (elected but 
died before taking office); William Earl, 1859 
(appointed); James Moorhead, 1861; W. H. 
Coleman, 1863; John A. Stewart, 1865; George 
W. McHenry,1867; Noah Lohr, 1869; James 
M. Sutton, 1871; George H.Johnston, 1873; 
John Ebey, 1875; John Truby, 1878; John T. 
Gibson, 1882; T. C. Ramey, 1885; D. A. 
Luckhart, 1888; G. H. Ogdeu, 1891. 

Siu-veyors : District, Deputy and County. — The 
district surveyors whose services extended over 
that part of Indiana county north of the old 
purchase line, were : James Hamilton, John 
Broadhead, James Jolmston, James Potter and 
William P. Brady. 

Those serving within the limits of the pur- 
chase of 1768 were : Joshua Elder, John Moore, 
Joseph L. Fiudley, Eonieu Williams, James 
Ross, Thomas Allison and Alexander Taylor. 

Their successors were: John Taylor, 1815, 
also served as surveyor-general ; Robert Young, 
1818; Alexander Taylor, Jr., 1819; Meek 
Kelly, 1821; John Taylor, 1825-1827; Meek 
Kell'ey, 1830-33; Robert McGee, 1834; Wil- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



63 



liam Evans, 1836; Robert McGee, 1839; 
Thompson McCrea, 1850; David Peelor, 1856; 
William Evans, 1859; Edmund Paige, 1862; 
Thompson McCrea, 1865-68; Edmund Paige, 
1871-79; John R. Caldwell, 1887. 

Commissioners. — William Clarke, 1806 and 
1807; James Johnson and Alexander McLean, 
1806 ; William Clarke and Alexander McLean, 
1808; William Clarke and Rev. John Jamison, 
1809; James McKnight, Rev. Jolin Jamison 
and Robert Robison, 1810; Robert Robison, 
Joshua Lewis and Rev. John Jamison, 1811; 
Robert Robison, Joshua Lewis and Joseph 
Moorhead, 1812; Francis Boals, Joshua Lewis 
and Joseph Moorhead, 1813; Joseph Moor- 
head, Francis Boals and Alexander McLain, 
1814; Alexander McLain, Francis Boals and 
Gawin Sutton, 1815; Gawin Sutton, Alexander 
McLain and Thomas Sharp, 1816; Gawin Sut- 
ton, Thomas Sharp and John Smith, 1817; 
Thomas Sharp, John Smith and Thomas Laugh- 
lin, 1818; Thomas Laughliu, John Smith and 
Joseph Henderson, 1819; William Clarke, 
John Smith and Joseph Henderson, 1820; 
Joseph Henderson, William Clarke and Clem- 
euce McGara, 1821 ; Clemeuce McGara, Stew- 
art Davis and William Clarke, 1822; Stewart 
Davis, Clemence McGara and Alexander Patti- 
son, 1823; Alexander Pattison, Stewart Davis, 
James Gordon, 182-1; James Gordon, William 
W. Caldwell, Alexander Pattison, 1825; James 
Gordon, James Todd, W. W. Caldwell, 1826; 
Peter Dilts, W. W. Caldwell, James Todd, 
1827; Samuel Trimble, Peter Dilts, James 
Todd, 1828; Samuel Trimble, Peter Dilts, 
Archibald Johnson, 1829; Samuel Trimble, 
Archibald Johnson, Gawin Sutton, 1830; Ga- 
win Sutton, Archibald Johnson, James Lewis, 
1831; Gawin Sutton, William Leard, 1833; 
James Lewis, Alexander McMullin, 1834; 
James McComb, William Laird, Alexander 
McMullin, 1834; James McComb, William 
Laird, Alexander McMullin, 1835 ; James 
MaComb, James Lapsley, John Cummins, 



1836 ; John Cummins, James Lapsley, Joseph 
McMasters, 1837; William Smith, John Cum- 
mins, Joseph McMasters, 1838 ; William Smith, 
Philip Rice, James Rhea, 1839 ; John Dick 
took his seat October 20, in lieu of Smith ; 
Philip Rice, James Rhea, John Dick, 1841 ; 
Charles Campbell took his seat November 2, in 
lieu of Dick ; James Rhea, John Dick, Charles 

; Campbell, 1842 ; Thomas Stewart October 24, 
iu lieu of Rhea; John Dick, Charles Campbell, 
Thomas Stewart, 1843 ; John A. Jamison, Oc- 
tober 23, in lieu of Di^k ; Charles Campbell, 
Thomas Stewart, John A. Jamison, 1844 ; 
Alexander T. Moorhead took his seat in lieu of 
Stewart ; Charles Campbell, John A. Jamison, 
Alexander T. Moorhead, 1845 ; Abraham 
Davis took his seat November 3, in lieu of 
Campbell ; John T. Jamison, Alexander T. 

' Moorhead, Abraham Davis, 1846; Thomas 
Walker took his seat November 2, in lieu of 
Jamison ; Alexander T. Moorhead, Abraham 
Davis, Thomas Walker, 1847; Jacob Gamble 
took his seat October 25, in lieu of Moor- 
head ; Abraham Davis, Thomas Walker, 
Jacob Gamble, 1848 ; Thomas Gibson took 
his seat, October 14, in lieu of Davis ; Thomas 
Walker, Jacob Gamble, Thomas Gibson, 1849 ; 
John Lytic took his seat October 15, in lieu of 
Walker ; Jacob Gamble, Thomas Gibson, John 
Lytle, 1850 ; John Shields took his seat Octo- 
ber 21, iu lieu of Gamble ; Thomas Gibson, 
John Lytle, John Shields, 1851 ; Samuel H. 
Johnston, November 3, in lieu of Gibson ; 
John Lytle, John Shields, Samuel H. John- 
ston, 1852; Robert H. Armstrong, October 25, 
in lieu of Lytle ; John Shields, Samuel H. 
Johnston, Robert H. Armstrong, 1853; Moses 
T. Work, November 1, in lieu of Shields; 
Samuel H. Johnston, Robert H. Armstrong, 
Moses T. Work, 1854; George Lowman took 
the place of Johnston ; Robert H. Armstrong, 
Moses T. Work, George Lowman, 1855; Johu 
Gourley, October 17, in lieu of Armstrong; 
Moses T. Work, George Lowman, John Gour- 



64 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



ley, 1 856 ; David Henderson, October 29, in 
lieu of Work ; George Lowman, John Gour- 
ley, David Henderson, 1857 ; Thomas Davis, 
November 3, in lieu of Lowman ; John Gour- 
ley, David Henderson, Thomas Davis, 1858; 
A. L. McCloskey, October 25, in lieu of Gour- 
• ley ; David Henderson, Thomas Davis, A. L. 
McCluskey, 1859 ; William Johnston, October 
26, in lieu of Henderson ; Thomas Davis, A. 
L. McCluskey, William Johnston, 1860; Sam- 
uel Irwin, October 15, in lieu of Davis; A. L. 
McCluskey, William Johnston, Samuel Irwin, 
1861 ; Andrew Shields, November 12, in lieu 
of McCluskey ; William Johnston, Samuel Ir- 
win, Andrew Shields, 1862 ; Samuel Irwin, An- 
drew Shields, S. A. Allison, 1863; Andrew 
Shields, S. A. Allison, W. C. McCrea, 1864 ; S. 
A. Allison, W. C. McCrea, W. G. Stewart, 1865 
W. C. McCrea, W. G. Stewart, R. Adams, 1866 
W. G. Stewart, R. Adams, G. Shryock, 1867 
Robert Adams, George Shryock, Elliott Fer- 
guson, 1868; George Shryock, Elliott Fer- 
guson, James T. Vauhorn, 1869; Elliott Fer- 
guson, James T. Vanhorn, John S. Fleming, 
ing, 1870 ; James T. Van Horn, John S. Flem- 
ing, Jacob Darr, 1871 ; John S. Fleming, Jacob 
Darr, James M. Work, 1872 ; Jacob Darr, 
James M. Work, George W. Boadenhamer, 
1873 ; James M. Work, George W. Boaden- 
hamer, Samuel G. Miller, 1874; George 
W. Boadenhamer, Samuel G. Miller, Francis 
Mabon, 1875; Jeremiah Lomison, Frederick 
Cameron, Frederick Buterbaugh, 1876-7-8; 
John G. Robinson, A. P. Thompson, William 
Daugherty, 1879-80; James Johnston, Wm. 
Mabon, James C. McQuown, 1882; A W. 
Steele, R. M. McComb, Jeremiah Wakefield, i 
1885; A. C. Rankin, John G. Cameron, A. H. 
Braughler, 1891. 

The clerks of the board of commissioners 
from 1804 to 1880 have been : Alexander 
Johnston, for trustees of the county, 1804 ; Paul 
Morrison, for trustees of county, 1805; James 
Riddle for commissioners, 1806 ; James Mc- 



Knight, 1807; Daniel Stenard and James M. 
Biddie, 1808 ; Daniel Stenard, 1809-10 ; James 
McKnight, 1811 ; James M. KelJey, 1812-13; 
John Wilson and James Coulter, 1814; John 
Wilson and John Taylor, 1815; Gawin Sutton 
and John Taylor, 1816 ; Daniel Stenard and 
Stewart Davis, 1817; Stewart Davis, 1820; 
Robert Young, 1824; Ephraim Carpenter, 
1825; Stewart Davis, 1825; William Banks, 
1826 ; John Johnston, 1829 ; William 
Banks, 1833; Joseph J. Young, 1834; Wil- 
liam Stewart, I. M. Watt and John Myers, 
1838; Robert M. Gibson, 1839; A. W. Tay- 
lor, 1841; Edward Paige, 1848; J. H. Lich- 
teberger, 1849 ; George Shryock, 1853 ; 
George Shryock, 1862; W. R. Black, 1865; 
James B. Work, 1870 ; W. H. Coleman, 1871 ; 
D. R. Lewis, 1873; J. T. Gibson, 1875 ; J. P. 
St. Clair, 1879-80. 

The coroners from 1806 to 1880 have been : 
Samuel Young, 1806; Joseph Turner, 1809; 
William Shields, 1812; James Loughrey, 1815 ; 
William Douglas, 1818; Peter Sutton, Jr., 
1821 ; James E. Cooper, 1824 ; Samuel George, 
1827-30-33 ; Samuel McCartney, 1833-36-39 ; 
William Henry, 1839 ; John McQuilkin, 1842 ; 
James Hood, 1845; Samuel Trimble, 1848; 
James McLain, 1851 ; J. W. Mahon, 1854; J. 
A. Jamison, 1857 ; J. I. Kelly, 1860; William 
Shields, 1863; Joseph Gilbert, 1868; John 
Clawson, 1869; William H. Coleman, 1872 ; 
Samuel A. Smith, 1875 ; Irvin McFarland, 
1878. 

The following is an alphabetical li.st of the 
post-offices in Indiana county, with their 
respective distances from the county-seat, on 
October 1, 1890: Advance, 9 miles; Ambrose, 
13 miles; Angora, 18 miles; Armagh, 14 
miles; Avanmore, 24 miles; Beringer, 18 
miles; Black Lick Station, 12 miles; Blairs- 
ville, 16 miles; Brady, 14 miles; Brush Val- 
ley, 10 miles ; Buffington, 16 miles ; Canoe 
Ridge, 24 miles ; Chambersville, 7 miles ; 
Clarksburg, 15 miles; Clyde, 14 miles; Cook- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



65 



port, 16 miles; Covode, 23 miles; Cramer, 16 
miles ; Creekside, 6 miles ; Crete, 5 miles ; 
Cush Creek, 23 miles; Davis, 11 miles; Deck- 
er's Point, 14 miles; Dentou. 17 miles; Dill- 
town, 14 miles; Dixonville, 13 miles; Ebenezer, 
13 miles; Elder's Ridge, 16 miles; Flora, 30 
miles; Georgeville, 20 miles; Gilpin, 8 miles; 
Glen Campbell, 24 miles; Grant, 22 miles; 
Grip, 18 miles ; Grisemore, 17 miles; Hamili, 
17 miles ; Heshbon, 14 miles ; Hillsdale, 20 
miles ; Home, 10 miles ; Homer City, 6 miles ; 
Horton's, 28 miles; Kent, 9 miles; Kenwood, 13 
miles; Kimmell, 16 miles; Locust Lane, 23 
miles; Loop, 25 miles; Marcliand, 21 miles; 
Mitchell's Mills, 13 miles; Nolo, 10 miles; 
North Point, 25 miles ; North Summit, 35 miles ; 
Onberg, 6 miles; Ord, 17 miles; Parkwood, 10 
miles ; Peuu Run, 9 miles ; Pine Flats, 14 
miles ; Plumville, 14 miles ; Purchase Line, 16 
miles ; Rochester Mills, 20 miles ; Saltsburg, 

20 miles ; Sheloeta, 9 miles ; Sniathers, 6 miles ; 
Smicksburg, 22 miles; Spruce, 19 miles; 
Strongstown, 14 miles ; Sunclitf, 8 miles ; Tan- 
nery, 11 miles ; Tanoma, 9 miles ; Trade City, 

21 miles ; Tunnelton, 20 miles ; Two Lick, 4 
miles; Utah, 14 miles; West Lebanon, 14 
miles; Willet, 10 miles. 

Population from 1820 to 1840 : 

1820. 1830. 1840. 

Wheatfield 2,020 2,961 1,664 

Armstrong 587 814 1,054 

Blairsville 957 990 

Black Lick 1,303 1,850 2,028 

Brush Valley 1,822 

Centre 937 1,237 1,615 

Conemaugh 1,555 2,104 1,441 

Greene 1,1.30 2,321 

Indiana 317 433 674 

Mahoning 1,106 1,640 2,890 

Montgomery 787 

Saltsburg 335 

Washington 1,067 957 1,893 

Young 1,116 

The first iron enterprise in Indiana county 
was " Indiana Forge," which was built on Find- 
ley run near the Conemaugh river in 1837, by 
5 



Henry and John Noble, who also built a small 
furnace in 1840. To stock his store at Indiana 
forge, in 1837, John Noble exchanged two liun- 
dred acres of land, in what is now the heart of 
Altoona, for forty-five hundred dollars' worth 
of goods, which he purchased of D. Robinson, 
of Pleasant Valley. The Altoona land to-day 
is worth over two million dollars. In 1843, 
W. D. and Thomas McKennan purcha-sed Indi- 
ana forge and furnace, and in 1846 sold the 
plant to Elias Baker, who erected a new fur- 
nace and forge, which he operated for several 
years. In 1846 there were four charcoal fur- 
naces in the county. 

The "Kittanning Trail'-' was the great Indian 
highway through Iridiaua county. It came 
from Frankstown into the county below the 
purchase line. It passed near the site of Dia- 
mondville, crossed from Green into Cherry 
Hill township, ran near Greenville and passed 
Shaffer's sleeping-place, bore a little to the right 
of Indiaua, then ran througli the Charles 
Campbell and Fergus Mourhead tracts to 
Curry run, which it followed to Crooked 
creek, where the "Kiskiminetas Path" left it to 
run southwest to Chartiers, on the Allegheny 
river. The Kittanning Trail left Crooked 
creek and passed out of the county near the 
site of Sheloeta. The Wenango Path left the 
Kittanning Trail at the forks on the Caldwell 
tract, in Green township, and ran north. The 
Peholaud Trail came north from the Ligonier 
Valley, in Westmoreland county, and passed 
near the site of Centreville to Peholand's 
camp, which was opposite the site of Homer 
City. It then crossed the Kittanning Trail at 
Indiana and went northward, passing near the 
site of Kellysburg, and crossed Mahoning 
creek to the mouth of Ross run (where an In- 
dian village stood) on its way to the Indian town 
of Coughcheating. 

The Holland Land Company held several 
tracts of land in this county, audits history will 
be given briefly. 



66 



QEOLOOICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



Tlie Holland. Land company was composed of 
eleven merchants of the city of Amsterdam, 
who had acquired wealth by careful investments 
and fair profits. They had spare capital and 
sought to invest in the wild lands of western 
New York and Pennsylvania. Their invest- 
ments were made from 1792 to 1800. "These 
Dutch merchants were far in advance of the 
prevailing sentiment in Europe, as to the success 
and permanency of the experiment of free 
government." The title of the Holland Pur- 
chase is traced from James II., William and 
Mary and Charles II. to Robert Morris, who 
sold 3,300,000 acres of land in western New 
York, on December 31, 1798, to Wilhelm Wil- 
link, Nicholas Van Staphorst, Pieter Van 
Eeghen, Hendrick Vollenhoven and Rutger 
Schemmelpenninck. This was their largest 
purchase from Morris and included a large 
portion of the land which had been in dispute 
between New York and Massachusetts for sev- 
eral years. In 1792 the above-named members 
of the Holland company purchased several 
large tracts of land in what are now Indiana 
and Armstrong counties. 

Robert Morris was very prominent in the 
Revolutionary war and took a great interest in 
the development of western Pennsylvania and 
western New York. 

" It is an often demonstrated truth, that 
' money is the sinew of war.' It was eminent- 
ly so during the revolutionary struggle, when 
its strength and usefulness in the cause of 
freedom were controlled by Robert Morris, a 
wealthy and influential merchant of Philadel- 
phia. He was born in Lancashire, England, in 
January, 1733. His father was a Liverpool 
merchant extensively engaged in the American 
trade, who came to America in 1744, and set- 
tled on the eastern shore of Chesapeake bay. 
His son, Robert, with his grandmother, followed 
in 1746, and was placed in a school in Phila- 
delphia, where an inefficient teacher wasted his 
time and patience. In 1749 young Morris was 



placed in the counting-room of Charles Willing, 
of Philadelphia; and on the death of his em- 
ployer, in 1754, he entered into a partnership 
with that gentleman's son, which continued 
thirty-nine years. That firm soon became the 
most wealthy and extensive among the importers 
of Philadelphia, and consequently they were 
the heaviest losers by. the non-importation agree- 
ments, which gave such a deadly blow at the 
infant commerce of the colonies, after the pas- 
sage of the Stamp Act. Yet they patriotically 
joinetl the league, and made the sacrifice for the 
good of the cause of right. 

" In November, 1775, Mr. Morris was elected 
to a seat in the Continental Congress, where his 
exceeding great usefulness was soon discovered. 
Its appreciation was manifested by placing him 
upon committees, having in charge the ' ways 
and means ' for carrying on the war. In the 
Spring of 1776 he was chosen, by Congress, a 
special commissioner to negotiate bills of ex- 
change, and to take other measures to procure 
money for government. At that time no man's 
credit, in America, for wealth and honor, stood 
higher than that of Robert Morris. He was 
again elected to Congress after the Declaration 
of Independence had been adopted, and being 
favorable to that measure, he signed the docu- 
ment, with most of the others, on the second 
day of August following. Toward the close of 
that year, when the half-naked, half-famished 
American army were about to cease the strug- 
gle, in despair, he evinced his faith in the suc- 
cess of the conflict, and his own warm patriot- 
ism, by loaning for the government, on his own 
responsibility, ten thousand dollars. It gave 
food and clothing to the gallant little band under 
Washington, who achieved the noble victory at 
Trenton, and a new and powerful impetus was 
thereby given to the Revolution. 

" Mr. Morris was continually active in the 
great cause during the whole of the war. He 
fitted out many privateers. Some were lost, 
others were successful in bringing him rich. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



67 



prizes ; aud at the return of peace he estimated 
that his losses and gains were about equal. In 
May, 1781, about the gloomiest period of the 
struggle, Mr. Morris submitted to Congress a 
plan for a National Bank. It was approved, 
aud the Bank of North Ameriea, with Robert 
Morris as its soul, was established, and became 
a very efficient fiscal agent. He was assisted 
by Gouverneur Morris ; and through the active 
agency, in financial matters, of these gentlemen, 
much of the success which resulted in the cap- 
ture of Coruwallis, at Yorktown, must be 
attributed. During that year Mr. Morris ac- 
cepted the office of Financial Agent (Secretary 
of the Treasury) of the United States. After 
the war he was twice a member of the Penn- 
sylvania Legislature, and he was one of the 
framers of the Federal Constitution. He was 
a senator in the first Congress convened under 
that instrument ; and Washington appointed 
him his first Secretary of the Treasury. He 
declined the office, and nametl Alexander Ham- 
ilton as more capable, than himself, to perform 
the dutie-s. At the close of his senatorial term 
Mr. Morris retire<l from public life, not so rich 
in money, by half, as when he entered the 
arena. Soon the remainder of his large fortune 
was lost by speculations in wild land, in the 
western part of the State of New York, after- 
ward purchased by an a.ssociation known as 
The Holland Land Company. On the 8th of 
May, 1806, Robert Morris, the great Financier 
of the Revolution, died in comparative poverty, 
at the age of a little more than seventy-three 
years." 

"The geological work of 1877 in Indiana 
county has, among other things, established 
beyond doubt, that the rocks of the Lower Pro- 
ductive Coal measures cross the great anticlinal 
of Laurel Hill from the First Basin without 
suffering any material modification or change, 
either as regards their total thickness or in the 
number of their enclosed coal beds, limestones, 
&c. ; and further, that they continue in what 



for all practical purposes may be considered the 
same condition across the several basins to the 
west, as far at least as the eastern border of 
Armstrong county, where work will be resumed 
in the season of 1878, and continued thence to 
the Allegheny Valley, to be joined tm there 
with the very complete work of Prof. White, 
extending west from the Allegheny river to the 
Ohio State line. 

" The surprising regularity of the Ijower Pro- 
ductive group throughout the whole First Basin 
from the Moshannon to the Maryland line, is 
familiar to every reader of the Pennsylvania 
reports. This regularity, remarkable as it is, 
is no greater than prevails in the same rocks in 
the Second, Third and Fourth basins. One 
may go all over Indiana county from the Cone- 
maugh river to the Jefferson county line, and 
from Cambria to Armstrong, without exper- 
iencing any difficulty in identifying the coal 
beds and limestone deposits of the Lower Pro- 
ductive series, by the same guides that were 
used in operating in the First basin. 

" The dominant nx^ks of the series, as they pre- 
sent themselves in the First basin, are repeated 
in Indiana county wherever these measures rise 
above water level ; and here as there they are 
separated by very nearly the same vertical inter- 
vals, in many ca.ses the intervals being exactly 
the same as in the section considered to be tyj)!- 
cal of the Ijower Productive measures in the 
First Great Basin. From this, however, it must 
not be supposed that an argument favoring the 
absolute parallelism of the strata would be pre- 
sented, because any such supposition is suffi- 
ciently disproved by the frequent local varia- 
tions in the measures, displayed either by the 
contraction or expansion of their bulk, or by 
slight modifications of the mineral character of 
the strata. It is, however, a fact, in whatever 
light it may be viewed, that the typical vertical 
section of the First Basin is repeated again and 
again in every basin of Indiana county, agree- 
ing too in every way with the work in the same 



68 



OEOLOOICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



basins in Clearfield and Jefferson counties to 
the north. This is sufficient to show the regu- 
larity with which these measures extend over 
miles and miles of territory, and while not uni- 
formly parallel to a sufficient degree to en- 
able us to identify coal-beds in every case by 
means of the vertical distances separating 
them, yet the variations from what we may 
justly consider the normal condition can never 
produce confusion after the entire section is 
worked out. 

" One of the chief points of interest in the In- 
diana County Survey, was the tracing westward 
of the now famous Johnstown Cement bed, — 
the rock that, for so long a time, was wrongly 
associated with the classical Ferriferous lime- 
stone of the Allegheny Valley. The non-iden- 
tity of these two strata was sufficiently pointed 
out and proved in the Report of Progress for 
1876, and the subject requires no further elabo- [ 
ration. As regards the character and thickness 
of the rock in Indiana county, the reader must 
be referred to the detailed chapters of the vol- 
ume, in which every locality where the stratum 
was observed is noted. But it may here be 
said that this limestone band continues in an un- 
broken sheet westward across all the anticlinal 
and synclinal flexures of the strata to re-appear 
occasionally but in a very attenuated form in 
Mr. White's sections. 

" The geological horizon of the true ferriferous 
limestone is so seldom above water-level west 
of Chestnut Ridge in Indiana county, and 
where it rises above the drainage line it has 
been so infrequently exj30sed by the farmers, 
that it would be inexpedient to attempt to de- j 
tine it.s true relationship to the lower part of the 
group, because the sections in this region of 
country are necessarily imperfect. But its re- 
lationship with regard to the upper strata of 
the Lower Productive group, has been very 
clearly made out, and found to agree closely 
with the conditions prevailing in the Allegheny 
Valley. 



" The position of the Ferriferous limestone as 
regards the lower strata of the group, may at 
the present writing fairly be regarded as uncer- 
tain. Some of the sections obtained in Indiana 
county would indicate that this limestone strata 
occupies a position between what we have re- 
garded in these reports as A and B coals, and 
there is no reason to doubt the entire correctness 
of these sections. Such a construction, though 
it would explain many facts observed in the 
First Basin, would nevertheless be in conflict 
with what for years has been held as the correct 
position of the Ferriferous limestone in the col- 
umn of the Lower Productive measures. As 
elsewhere intimated the facts at hand are insuf- 
ficient to reverse the opinion formed long ago 
by able and competent geologists; but it must 
at least be regarded as an open question and one 
that will be decided by the Survey of Armstrong 
county. 

"Excepting in the case of the Upper and 
Lower Freeport beds, all names of coals have 
been carefully omitted from this report; in their 
place capital letters are used, the same lettering 
that was employed all through the First basin. 

"It was shown that the triple fonn of the 
Freeportgroup,— a classification adopted at the 
beginning of the present Survey, could not be 
maintained, and that to prevent inevitable con- 
fusion in the future, it was necessary to return 
to the original classification of the Freeport 
coals into two beds, — tlie Upper and Lower 
Freeport. This lias been done in the present 
report, the name Middle Freeport disappearing 
from the list. The same bed is now called tlie 
Lower Freeport, but retains its letter of the 
First Basin, namely D'. The Lower Freeport 
of the First Basin report, goes for the present 
without a name, being known only by the let- 
ter D. It is the Darlington coal of Mr. 
White's sections, and throughout Indiana coun- 
ty as well as in the southern part of the First 
Basin it comes into the measures directly above 
the Johnstown cement bed. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



69 



" In the following schedule is shown the rela- 
tive position occupied by the principal strata 
of the Lower Productive series, together with 
the classification and lettering adopted for the 
coal beds in this report. It will be observed 
that the Ferriferous limestone appears under- 
neath coal-bed C, between this and bed B, 
where it is at present supposed to belong. 

" For purposes of comparison the schedule used 
in the First Basin reports is placed side by side 
with that employed in the present volume. 



Indiana County. 


First Basin. 


Upper Freeport coal (E). 


Upper Freeport coal (E). 


Freeport limestone. 


Freeport limestone. 


Lower Freeport coal (D' 


). Middle Freeport coal (D'). 


Lower Freeport limeston 


B.Middle Freeport limestone. 


Freeport sands' one. 


Freeport sandstone. 


Coal bed D. 


Lower Freeport coal (D). 


Johnstown cement bed. 


Johnstown cement bed. 


Coal bed C. 


Kittanning coal (C). 


Ferriferous limestone. 


Absent 


Coal bed B'. 


Coal bed B'. 


Coal bed B. 


Clarion coal (B). 


Coal bed A'. 


Coal bed A'. 


Sandstone. 


Sandstone. 


Coal bed A. 


Brookville coal (A). 



"The survey of the Lower Barren rocks in 
Indiana county, yielded very few reliable sec- 
tions. One, of the best and most important, 
was obtained at Dilltown on Black Lick creek 
in the Ligonier Basin ; this section extends with- 
out a break from the Upper Freeport coal to 
the Morgantown sandstone, and although not 
complete in all its details, yet it shows many 
interesting features which resemble closely 
those observed in the same rocks in Somerset 
county. If to this Dilltown section be added 
the measures observed at Blairsville between 
the Morgantown sandstone and Pittsburgh 
Coal, the Barren Measure column will be com- 
plete, so far as its length is concerned. 

"The Western uplands of the county, though 
largely covered by Lower Barren rocks, contrib- 
ute very little to our knowledge of the geology 
of these measures. In studying them the same 



difficulties were encountered that have been met 
with by every geologist operating in these 
rocks in the western part of the State, namely, 
meagre exposures embracing only a few feet of 
rocks, and separated by wide horizontal inter- 
vals. Under such circumstances to build up a 
column of measures, it is necessary to supply 
numerous missing links to the chain, and in 
these gaps it frequently happens that we pass 
over the only recognized horizons of the group, 
so that our section teaches us nothing. The 
very nature of these strata causes them in 
weathering to conceal their basset edges, and 
excepting for the limestone deposits enclosed in 
them they offer no inducement to the farmer 
to explore them. In the natural exposures 
only the harder strata of the group are ex- 
posed, the small coal-beds being generally con- 
cealed beneath a mass of soft crumbling shale. 

" But certain members of the series have al- 
ready been recognized as steadfast, and as con- 
stituting reliable horizons. These were repeat- 
edly identified at such parts of the county as in- 
clude them ; but the coals and limestones of the 
Berlin group, though likely present in some rec- 
ognizable form, could not always be satisfactorily 
established. 

" The thickness of the group varies but little, 
maintaining an average of about 600 feet. These 
are its dimensions at Blairsville, and also at 
Saltsburg, the only points in the county where 
the entire series can be measured. 

" The best known and most widely recognized 
members of the series are the following, omit- 
ting for the most part the coals of the Berlin 
group ; 

" The Little Pittsburgh Coal. 

The Little Pittsburgh Limestone. 

The Connellsville Sandstone. 

The Morgantown Sandstone. 

The Elk Lick Coal. 

The Green or Crinoidal Limestone. 

The Black Fossiliferous Limeistoiie. 

The Philson Coal. 



70 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



The Philson Limestone. 

The Gallitzin Coal. 

The Mahoning Sandstone. 

Mineral resovrces. 

" Excepting the small patches of Upper Pro- 
ductive measures at Blairsville and Saltsburg, 
the Lower Productive group are the only rocks 
tliat can be depended upon for coal in Indiana 
County ; and by reference to the geological map 
it will be seen at a glance that west of Chestnut 
Ridge these measures are chiefly below the pres- 
ent water line of the streams. They therefore 
underlie the whole of the western uplands, and 
to reach them at many points would require 
deep shafls, but fortunately for this part of the 
county such a necessity is avoided by sufficient 
coal having been raised at a few localities above 
water level for a short distance by the anticlinal 
axes. Cheap fuel, therefore, while not every- 
where obtainable in the western townships, is 
easily accessible from almost any point. 

" In the Ligonier Basin (east of Chestnut 
Ridge) the greater part of the area is occupied 
by Lower Productive rocks, and coal therefore 
abounds in that section in prodigious quantities. 
Many hillsides contain foi* a long distance the 
entire Lower Productive group with all its en- 
closed coal beds, limestones, &c. Someday these 
vast stores of fuel will be needed for the arts 
and manufactures. 

"The amount of available limestone in the 
county is no less great than the coal, while its 
distribution is wider and much more even, for 
layers of this valuable rock are intercalated not 
only in the Lower Productive group, but in the 
Barren series as well. Its use as a fertilizer of 
the soil does not seem yet to be fully appreciated 
in all parts of the county, and its too sparing 
use will account in large part for the unsatis- 
factory results frequently obtained by the 
farmers in tilling the land. Here and there, 
however, the advantages arising from its utili- 
zation are understood by the farmers, whose 



fields present then a striking contrast to those 
barren strips of country, in which the soil, 
though made up of the same material, is ex- 
hausted from overwork and lack of proper 
treatment. 

" The clays of the district include not only 
some excellent varieties of fire-clay, but also 
some valuable surface deposits, from which 
good bricks for building purposes have been 
made. 

"The fire-clays, although existing in great 
abundance in all parts of the county, have as 
yet been developed only along the lines of rail- 
road communication. At these points the clays 
worked are of excelleiit quality, the bricks and 
retorts made from them being well and favor- 
ably known. 

" The compact and heavy bedded sandstones 
prevailing in some parts of the county furnish 
building material almost without limit. This 
rock has been employed to a small extent with 
very satisfactory results. 

" The question of the petroleum interests of 
Indiana county, although deeply affecting its 
citizens, is one with which this report is not 
concerned, having only to deal with the coal 
rocks. But in view of the excitement that pre- 
vailed in many parts of the district during the 
past season, in regard to the probabilities of 
finding petroleum at certain specified points, it 
may be said of the wells as yet put down within 
the limits of Indiana county that having failed 
in every case by many hundreds of feet to reach 
the oil-bearing sands of Venango and Butler 
Counties, they leave the petroleum question as 
it w;is before the holes were drilled. It can 
probably with safety be predicted that if oil 
exists in available quantities and at reasonable 
depths underneath Indiana county, it is held by 
the same rocks that furnish it in such great 
abundance in the counties to the west and 
northwest. The rocks thus indicated are the 
so-called Oil Sands, the nearest approach of 
which to the surface in Indiana county is in the 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



heart of the Conemaugh gaps through Laurel 
Hill and Chestnut Ridge. At both these places 
the Fii-st Oil Sand, the highest member of the 
group, is not more than 500 feet below water 
level, whereas at the centre of the basin, at 
Blairsville, the same rock is scarcely less than 
2000 feet below the bed of the Conemaugh. 
Whether it would be reasonable (o expect to 
find oil on the banks of the great anticlinal 
arches of Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge is a 
question foreign to the purpose of the present 
discussion. The centres of the basins have 
mainly been selected for such imperfect tests as 
have hitherto been made in this region. 

"The Nolo anticlinal is a small subaxis split- 
ting the Lig'onier basin lengthwise, and attain- 
ing its greatest development inside the limits 
of this district, beyond which it is scarcely 
known. So also with the synclinals (the 
Mechanicshurg and Centreville synclinals) on 
both sides of the axis ; to the south, as well as 
to the north, these are united into one great 
trough (by the disappearance of the anticlinal), 
and pass under the well-known name of the 
Ligonier Synclinal. Moreover the Marion- 
Fillmore synclinal is only the prolongation into 
Indiana County of Prof. Stevenson's Greens- ; 
burg synclinal, and the ^yest Lebanon synclinal 
is the Lisbon synclinal of the south. Both of 
these axes, the Greensburg-Marion and the 
Lisbon-West Lebanon merge before reaching 
the Sandy Lick creek in Clearfield county into 
one trough — the Reynoldsville; whereas the ' 
Sraicksburg synclinal, the same that crosses the 
Sandy Lick near Fuller's mills, is forced east- 
ward, going south by the disappearance of the 
Perryville anticlinal, and probably joins on 
somewhere to the Lisbon- West Lebanon axis. 

" The Third Axis, as it was named many years 
ago by Messrs. Hodge and Lesley in their 
early survey of the northern counties, was 
de.scribec1 by Prof. Stevenson in his report of 
I87ti as the Blairsville autidinal ; hut the name 
of this town is already occupied, and properly 



for the synclinal, and as the county seat of 
Indiana is the only town of importance under 
which this axis runs, it furnishes the anticlinal 
with a more appropriate geographical name, if 
any such be desired. The name Perrysville 
(from the village of Perrysville in Jefferson 
County) is suggested for the second subaxis of 
the Fourth Basin, an axis hitherto unnamed, 
and the one that crosses the Little Mahoning 
above Smicksburg, and the Sandy Lick two 
miles west of Reynoldsville. 

"With two exceptions, the rocks which make 
up the surface of Indiana county belong to 
the Carboniferous system. The exceptions 
noted are in the deep gaps of the Conemaugh 
through Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge anti- 
clinals, where for a short distance a f^w feet of 
Devonian strata are lifted above the drainage line. 

" The Lower Barren and Lower Productive 
groups of the Carboniferous rocks are those 
with which we have mainly to deal in Indiana 
count)-. These measures are brought up again 
and again by the anticlinals and spread over 
miles of territory. At two places in the county 
a small portion of the higher Upper Produc- 
tive group is represented in tiie hills, these 
places being the regions between Blairsville and 
Black Lick, and Saltsburg and West Lebanon. 

" In the following scheme of the formations is 
a list of the rock groups that underlie the high- 
est geological ground of the district, as for 
instance at Blairsville, for a distance of ten 
miles ; and it likewise includes at its top some 
two thousand feet of measures that at one time 
overspread this whole region, but which have 
been slowly swept from it in the course of time 
and carried downwards by the streams into the 
sea. 

" I. The Carboniferous System. 

1. Monongahela river coal series. 

Upper Barren measures, ") Absent in 

a. Greene county group, r Indiana 

b. Washington county group, J county. 
Upper Productive coal measures ; pres- 
ent only in part. 



GEOLOGICAL AND BISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



2. Alleghenij river coal series. 

Lower Barren measures. 

Lower Productive coal measures. 

Pottsville conglomerate (Serai) XII 

c. Sharon and Quinnimont coal group. 

Mauch Chunk red shale ") 

Mountain limestone V XI 

d. New river coal group J 

Pocono sandstone (Vespertine) 

(Mountain sands) X 

II. 77(6 Decnnian System. 

1. Catskill sandstone (Old red) (?Oil sand 

group) IX 

2. Chemung sands and shales 

3. Portage shales and sands 

4. Hamilton formation 

Genesee blacK shales 

Hamilton sandstone 

Juniata river coal group 

Marcellus black shales 

5. Upper Helderburg limestones J 

6. Oriskany sandstone VII 

III. The Silurian System. 

1. Lower Helderburg limestone VI 

Salina, Niagara, &c. 

2. Clinton red shales and fossil ore V 

3. Medina sandstone ) 

4. Oneida conglomerate j 

IV. The Sihiro- Cambrian System. 
1. Hudson river slates ) 



(■ 



VIII 



IV 



2. Utica slates j 

3. Trenton limestone A 

4. Magnesian limestone ^■ 

Chazy, Calciferous, &c } 

6. Potsdam sandstone 



Ill 



II 



V. 

VL 

VII. 



The Cambrian System (South mountain). 
The Huronian System (Philadelphia rocks). 
The Laurentian System (Highlands)." 



Along the line of the Pennsylvania and West 
Pennsylvania railroads in Indiana county the 
levels above tide are as follows : 

Pennsylvania R. R. 

Sang Hollow (in Laurel Hill gap) 1143 

Conemaugh Furnace 1185 

Nineveh 1141 

New Florence 1076 

Lacolle 1056 

Lockport 1054 

Bolivar 1033 

Blairsville Intersection 1113 



West Pennsylvania E. R. 

Blairsville (Market street station) 1011 

Livermore ' 945 

Saltsburg 891 

The stations on the Blairsville and Indiana 
branch of the P. R. R. occupy the following 
elevations, the datum being the same as before: 

Feet. 
R. R. Junction near Blairsville Inter- 
section nil 

Blairsville (as above) 1011 

Smith's Summit 1101 

Wier's run 970 

Black Lick 963 

Waferstation 966 

Black Lick bridge 1982 

Doty's bridge 1011 

Rugh'g 1038 

Saw-Mill run 1016 

Bell's Mills run 1032 

Phillip's Summit 1044 

Kissinger's Summit 1055 

Two-Lick creek 1044 

Reed's 1145 

Indiana terminus (Main street) 1311 

The following barometrical levels (which 
must be considered only as approximately cor- 
rect) are here introduced to show the relative 
elevations of the points named. They relate 
entirely to the summits of the main ridges : 

Feet. 
Summit of Laurel Hill overlooking 

Sang Hollow 2300 

Nolo; summit of Nolo anticlinal 1834? 

Summit of Chestnut Ridge opposite 

Packsaddle 20.50 

Oaks' Point 1900 

Summit of Chestnut Ridge, Black Lick 

gap 1894 

Summit of Chestnut Ridge at Green- 
ville 1600 

Summit of Chestnut Ridge near Smith- 
port 1815 

The projected pipe line (1879) for the trans- 
portation of oil from the heart of the oil 
regions to the Atlantic seaboard, passes in a 
southeasterly direction through the northern 
part of the county, entering it a short distance 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



73 



south of Smicksbiirg, in West Mahoning tovvn- 
sliip, to continue thence across the northeast 
corner of South Mahoning, passing close to the 
Smyrna church, and so on to the town of Mar- 
ion; beyond this it enters Green township, in 
which its course is past the Duiikard Churcli, 
past Buterbaugh's mill and within about one- 
third of a mile of Cookport; it finally crosses 
the Cambria county Hue about G miles S. W. 
of Cherry Tree. The levels above tide along 
this pipe line vary from 1271 to 1999 feet. 

Formation IX, the Ponent of Prof. Rogers' 
classification, is the equivalent of the Old Red 
sandstone. It has an extensive outspread in 
New York State, forming there the greater part 
of the Catskill mountains, from whence it has 
derived its geographical name. Prof. Hall de- 
scribes it as consisting in the latter locality of 
alternating strata "of sandstone, shale, and 
shaly sandstone, conglomerates and impure lime- 
stones." Moreover, these strata in the Cats- 
kills,- like their equivalents in Pennsylvania, are 
much stained with ferruginous matter, the per- 
vading color of the sandy parts being, accord- 
ing to Prof. Hall, a brick red. 

In Eastern Pennsylvania, where Formation 
IX passes under the Anthracite coal-fields, it 
has a composition similar to that above de- 
scribeil, and a thickness of nearly 2,000 feet, 
which is likewise its dimensions on the south 
flank of the Catskills. In the Broad Top 
region of Huntingdon county it has increased 
in bulk to 2,680 feet, which is also its thickness 
on the face of the Allegheny Mountain. Its 
thickness under the Ligonier basin in Indiana 
county is not known, because only the upper 
members of the Formation are above the level 
of the Conemaugh ; but the oil well now being 
drilled at Blairsville will show the character and 
thickness of the Catskill rocks in tliat region. 

The topography of For. IX is eminently 
characteristic, rising either as a high, uneven 
terrace on the flank of the mountains of X as 
at the mouth of the Juniata, or cut up by num- 



erous ravines and projecting then as bold spurs 
as along the Allegheny moinitain overlooking 
Tyrone, Altoona and Ilollidaysburg. 

The greenish sands and grits of the Pocono 
sandstone (the Vespertine of Rogers) have a 
wide geographical range in Pennsylvania, form- 
ing as they do the southeast border of the Bi- 
tuminous coal-fields. The same formation also 
encloses the anthracite basins, having there a 
thickness of nearly 2,000 i'eet and forming the 
Pocono mountain, from whence comes the geo- 
graphical name assigned to the Formation by 
Prof Lesley. It has even a greater thickness 
where measured by Mr. vishburner on Broad 
Top, showing there nearly 2,200 feet from top 
to base; but in the great leap from the Broad 
Top to the Allegheny it loses more than one- 
half its rocks and appears on the mountain face 
above Altoona as a formation only about 1,000 
feet thick. 

Thence westward and northwestward the re- 
duction is continuous but more gradual. In 
the Conemaugh gap of I^anrel Hill the entire 
thickness of the formation does not exceed 650 
feet; in the Packsaddle gorge (Chestnut Ridge) 
east of Blairsville, it is about the same ; then it 
passes under the uplands of Westmoreland and 
Indiana, and where " it rises again in Ohio and 
Northern Pennsylvania from its underground 
journey [it is] so lean and changed as scarcely 
to be recognized. It is there a formation of 
greenish sandstone less than two hundred feet 
thick. The whole intermediate space of course 
it underlies ; that is all Northern and Western 
Pennsylvania, all Western Virginia and the 
whole southern region of the Cumberland 
mountain; here it is as thin as in the Catskill 
region, but here as there helps to pile up the 
immense plateau, which narrowing as we go 
southward domineers with its lofty terminal 
crags the plains of Alabama." 

Prof Fontaine has made a careful study of 
the outcrops of the Pocono sandstone in West 
Virginia, and in his published descriptions of 



74 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



it shows that the maximum thickness of the 
formation in that locality does not exceed one 
thousand feet, and this is including about 500 
feet of rocks which Prof. Fontaine thinks may 
belong to the Catskill group. 

It was stated above that the Catskill rocks 
are only partially exposed along theConemaugh 
river. In the gaps of Laurel Hill and Chest- 
nut Ridge only about two hundred feet of these 
measures are above water level ; while north 
of the river in Indiana county Formation IX 
does not again rise above the stream beds, but 
extends in an unbroken sheet far below the gen. 
eral surface of the country. Even iu the deep gap 
of Black Lick, and in the almost equally deep 
gorges of Yellow creek and Two-Lick through 
Chestnut Ridge, the arch of the Catskill rocks 
across the auticlinal is several hundred feet 
below the channels of those creeks. 

What little of Formation IX is exposed 
along the Conemaugh, can best be seen at the 
centre of the Laurel Hill anticlinal below 
Johnstown. Its oval shaped outcrop area ex- 
tends only a short distance in either direction 
from the axis, owing to the rather sharp north- 
west and southeast dips which there prevail. 
But the frequent exposures at the heart of the 
gap show how the red clays of IX extend up 
to and touch the greenish sands of X. 

Formation XJ, Mauch Chunk Red Shale. 

Far greater than in either of the Formations 
above described, is the reduction which takes 
place in the thickness of the Mauch Chunk 
Red Shale, going west and northwest across 
the State. 

Where fully developed in Eastern Penn- 
sylvania, as, for instance, at Mauch Chuuk 
(whence its name), it is a vast accumulation of 
soft ferruginous mud rocks, three thousand 
feet thick. This is likewise its condition and 
dimensions in the valleys of the Schuylkill and 
Susquehanna rivers ; but on Broad Top we 
find it only 1,100 feet thick, and but 400 feet 



thick on the southeast front of the Allegheny 
mountain, dropping then to less than 200 feet 
in the Packsaddle Gap, and finally to less than 
100 feet in the Allegheny river region. 

It may here be stated that in the Conemaugh 
gaps of Chestnut Ridge and Laurel Hill there 
are no transition rocks whatever between Form- 
ations XI and XII, the red shales of the lower 
formation being there in direct contact with the 
lowest member of the Pottsville Conglomerate. 
This is very handsomely shown in a side cut 
along the railroad below the village of Bolivar. 

Nor is the base of XI any less distinct, 
either in the Packsaddle Gap, or in the gorge 
of Laurel Hill. At both these places the grits 
of X begin directly underneath the Carbonif- 
erous or Mountain Limestone, and the base of 
that great stratum is here, without doubt, the base 
of Formation XI. That this is a considerable 
change from the condition of the formation fur- 
ther east, need hardly be said ; for it is well 
known that not only along the face of the Alle- 
gheny Mountain, but as far east as Broad Top, 
the Mauch Chunk Red Shale is divisible into 
three distinct groups, of which the Mountain 
Limestone is the middle member, the lower mem- 
ber of the group in those places consisting of a 
mass of red shale and sand, which, however, 
steadily thins (going west) from Broad Top, and 
finally disappears altogether from the Forma- 
tion before reaching the Ligonier Basin of In- 
diana county, leaving the Mountain Limestone 
to rest there upon the upper member of X. 

Mountain Limestone. — From the series of 
thin bands into which the INIountain Limestone 
is divided on Broad Top, the deposit has 
changed on the Allegheny Mountain to a com- 
pact mass of a very arenaceous limestone, thirty 
feet thick. In the Conemaugh gaps this thick- 
ness is increased to upwards of forty feet, pass- 
ing under the Indiana county upland to the 
west of Chestnut Ridge, a>s a highly siliceous 
limestone, which is further characterized by its 
oblique planes of deposition. In this condition 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



75 



it appears at both euds of the Laurel Hill gap, 
and again at both ends of the Packsaddle gorge, 
being quite extensively quarried by the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad Co., and broken for ballast, 
for which purpose it is well adapted, being 
easily raised and slow to disintegrate. It is 
further exposed at the heart of the Black Lick 
gap of Chestnut Ridge, forming there at the 
centre of the anticlinal abrupt high cliffs along 
the water's edge ; elsewhere in Indiana county 
it is not known, being at all other points far 
below the drainage lines. 

The deposit continues to gain slowly in bulk 
towards the west and southwest, and in Ken- 
tucky it appears as a sub-formation one hun- 
dred feet thick, enclosing a vast and conijilicat- 
ed series of caverns, of wliich the famous Mam- 
moth Cave, with its two hundred miles of 
subterranean chambers, is one. Moreover, in 
Kentucky, as in other equally favored regions, 
it is intersected by numerous metalliferous 
lodes, some of which are of considerable value. 

Among the Congressmen who iiavc repre- 
sented Indiana county have been William Find- 
ley, 1803-17 ; Andrew Stewart, A. G. Mar- 
chand, 1840; Joseph Buffington, 1842-44; 
Alex. Irwin, 1846; Alfred Gilmore, 1848; 
Augustus Drum, 1854 ; John Covode, John L. 
Dawson, Heiu-y D. Foster, A. W. Taylor and 
George A. Jenks. Of these, Findley, Stewart, 
Dawson and Covode were men of national 
reputation. 

William Findley was born in Ireland, Janu- 
ary 11, 1851 ; " received a parish-school edu- 
cation ; came to the United States and located 
in Philadelphia; served in the Revolutionary 
war ; removed to Westmoreland county, Penn- 
sylvania ; was a member of the State legislature, 
and a delegate to the State Constitutional Con- 
vention ; was elected a representative from 
Pennsylvania in the Second Congress as a dem- 
ocrat and was re-elected to the Third, Fourth 
and Fifth Congresses, serving from October 24, 
1791, to March 3, 1799 ; was again elected to 



the Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, 
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Congresses, serving 
from October 17, 1803, to March 3, 1817; he 
died near Greensburg, Pennsylvania, April 7, 
1821. He published a 'Review of the Funding 
System,' 1794, a 'History of the Insurrection in 
Western Pennsylvania' 1796, and several po- 
litical pamphlets." 

'■' Amlrew Stewart, or 'Tariff Andy,' whose 
name will be known for all time to come in the 
political history of the United St^ites in connec- 
tion with the tariff, was born in Fayette county, 
Pennsylvania, June, 1792; received a public- 
school education ; studied law ; was admitted to 
the bar in 1815, and commenced practice at 
Uuiontown ; was appointed by President Mon- 
roe United States attorney for the western 
District of Pennsylvania ; was for three years a 
member of the State House of Representatives ; 
was elected a representative from Pennsylvania 
in the Seventeenth Congress as a Jackson dem- 
ocrat ; was re-elected to the Eighteenth, Nine- 
teenth and Twentieth Congresses, serving from 
December 3, 1821, to March 3, 1829; was 
again elected to the Twenty -second Congress ; 
was re-elected to the Twenty-third Congress, 
serving from December 5, 1831, to March 3, 
1835 ; was defeated for the Twenty-fourth Con- 
gress by Andrew Buchanan, whig; was again 
elected to the Twenty-eighth Congress ; was re- 
elected to the Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Con- 
gresses, serving from December 4, 1843, to 
March 3, 1849 ; died at Uniontown, Pennsyl- 
vania, July 16, 1872." 

John L. Dawson, a leading statesman, a fine 
orator and the author of the celebrated ' Home- 
stead Bill,' was born at Uniontown, Pennsyl- 
vania, February 7, 1813 ; received a classical 
education, graduating at Washington college ; 
studied law ; was admitted to the bar and com- 
menced practice at Brownsville, Pennsylvania ; 
was United States district-attorney for the 
western District of Pennsylvania, 1845-48; was 
elected a representative from Pennsylvania in 



76 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



the Thirty-second Congress as a democrat, re- 
ceiving 6,404 votes against 6,135 votes for 
Ogle, wiiig, and was re-elected to the Thirty- . 
third Congress, receiving 9,791 votes against [ 
7,460 votes for Gowen, whig, serving from 
December 1, 1851, to March 3, 1855j was 
appointed by President Pierce governor of 
Kansas Territory, but declined ; was again 
elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, receiving 
10,234 votes against 10,009 votes for Steward, 
Unionist, and was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress, receiving 10,855 votes against 10,730 
votes for Fuller, Unionist, serving from De- 
cember 7, 1863, to March 3, 1867 ; was a del- 
egate to the National democratic conventions in 
1844, 1848, 1860 and 1868, and died at Union- 
town, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1870." 

'■'Henry Donnel Foster, one of the ablest 
lawyers that western Pennsylvania ever pro- 
duced, Mas born at Mercer, Pennsylvania, 
December 19, 1812, received a liberal educa- 
tion at Allegheny college, Meadville, Penn- 
sylvania, studied law and practiced the pro- 
fession ; was elected a representative from 
Pennsylvania in the Twenty-eighth Congress as 
a democrat, receiving no opposition, and was 
re-elected to the Twenty-ninth Congress, serving 
from December 4, 1843, to March 3, 1847; was 
elected to the House of Representatives of the 
legislature of Pennsylvania in 1846 and 1847; 
was the democratic candidate for governor of 
Pennsylvania in 1860; was a candidate for the 
Forty-first Congress, but did not secure the 



seat, and was again elected to the Forty-second 
Congress as a democrat, receiving 12,399 votes 
against 11,669 votes for A. Stewart, repub- 
lican, serving from' March 4, 1871, to March 3, 
1873, and died at Irwin, Pennsylvania, on 
October 16, 1880." 

The writer, in securing historical matter con- 
cerning Indiana county, received valuable assist- 
ance from the county officials of 1890, and 
from E. B. Clarke, assistant librarian, and C. 
B. Boggs, an officer of the Mercantile Library 
of Philadelphia. In Armstrong county he 
received aid from the county officials, and 
especially from the clerk of the Board of Com- 
missioners. In regard to speculative surveys 
and projected blocks of land from these sur- 
veys and " shingled " land claims, we received 
a very accurate and clear account from Judge 
Silas M. Clark, but unfortunately lost the notes 
of the same. 

When Columbus planted the royal banner of 
Spain on the shores of the new world, and 
beside it placed the cross of Christian civil- 
ization, he gazed upon an empire more vast in 
extent than any of the empires of the east, and 
stretching for nine thousand miles from pole 
to pole it rivaled imperial Rome during her 
golden age in territory, population and rich 
mines. Of the thousands of counties existing 
on the North American continent to-day but 
one perpetuates the name of this great fallen 
Indian empire — and that one is Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania. 




INDIANA COUNTY. 



77 



INDIANA BOROUGH. 



AT the northern terminus of the Indiana 
branch of the Pennsylvania railway, nine- 
teen miles from its intersection with the main 
line, and seventy-two miles northeast of Pitts- 
burgh, is Indiana, the county-seat of Indiana 
county and one of the most pleasant and healthy 
towns of this State. Indiana is near the geograph- 
ical centre of the county and is eligibly built upon 
rising ground. Its wide streets and side-walks, 
beautiful residences and substantial business- 
blocks, and handsome churches and superior 
schools, all indicate the progressive character 
and high standing of its people. Indiana com- 
prises the separate boroughs of Indiana and 
West Indiana and contains a population of over 
two thousand. It is the shipping-point for 
over two-thirds of the county, and exports 
lumber, bark, grain, live stock, leather and 
straw-board. It contains good county buildings, 
eight churches, one of the largest and finest 
State Normal schools in the United States, 
excellent public schools, eight hotels and three 
banks. It is lighted with gas, has good water- 
works and supports a fire department. It has 
three planiug-mills, two foundries, three flour- 
ing-mills, a wagon-works, two tanneries and one 
of the largest straw- board mills in thig country. 
Indiana is situated in north latitude 40 degrees 
38 minutes and in 2 degrees 8 minutes west longi- 
tude from Washington City. It was laid out 
in 1805, and was incorporate<l on March 11, 
1816. 

Fergus Moorhead settled on the Isaac Moor- 
head farm, west of the site of Indiana, in 1772, 
and in 1776 a white man settled on the James P. 
Carter farm adjoining one of the present borough 
boundary lines, but the Indians burned liis cabin 
and drove him away. In 1795 Conrad Rice 
came to the James P. Carter farm and found 
Fergus Moorhead, Thomas Allison, Timothy 
O'Neil, George Trimble, Gawiu Adams, James 



Kelly and James Thompson, residing within 
the vicinity of the site of Indiana. 

George Clymer owned a body of three thou- 
sand and fifty acres of land, which included the 
site of Indiana. He conveyed two hundred 
and fifty acres (portions of tracts warranted iu 
the names of James Gall, John Beck and 
William Brown) of land through his agent, 
Alex. Craig, on which tract Thomas Allison 
and Alex. Taylor laid out the town of Indiana. 
After reserving three acres for the public 
grounds, the town was laid out into- two hundred 
and twenty-five lots and ninety-two out-lots. 
"Originally the public grounds, where the court- 
house stands, extended from Piiiladelphia to 
Water street, and from Clymer street to Sutton 
alley, nearly three acres. The square upon 
which the Lutheran, Presbyterian and United 
Presbyterian churches stand, originally extended 
from Clymer street to Vine street, and from 
Church street to the southern limits of the town, 
embracing about two acres and a half Unfor- 
tunately, many years ago building lots were 
sold off" these public squares, to save the county 
a pittance of taxes; and thus was the beauty 
of the town marred and the comfort of the in- 
habitants impaired. Tiiis was worse than a 
crime — it was an unpardonable blunder. The 
proceeds of the sale of the town lots were ap- 
plied to the erection of the county buildings, 
and thus the old court-house (a most creditable 
building in its day) and the old jail were built 
without taxation, and without costing the people 
a fartiiing." The first jail was of hickory logs 
and had a clapboard roof. The stone county 
jail was commenced in 1806 and completed iu 
1807. 

The contractor was Rev. John Jamison, and 
the building was two stories high and 30x36 
feet iu dimensions. James Mahan had charge 
of the mason work and Thomas Sutton of the 
carpentering. The court held its sessions in the 
upper rooms of the jail until the erection of the 
old court-house iu 1809. The present court- 



78 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



house (a picture of which appears opposite page 
180), a most substantial and beautiful building, 
was completed in 1871, at a cost of one hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars. 

There were no banks up to 1855, when 
Hogue & Co. opened a private bank, M'hich was 
succeeded by the banking firm of Sutton & 
Stewart, who did business from 1858 to 1864. 
On January 2, 1864, "The First National 
Bank" was organized; "The Indiana County 
Deposit Bank " was organized on December 4, 



Sloan, James G. Caldwell, James Johnson, 
John Eason, Harry White, James Bailey, W. B. 
Marshall, Robert Walkinshaw, Charles Swoyer, 
Thomas St. Clair, M.D., William Reed, M.D., 
William Crawford and George Sedgwick. In- 
diana Lodge, No. 21, Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, was instituted July 2, 1872, and 
Clymer Lodge, No. 28, Knights of Honor, was 
instituted August 12, 1874, and named in honor 
of George Clymer. Post No. 28, Grand Army 
of the Republic, was organized on June 28 




INDIANA COUNTY JAIL. 



1869; and " The Farmers' Bank " commenced 
operations March 24, 1876. 

Palladium Lodge, No. 346, Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows, was chartered February 19, 
1849, and Indiana Lodge, No. 313, Free and 
Accepted Masons, was chartered January 11, 
1858, and constituted April 7, 1858. The 
charter members of Palladium Lodge were: 
J. G. Caldwell, Charles Slaysnian, John Hunter, 
W. B. Clark, D. Peeler, W. C. Boyl, T. S. 
Searle, J. H. Shryock, W. McCoy and A. R. 
Marlin. The charter members of Indiana 
Masonic Lodge were : Robert Crawford, James 



1874, and its charter members were : D. S. 
Porter, B. B. Tiffaney, D. F. Heasley, A. H. 
Mitchell, J. T. Gibson, J. B. Work, A. H.. 
White, M. J. Shannon, R. M. Birkman, James 
McGaughey, J. M. Sutton, J. H. Hill, E. D. 
Cherry, A. S. Thompson, E. E. Allen, G. R. 
Lewis, T. C. Ramey and A. C. Braughler. 

Henry Shryock erected the first building on 
the site of the town in 1805. It was a round 
log cabin (about the centre of East Philadelphia 
street) and was used for several years as a tavern. 
Samuel Young and William Coulter next built 
cabins. In the spring of 1806 James Moor- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



79 



head aud Peter Suttou each erected a two-story 
hewed tavern building with a sliingle roof. The 
first man to sell goods was Samuel Young in 
1806, and the first regular merchant was John 
Dennison, who opened a store during the same 
year. Between 1X06 and 1810 Robert Nixon 
and John Sutton opened stores, and the popula- 
tion increased from fifty in 1806 to one hun- 
dred and twenty-five in 1810. In 1833 the 
town contained sixty dwellings, five taverns, 
eight stores and three churches. In 1856 the 
population had increased to over one thousand, 
and on the 5th of June of that year the Indiana 
Branch railroad was completed. From the 
opening of that road until the present time the 
borough had increased steadily in population, 
manufactures and wealth. 

The population of Indiana at each census 
from 1820 to 1860 has been : 317, 433, 674, 
and 963. 

The burgesses of Indiana from 1816 to 1880 
were: 1816, James McKnight; 1818, James 
M. Kelly; 1819, John Taylor; 1820, John 
Taylor, Esq.; 1821, John Douglass; 1822, 
Robert Nixon; 1824, James McCahan ; 1827, 
William Lucas, Esq.; 1828, James Moorhead ; 
1830, William Banks, Esq.; 1831, James 
Thompson ; 1832, Fergus Cannon ; 1834, 
James Thomas ; 1835, James McKennan ; 1836, 
Fergus Cannon; 1837, Woodroe Douglass; 
1839, Daniel Stanard; 1840, James McKen- 
nan ; 1841, Woodroe Douglass ; 1843, James M. 
Stewart; 1844, William McClaran ; 1845, I. M. 
Watt; 1846, Samuel Moorhead ; 1847, Charles 
B. Campbell ; 1850, J. M. Watt ; 1851, James 
Sutton; 1852, John Myers; 1853, James 
Todd; 1855, William M.Stewart; 1856, E. 
P. Hildebrand ; July 13, 1856, S. A. Douglass, 
appointed ; 1857, James Sutton ; 1859, John H. 
Lichteberger ; 1860, F. M. Kinter ; 1861, Wil- 
liam H. Coleman; 1862, Adam Row ; 1863, A 
W. Taylor ; October 16, 1863, S. A. Douglass ; 
1864, J. M. Watt; 1865, George W. Boden- 
hamer; 1866, T. S. Nesbit ; 1867, J. S. Nes- 



bit; 1868, J. G. Caldwell; 1870, James Tur- 
ner ; November 8, 1873, G. S. Christy ; 1874, 
J. A. Smith and 1877, M. F.Jamison. 

The burgesses of West Indiana from 1870 to 
•1880 were: 1871, James Clark, Esq.; 1872, A. 
L. McClusky ; 1875, John Sutor ; 1876, Griffith 
Ellis. 

Between 1850 and 1870 the Cumberland 
Valley, Columbia and other mutual insurance 
companies did some little business in the county. 
Up to 1870 the standard fire insurance com- 
panies had scarcely a foothold in Indiana 
county, when in April of that year H. S. 
Thompson established his present agency, and 
in 1872 movttl into the Deposit bank building, 
which he now occupies on Main street, in the 
borough of Indiana. Mr. Thompson has for 
some time been a notary public' and is well qual- 
ified to represent the leading insurance com- 
panies who have secure<l his services. He 
then (1872) represented the Insurance company 
of North America, of Philadelphia ; the Home, 
of New York and Farmers' Insurance company, 
of York, Pa., and has also become the represen- 
tative of the /Etna, of Hartford, and Continental, 
of New York, in addition to the Royal, Phoenix 
and Guardian fire companies of England and 
the Travelers' Life and Accident company, of 
Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Thompson is a 
plea-saut, straightforward gentleman as well as a 
practical and successful business man, energetic 
and careful, without display or boasting, and 
represents companies which afford every ele- 
ment of security, as well as reasonable rates of 
insurance to the public. Between 1870 and 
1872 the late Capt. George E. Smith, who lo- 
cated in the county in 1835, established a gen- 
eral insurance office on Water street, in West In- 
diana. In 1884, R. A. Paul & Son opened an 
insurance office. They are now locate*! at the 
corner of Sixth and Philadelphia streets, and 
represent the Fire association, the American 
Fire and the Franklin Fire insurance companies 
of Philadelphia ; the Liberty, of New York ; 



80 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



the Artisan, of Pittsburgh ; two companies of 
Allegheny city, and the Commercial, Union and 
Lancashire companies, of England. R. A. 
Paul & Son represent substantial and leading 
companies, and by extensive experience, fair 
dealing and promptness have won a permanent 
reputation as reliable business men. 

The first paper of Indiana county wa§ a 
federal sheet called the American, and issued by 
James McCahan in 1814. In 1821 the Indi- 
ana and Jefferson Whig was established in the 
interests of democracy. In 1828 the American 
was merged into the Whig, which in 1832 be- 
came Anti-Masonic, under the name of the 
Free Press. In 1834 the Free Press became 
the Indiana Register, which was purchased by 
Jonathan Row (see his sketch), and after various 
changes passed in 1863 into the hands of 
George Row (see his sketch), who, in 1869, sold 
it to Major R. M. Birkman, who merged it into 
the Blairsville Press and issued it as the Indi- 
ana Progress, which he sold in 1880 to William 
Black, who afterwards disposed of it to A. T. 
Moorhead, its present editor and proprietor. In 
1834 the Inquirer, a democratic journal, was 
issued by Fergus Cannon. In 1840 the Lib- 
erty or Abolition party had its rise, and the old 
Anti-Masonic warrior, James Moorhead, again 
entered the editorial ranks and established the 
Clarion of Freedom in the interests of the anti- 
slavery cause. This paper afterwards became 
the True American, which was issued as a 
know-nothing journal until 1852, when it be- 
came republican in politics and supported that 
party until its consolidation, in 1866, with the 
Register. In May, 1 855, James Moorhead and 



his son, James W. Moorhead, started the Inde- 
pendent, an educational, temperance, anti-slavery 
and anti-know-nothing journal. On January 
9, 1857, its veteran editor, James Moorhead, died, 
and in 1860 his son sold the office. The Mes- 
senger was founded in 1856 by Judge Silas M. 
Clark, J. M. Thompson and John Young as a 
democratic paper. It was independent in I860 
and in 1862 became republican. The initial 
number of the Indiana Times (see sketch of 
Horace M. Lowry) was issued on September 4, 
1878. Tiie Indiana Democrat (see sketch of 
Franklin Sansom), the only democratic paper in 
the county, was established on May 4, 1862. . 

The initial number of the Indiana County 
Gazette was issued on Wednesday, August 13, 
1890, by the Indiana Publishing Company, 
which is composed of thirty of the business 
men of the county. It aims to give late and 
accurate news, especially concerning the devel- 
opment of the county. Its editor is Warner 
H. Bell, who was formerly city editor of the 
Pittsburgh Post. After the late war George 
Row introduced many city methods into the 
printing business at Indiana, and advocated in 
his paper the establishment of the present State 
Normal school. 

The Indiana post-office, under the manage- 
ment of Fannie W. Nixon, ranks high as one 
of the most systematically and best conducted 
offices in the State. Her predecessor was A. T. 
Moorhead, the courteous and successful editor 
of the Progress, who, in 1876, invented the 
celebrated revolving book and goods rack of 
to-day, which he used as a revolving letter- 
rack. • 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



INDIANA. 



HON. SILAS M. CLARK, LL.D., Justice of 
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was 
born at Elderton, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in LH34. His ancestors were Scotch-Irish, 
a sturdy race, which probably as much as any 
other has contributed to the annals of the State 
and country. These ancestors went to western 
Pennsylvania from the Cumberland Valley, 
where in the early affairs of the Commonwealth 
they occupied an honorable position. Captain 
James Clark, from whom the Judge is directly 
descended, was an officer in the war of the Rev- 
olution, and after the close of that heroic con- 
test settled near Hannastown, Westmoreland 
county, the first place west of the Allegheny 
mountains where justice was administered ac- 
cording to the forms of law. When the Indians 
under the famous Seneca chief invaded the 
settlement, burned the town and massacred the 
large part of the population in 1782, Captain 
Clark was among those who sought refuge in 
the fort near by and prepared to defentl it 
against an expected attack. But the attack was 
not made, for after plundering the town and 
reducing it to ashes, the Indians withdrew. 
Soon after this event, Captain Clark removed 
to South Bend, Armstrong county, where he 
resided many years, and died, leaving a numer- 
ous and respected progeny. 

Judge Clark's maternal ancestor was Fergus 
6 



Moorhead, who, like Captain Clark, went to 
Westmoreland county from the Cumberland 
Valley. As early as 1772, Mr. Moorhead 
with his family settled near the present town of 
Indiana. He was more than usually well pro- 
vided with the goods of this world, and brought 
to the new home, where land was abundant, a 
liberal supply of cattle, sheep and other domes- 
tic animals and fowls to stock his farm, and 
implements to cultivate it. Ijike Captain Clark 
he had dangers to encounter. The forests were 
overrun with savage beasts and peopled with 
still more savage men. For four years, how- 
ever, the family was unmolested, but in July, 
1776, while returning from the fort at Kittan- 
ning, then under command of his i)rother Sam- 
uel, his horse was shot under him, and he was 
taken prisoner by a band of Indians, who car- 
ried him to Quebec, and sold him to the British. 
His wife and children, thinking him dead, left 
Indiana and returned to the Cumberland Val- 
ley. After a year of imprisonment, the hus- 
band and father was exchanged and rejoined 
his family, having traveled on foot from New 
York to the Cumberland Valley. An account 
of his capture appeared in the Gazelle, Ben- 
jamin Franklin's paper, the files of which are 
still preserved by the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania. At the close of the Revolution, 
Mr. Moorhead and his family returned to the 

81 



82 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



border home from which they had been so 
summarily driven five years before, and there, 
at the advanced age of seventy-nine, he died. 
Among his descendants are the prosperous and 
M'ealthy iron masters of Pittsburgh, of that 
name, and others who have distinguished them- 
selves in business and professional life. 

In 1835 James Clark, Esq., the father of 
Judge Clark, removed from Elderton and set- 
tled in Indiana, the county -seat of Indiana 
county, where he has since resided in the enjoy- 
ment of the respect of his fellow-citizens, by 
whom he has been honored with every evidence 
of confidence and esteem, and has had conferred 
upon him many offices and positions of trust. 

With such an ancestor, it is not surprising 
that Judge Clark exhibits the characteristics 
that distinctly mark him, namely, warmness of 
heart, courage, tenacity of purpose and public 
spirit. He is essentially a man of the people, 
and through all his busy life has found pleasure 
in serving his neighbors. His own success has 
only multiplied the opportunities to help those 
less fortunate, and he is as free with bis means 
in the dispensing of charity as he is generous in 
giving aid and assistance to deserving young 
men who are entering the struggle of life. 

Judge Clark obtained his rudimentary educa- 
tion in the public schools of Indiana, in which 
he continued as a pupil until he was sufficiently 
equipped with learning to enter the academy of 
that town. There he pursued the course of 
study that prepared him to enter the Junior 
class of the Jefferson college at Canuonsburg, 
Pa., from which he was graduated in 1852, 
standing fifth in a class of about sixty members. 
He was an adept in mathematics, a fluent and 
forceful speaker, and in literary experiences ex- 
celled. In recognition of this, the Philo Liter- 
ary Society iuvitetl him to deliver the valedic- 
tory address on the occasion of the semi-cen- 
tennial anniversary of the college. 

After his graduation Judge Clark became an 
instructor in the academy in which he had been 



prepared for college and continued in this 
position for two yeai"s. He entered into the 
work with much spirit and earnestness, and 
aroused among the pupils the greatest enthu- 
siasm. The sympathy with school work which 
was implanted during that period, has never 
abated. Soon after he was admitted to the bar, 
and while a young and struggling lawyer, he 
was elected director of the public schools of 
the town, and for twelve consecutive years 
served the people faithfully and efficiently, in 
that important capacity. Later on he became 
one of the projectors and founders of the 
Normal school of Indiana, of which he has 
from the first been a member of the trustees 
and most of the time president of the board. 
The great success of the institution is attributed 
largely to his intelligent efforts in its behalf. 
In recognition of his long and faithful service 
in the interests of educational progress Lafayette 
College in 1886 conferred upon him the hon- 
orary degree of Doctor of Laws, and the com- 
pliment was never bestowed upon a more 
deserving recipient, or the judicial ermine more 
appropriate for the person of any one. 

After two years of service as an educator. 
Judge Clark abandoned the profession and en- 
tered the office of a prominent lawyer, then of 
Indiana, but now of Philadelphia, and in 1857, 
at the age of twenty-three years, was admitted 
to practice at the bar of Indiana county. Then, 
as now, the bar of that county embraced some of 
the strongest lawyers in the State, but the young 
aspirant for legal honors was not long in mak- 
ing a place for himself among the most success- 
ful, and it is a matter of record that durinsj the 
ten years preceding his elevation to the Supreme 
Bench, not a single case of importance was tried 
in the county in which he did not appear as 
council. His fame was not limited to his own 
county, either, and during the period of his suc- 
cessful practice he received many tempting offers 
to conduct important cases tried elsewhere. But, 
as a rule, all such offers were declined, for un- 





c-^^^g^Jl 





^-^^ 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



85 



less the persons interested were personal friends 
or home clients he preferred to attend to his ex- 
tensive and lucrative practice in his own dis- 
trict rather than go to other fields. 

In his law practice Judge Clark was always 
a clear and profound thinker, a strong and log- 
ical reasoner and an eloquent advocate of sur- 
passing power. It was a hopeless case, indeed, 
where he tailed to secure a favorable judgment 
or verdict. Whether arguing questions of law 
before a court, or questions of fact before a jury, 
the strong points of his cases were so strongly 
and forcibly presented that the weak ones were 
likely to be lost sight of altogether. Nor was it 
in the trial of causes alone that he excelled. 
Contracts, wills and other legal papers prepared 
by him were .so skillfully executed, contingencies 
so carefully provided for and guarded against, 
and their terms so clearly expressed that they 
never gave rise to litigation by reason of their 
ambiguity. 

Judge Clark inherited his political convic- 
tions, as his other characteristics, from his an- 
cestry, and from boyhood has been a Democrat. 
While he holds it to be both the right and duty 
of every citizen to maintain his political con- 
victions fearlessly, and share the labors and re- 
sponsibilities of citizenship, he has never been 
an office-seeker, and, with the exception of 
membership in the Constitutional Convention 
of 1873, he never held any oflBce except that one 
which he now holds. As a member of the Con- 
stitutional Convention, he served on the follow- 
ing committees : Declaration of Rights, Private 
Corporations and Revision and Adjustment. 
Of that body of Pennsylvania's representative 
men he ranked as one of the ablest, and Mr. 
Buckalew, himself a member, in his very able 
work, " The Constitution of Pennsylvania," re- 
ferring to tiie discussion of the judiciary article, 
makes special mention of some of Mr. Clark's 
speeches, remarking that they were among the 
ablest upon the subjects discu.ssed. During his 
long career at the bar he was frequently invited 



to accept nominations for office, but invariably 
declined, with the exception named and one 
other. He was nominated for president judge of 
the judicial district composed of Indiana, West- 
moreland and Armstrong counties, and was de- 
feated by the Hon. James A. Logan, the ad- 
verse majority in the district being too great for 
one of even his popularity to overcome. His 
election to the Supreme Bench occurred in No- 
vember, 1882, and he entered upou the duties 
of his office in January following. 

Judge Clark meets and discharges the duties 
of advanced citizenship in such a manner as to 
win the respect, esteem and confidence of all 
classes of his fellow-men. Every enterprise, 
having for its object the advancement of their 
interests or the improvement of his town, finds 
in him an energetic and active supporter. We 
have spoken of his interest in education. His 
interest in agriculture is not less ; he took time 
in the midst of his large practice, not only to 
cultivate a fine farm that he then owned, but to 
serve for several years as president of the Ag- 
ricultural Society of his county, then one of the 
most flourishiug in the State. Perhaps the very 
best evidence of the esteem in which Judge 
Clark is held by his fellow-citizens of the coun- 
ty is the fact that in the election to his present 
position they gave him a majority of one hun- 
dred and fifty-one votes over his Republican 
CO .ipetitor, whilst the Republican candidate for 
governor at the same time had a majority of 
two thousand. In his judicial capacity he 
stands very high, and is regarded universally 
by tlie profession as one of the ablest members 
of the court. His opinions, singularly brief, 
are couched in the clearest and choicest lan- 
guage, and as readily understood by the layman 
as the lawyer. Many of them have received 
favorable comment from the law critics in the 
leading periodicals in the country, and all of 
them are models of forceful and graceful rhet- 
oric. 

Upon the death of the late Hon. Morriosn R. 



86 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Waite, chief justice of the United States Su- 
preme Court, the leading newspapers of the 
State, irrespective of party, pointed to Judge 
Clark as a man eminently qualified to fill the 
exalted position thus made vacant. In the sup- 
port of their petition it was argued that he was 
in full vigor of intellect and physical strength, 
young enough to promise a protracted period of 
useful work, and old enough to bring to the posi- 
tion rijje experience, and an able and honorable 
record, both at the bar and on the bench. 

Judge Clark, on the 26th day of April, 1859, 
was married to Clara Elizabeth Moorhead, 
daughter of William Moorhead, late of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. Her death occurred on the 17th 
day of January, 1887. This has been the one 
great sorrow in Judge Clark's otherwise happy 
and successful life. To speak publicly of a 
nature so modest and simple, and a life so 
private as Mrs. Clark's seems almost a wrong, 
but a sketch of her husband, however slight, 
would be incomplete without reference to the 
woman whose gentleness and courage and wis- 
dom were the good angels that, since his earliest 
manhood, breathed their benediction upon him. 
Mrs. Clark was of the women whose lives are 
noiseless, who live at home — she was a wife, a 
mother, yet her character was so firm, tranquil 
and self-possessed, that it would have met with- 
out doubt or hesitation any form of suffering 
for conscience or duty. Her absolute truthful- 
ness was a standing rebuke to falseness and pre- 
tence, and the memory of her loyalty and un- 
selfishness is a perpetual blessing. In the re- 
fined and beautiful home, attuned now to a 
deeper and sadder note by the loss of the woman 
who filled it with her rich life. Judge Clark's 
warm, domestic and social nature finds its 
truest expression. There he meets his friends 
and neighbors in genial intercourse and hospi- 
tality, and tliere, amid the highest charms of 
life, his children are growing into a gracious 
man and womanhood. 



NOAH ADLER, clothier and dealer in gents' 
furnishing goods at Indiana, served as a 
soldier in the late war and is one of the ener- 
getic and successful business men of the bor- 
ough. He was born in the kingdom of Prus- 
sia, August 14, 1834, and is a son of Solomon 
and Pauline (Isaacs) Adler. His parents were 
both natives and life-long residents of Prussia. 
They were old enough to recollect the invasion 
of Prussia by the French army and the closing 
years of the stormy career of Napoleon Bona- 
parte, who shook the world in his passage from 
from his island home in the Mediterranean to 
his prison-grave on the ocean-rock of St. He- 
lena. Solomon Adler was a prosperous grocer 
and died iu 1871, when seventy-five years of 
age. His wife, Pauline (Isaacs) Adler, was 
born in the opening year of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, but died at the early age of thirty-six 
years. 

Noah Adler was reared in the land of his 
nativity, where he received his education in the 
excellent public schools of Pru.ssia, which, with 
some changes and alterations, produced results 
a few years later that challenged the admiration 
of the world. Leaving school, he became a 
clerk in a grain house near his home. In 1854 
he gave up that position in order to come 
to the United States. He landed at New 
York city on the first day of May, went to 
Harrisburg, Pa., where he was a clerk in a 
clothing house until 1861. He then enlisted 
in Co. B, 27th regiment, Pa. Vols., and served 
for three years and one month. He partici- 
pated in all the battles of his regiment, was 
taken prisoner at Gettysburg and was held for 
three months before he was exchanged at City 
Point. He was honorably discharged on June 
5, ] 864, and returned to Harrisburg, where he re- 
mained for three years. On March 16, 1867, 
he came to Indiana and engaged in the clothing 
business for himself, which he has continued in 
successfully ever since. 

In 1867 he married Jenet Vogel, of Phila- 




RESIDENCE OF JUDGE S. M. CLARK. 



INDMNA COUNTY. 



89 



delphia, who died- in 1885 and left no children. 
On August 23, 1886, jNIr. Adler married for 
his second wife Odelia Washer, of the same 
city. 

Noah Adler is a republican, but is liberal in 
his political views. He is a member and as- 
sistant quartermaster of Indiana Post, No. 28, 
Grand Army of the Republic, and Encamp- 
ment No. 11, Union Veteran Legion. He is 
a member of Palladium Lodge, No. 34(5, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and Salem 
Lodge, No. 28, I. 0. B. B., at Harrisburg. He 
is also treasurer of the Odd Fellows' Hall 
association of Indiana. He is a member of the 
Hebrew church of Rodef Shalom, Broad street, 
Philadelphia. His business establishment is 
opposite the court-house, aud he carries a full 
stock of stylish and substantial ready-made 
clothing suited to all tastes and purposes, and a 
complete line of gents' furnishing goods of 
every description. Mr. Adler is a public-spir- 
ited citizen and a courteous gentleman, aud has 
built up a business which is steadily on the 
increase. 



MAJOR JOHN B. ALEXANDER. Among 
the lirst lawyers to practice at the Indi- 
ana bar was John B. Alexander. " He was 
born in Carlisle, Cumberland county, Penn- 
sylvania, and emigrated to Greensburg, Pa., 
early in the present century. He was admitted 
to the Westmoreland bar on motion of William 
Wilkins, Esq., at the December term of court, 
1804. He opened his first office there, engaged 
in the practice of the law, and resided there 
until the war of 1812 commenced. Mr. Alex- 
ander had been liberally educated, having been 
graduated at Dickinson college, Carlisle. 

" He was a good Latin sciiolar, readily read- 
ing and explaining old law writers to the court. 
In his old age he was heard to quote Horace in 
the original in ordinary conversation with gen- 
tlemen of culture. 



"Mr. Alexander had little regard for any 
literary pursuit outside of his profession. He 
was no politician, and read no newspapers, 
novels, magazines or histories. His sole liter- 
ary recreation was the reading of Shakspeare. 
This he knew so well that he quoted it regu- 
larly in court, and could repeat whole scenes 
without any mistake, and with proper manner 
and pronunciation. And to him, in ^his pro- 
fession, the great dramatist was undoubtedly of 
great use, and particularly in this, that it sup- 
plemented him with a fund of quotations with 
which, in addressing juries, he could relieve the 
dryness and dullness of professional language. 

" His father having a large family to sup- 
port, he, after having received his [collegiate 
education, was thrown upon his own resources. 
He studied much, worked hard and carefully, 
and as a return rose to the front rank at the 
bar, and gained a practice in the counties of 
Westmoreland and Indiana. Only on two oc- 
casions did he allow his mind to be drawn away 
or diverted from the practice of his profe.ssion. 
The first of these occasions was the war of 1 81 2. 
When that war with Great Britain commenced 
he collected a company of volunteers, and 
.served with great credit under Gen. Harrison 
in several engagements with the British and 
Indians. The name of his company was ' The 
Greensburg Rifles.' After his return he re- 
sumed the practice of the law, rose to the head 
of the Greensburg bar, and obtained a lucrative 
practice in that and the adjoining counties. 

"He raised a company of artillery, which 
was the model company of the military division 
in which the militia of the State was divided, 
aud was truly a fine one in appearance. The 
men were handsomely uuiforined, were all over 
six feet in height, and their two handsome bra?s 
cannons were drawn by large gray horses. The 
rank aud file consisteil of substantial farmers 
and stout mechanics and laborers. In rich and 
gaudy uniform, Alexander always commanded 
in person, and he expended a large sum of 



90 



SIOGRAPHIES OF 



money in equipments, horses and donations. 
He, with his company, turned out in honor of 
Lafayette when he passed through the southwest- 
ern part of Westmoreland county. Alexander 
not only encouraged the profession of arms by 
his example, but he went so far as to acknowl- 
edge the code of honor in theorj' and practice. 
He fought a duel with a Mr. Mason, of Union- 
town, Fayette Co. They exchanged shots, but 
neither was wounded. Both desired a second 
fire, but the seconds refused on the ground that 
the point of honor for which they fought did 
not require another interchange of deadly mis- 
sives. 

" The second and less fortunate occasion 
which drew off his attention from the agreeable 
toil of the office and the bar was his election to 
the State Assembly. It was admitted by all 
that his representative career was a failure. 
He was like a fish out of water. He there 
came in contact with men who, although they 
could scarcely have spelled their way through 
the horn-book, could have bought and sold him 
in legislative trickery every hour in the day. 
For those he had the utmost contempt, and he 
appeared to regard the whole legislative body 
somewhat as Gulliver regarded a similar assem- 
blage in Lilliput. Before the session closed he 
left them in disgust, mounted his horse and 
rode home. Thenceforth he took no part in 
politics wliatever until 1840, when his old com- 
mander was nominated for the presidency. 
During that campaign he consented to preside 
at a Harrison meeting at Greensburg. He was 
then on the verge of eternity, and died shortly 
after, in the same year. 

" As a sound and well-read lawyer he had 
as we said, no equal at the AVestmoreland bar 
and in the special branch of the law relating to 
land title he had no superior in western Penn- 
sylvania. He was retained as coun.sel in many 
cases of disputed title in the court of last resort 
in the State, and even in some ca.ses of a like 
character which were adjudicated in the highest 



court of the United States. He was the coun- 
sel in one particularly heavy land-title case on 
an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United 
States, wherein his adversary was the celebrated 
William Wirt. Alexander gained his cause, 
and the argument displayed such legal acumen 
that he astonished the bench as well as the bar. 
At its conclusion he was complimented by Mr. 
Wirt and by Daniel Webster, who was present, 
and who expressed in his warm hearted way his 
approbation of the manner in which he had han- 
dled his case, of his exposition of the law, and the 
profundity of his legal reasoning and learning. 
In the intricate and abstruse practice of the laud 
law of Pennsylvania Alexander was, without 
doubt, the superior of Wirt. Wirt was a poli- 
tician, an orator and a literary man, but to the 
law alone had Alexander devoted an almost 
entire attention. If Wirt were the Bacon, 
Alexander was the Coke. He brought to his 
cases his stored-up learning of the common law, 
he could recall old judicial decisions, quote 
black-letter authority from the law-Latin and 
Norman-French text-books of the Middle Ages, 
marshal together all the maxims of the conimon 
law bearing on the capacity and the incapacity 
of witnesses to testify, bring the court from the 
fountain sources of legal wisdom down through 
a long series of English decisions to a moderate 
date, and examine into the law of evidence as it 
was recognized in Penn-sylvania, and apply it to 
his arguments in his cases. 

" His ancestors were Scotch-Irish, and they 
had emigrated to this country before the Revo- 
lution. His father, Peter Alexander, was born 
in Cumberland county. Pa. The family were 
whigs and patriots during the war of the Revo- 
lution. The wife of John B. was a Miss Smith, 
of Cumberland county. He had no children. 
His wife survived him, and on her death the 
property went to the collateral heirs. Besides 
two sisters he had two brothers : Samuel Alex- 
ander, who was a leading lawyer of the Carlisle, 
Cumberland countv bar, and Thomas Alexan- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



91 



der, who once lived with his brother in Greens- 
burg, and who was never married. 

" In business transactions the integrity of 
Alexander was inflexible. He was never known 
to do a dishonest or dishonorable action. No 
man could say that he ever defrauded him of a 
dollar. His handsome fortune was, all gained 
by honorable professional toil." 



WASHINGTON P. ALTMAN. Prorai- 
nent among the citizens of Indiana stands 
Washington P. Altman, the veteran chief of 
police. Strictly attentive to duty, and stern 
in the discharge of it, he is the terror of evil- 
doers. He is a son of Capt. Henry and Juli- 
ann (Sloan) Altman, and was born at Indiana, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1845. 
His grandfather, Henry Altman, Sr., was a 
native of Germany, and came to this country 
in early manhood, and followed the occupation 
of farming. His son, Colonel Henry Altman 
(fatiier), was born in Indiana county, in the 
year 1803. By trade he was a carpenter and 
builder, living most of his life in Indiana. At 
the breaking out of the " Great Rebellion," he 
enlisted in Co. K, 10-5th regiment Pa. Vols. ; 
was elected captain of the company. His death, i 
which occurred soon after he resigned, was 
occasioned by exposure in the Virginia swamps. 
He died at the age of sixty-three, deeply de- 
plore<l by the community in which he resided. 
He was a prominent member of the Presbyter- 
ian church, and always took an active part in 
the church work. He manned Juliann Sloan, 
who was a native of Armstrong county, and 
from early life was a sincere member of the 
Presbyterian church. She died in November, 
1888, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. 
Washington P. Altman was reared at Indi- 
ana, and acquired his education in the public 
schools of .the borough and Indiana academy, 
from which he was graduated in 1862. In 
June, 1863, he enlisted for six months in Co. 



A, 1st Pennsylvania Cavalry. When dis- 
charged in December following, he enlisted in 
the regtdar army, as a member of Co. A, in the 
19th U. S. Infantry, for three years, with the 
rank of first sergeant. During most of this 
time his regiment was stationed in Tennessee, 
Arkansas and Indian Territory. After his 
discharge he taught school for seventeen years 
in Arkansas, Illinois, Colorado and Iowa, as 
well as in his native State. He was a most 
successful teacher ; his long service in the army 
having given him special training as a disci- 
plinarian. At length the confinement to the 
school-room impairetl his health, obliging him 
to seek other employment. In 1880 he was 
appointed chief of police of Indiana, which 
office he still holds; here, too, his army train- 
ing aids him in the discharge of his duties. 

On jSIarch 17, 1870, he married Belle, daugh- 
ter of James M. White, of Indiana. Slie died in 
1879, leaving one child, William Houston. 
His .second wife, whom he married December 
9, 1880, is Ella, daughter of William Glass, of 
Indiana county. To this second union have 
been born three daughters : Lulu, Julia and 
Helen. 

W. P. Altman has "always been a republi- 
can, and attends the Presbyterian church. He 
was a member of Palladium Lodge, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Shavano 
Lodge, No. 28, Knights of Pythias, and Indi- 
ana Lodge, No. 260, Jr. 0. U. A. M. He is 
very prominent in the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, a member of Torbert Post, No. 11, and 
Logan Camp, No. 77, Sons of Veterans, of 
Colorado. AVhile teaching in Colorado he was 
elected to the offices of department commander 
of the Grand Army of Colorado and judge 
advocate of the department of Colorado of the 
Sons of Veterans ; the latter office he still 
holds. Although a scourge to wrong-doers, he 
is quick to sympathize with and aid the suflfer- 
ing, living up faithfully to the initiatory vows 
of the various orders of which he is a member. 



92 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



"Wf. 



ILLIAM BANKS was a native of Mif- 
couuty, Pennsylvauia, and studied 
law in tlie office of his brother, Hon. John 
Banks, at Mercer, Pa. He commenced the 
practice of law in Indiana in 1826, and for 
many years was a leading member of the bar. 
He was naturally sensitive and diffident, and 
only commenced to argue cases before the jury 
when circumstances compelled him. He be- 
came a forcible advocate, concise, to the point 
and sometimes eloquent. He was fond of sci- 
entific studies, and was very conversant with 
the Scriptures. He filled the offices of deputy 
attorney-general and prothonotary, and was a 
member of the legislature. After serving in 
the legislature he totally abjured holding pub- 
lic office. He died on the 10th day of August, 
1871, aged seventy-six years." 



ROBERT BARE, M.D.— The late Robert 
Barr, M.D.,of Indiana, was a leading, skill- 
ful surgeon and physician, a useful citizen, a true 
friend, and a sincere and an'honest man. He was 
a son of Thomas and Catherine Coleman (Gor- 
don) Barr, and was born in that part of Green, 
which is now Cherry Hill township, Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1828. His 
paternal grandparents were Robert and Sarah 
Barr, who settled in this county in an early 
day. Robert Barr was a Revolutionary sol- 
dier, and one of his children was Thomas Barr 
(father), who served as a soldier in the war of 
1812. He was twice married ; his first wife 
M'as Elizabeth Evans, and after her death he 
married Mrs. Catherine (Gordon) Coleman, and 
the only child born of the second marriage was 
Dr. Robert Barr. 

Robert Barr was reared on a farm and re- 
ceived his education in the rural schools and 
Indiana academy. He had determined at an 
early age to become a member of the medical 
profession, and to this end directed his educa- 



tion. He read medicine with Dr. Stewart, of 
Armagh, and Dr. Thomas St. Clair, of Indiana, 
and graduated from Jeiferson Medical college 
of Philadelphia, in the class of 1854. After- 
wards he attended schools of surgery in Phila- 
delphia and other cities and also practiced in 
the hospitals to make himself more proficient in 
surgery. He commenced the active practice of 
his profession at Armagh, but soon removed to 
Indiana, where he practiced until his death, 
excepting the time of the late war. On No- 
vember 8, 1861, he was mustered into the U.S. 
service as surgeon of the 67th regiment. Pa. 
Vols., and aided in its organization. He was 
actively employed in the field with his regi- 
ment, brigade and division until the expiration 
of his term of service, in the fall of 1864, and 
then left field duty on account of physical dis- 
ability, incurred from exposure and continued 
service. While in commission he was intrusted 
with the most responsible duties, and was always 
fully equal to their proper discharge. 

He was promoted to surgeon-in-chief, and in 
the trying and severe campaigns of 1863 and 
1864 was conspicuous for skillful surgical oper- 
ations and efficient discipline in the medical 
corps under his charge. The high esteem in 
which he was held in the Army of the Potomac 
is attested by the complimentary order with 
which he was mustered out of the service. Re- 
turning home from the army, he resumed his 
practice and was actively engaged until a few 
months before his death, in 1882. 

October 15, 1868, Dr. Barr united in mar- 
riage with Cordelia E. Elder, who still resides 
in her pleasant home at Indiana, and is a mem- 
ber of the First Presbyterian church of that 
place. Her father, Robert Elder (3d), was born 
December 23, 1809, on the farm on which he 
always lived, and on which he died March 26 > 
1890. He was a son of Robert Elder, Jr., who 
married Mary Smith, and whose father, Robert 
Elder, Sr., the first settler on the ridge that 
bears his name, was a grandson of Robert and 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



93 



Eleanor Elder, who were Scotch-Irish natives 
of Drummore, county Down, Ireland, and set- 
tled near Harrisburg, Pa., about 1730. Robert 
Elder (3d) was a quiet man of wide-spread in- 
fluence, and was the last, but one, surviving of 
the fifty original members of Dr. Alexander 
Donaldson's congregation. He donated the 
ground for the last church structure of that 
congregation, besides most generous subscrip- 
tions toward its erection. He was a hearty 
supporter of churches and schools, and liberal 
of means toward any movement for the benefit of 
his community. He married Nancy W. Doug- 
lass, who still survives him. One of his sons, 
Lieut. John D. Elder, was killed at Malvern 
Hill, while in command of his company. 

In his private practice Dr. Barr was noted 
for his sincerity and frankness with his patients. 
He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian 
church, and, although sometimes stern in man- 
ner, yet ids heart was always sensitive to the 
tale of sorrow or the voice of suffering. He died 
of Bright's disease of the kidneys, at midnight 
on Thursday, March 2, 1882. His remains 
were borne to their last resting-place in Indiana 
cemetery, by his old comrades in arms, the 
members of the Grand Army of the Kepublic, 
but the memory and example of his useful life 
remains behind him. 



JOSEPH F. BARNES. — Every town or 
^ borough has its wide-awake and leading 
business men who .seem to have been born to 
be publicly useful. Of this class of men is 
Joseph F. Barnes, of Indiana. He is a .sou of 
Henry and Mary (Chapman) Barnes, and was 
born in Burrell township, [iidiana county, 
Pennsylvania, March 4, 1828. The e;irly an- 
cestors of the Barnes family were rigid non- 
conformists of England. Several of them suf- 
fered martyrdom in Eliigland for adhcreuce to 
their faith, and one of that number was Dr. 



Barnes, who was burned at the stake. Among 
the " Puritan Fathers " who settled at Plymouth 
and other points in Massachusetts were several 
members of this family. One of these, Richard 
Barnes, settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 
prior to 1636,. when he served in the Pequod 
war in Connecticut. Charme<l with the coun- 
try, he settled on the site of New Haven in 
1638. His son, Gilbert Barnes, born in 1636, 
was an active business man, and reared a family 
of seven sons and three daughters. His son, 
Stephen Barnes, born 1677, was the father of 
four children, one of whom was Timothy 
Barnes, who was born in 1700. His children 
were Timothy, Capt. Stephen ,| Israel, Michael, 
Prudence, Faith and Hope. Capt. Stephen 
Barnes, born in 1736, commanded a company 
during the Revolutionary war, married Ezudia 
Kellogg, and removed, in 1787, to Northamp- 
ton county. Pa. His children were Joseph, 
Stephen, Gilbert, Timothy, Ruth, Margaret, 
Elizabeth and Clara. The eldest son, Joseph 
Barnes (grandfather), \\as born June 3, 1777, 
learned the trade of mill-wright, and in 1799 
started on foot for the Connecticut reservation 
in Ohio, but stopped at a ford on the Cone- 
maugh river, two miles below the site of Blairs- 
ville. He there, with characteristic Yankee 
foresight, .saw a fortune within the grasp of the 
man who would start a ferry, and accordingly 
secured the land on both sides of the river at 
that point, and opened a ferry, which soon be- 
came a source of large income to him. He 
erected a grist-mill, followed farming and built 
flat-boats for the Pittsburgh trade. On April 
3, 1801, he married Barbara Beck, a daughter 
of Simon Beck, a native of Switzerland. She 
was born April lA, 1785, and died in 1839. 
He married Mrs. Elizabeth Leer in 1840, and 
after her death married Mrs. Clarissa Griswold. 
He died at Sharpsburg, Allegheny county, in 
1855. His children were Henry, William, 
Stephen (a missionary to Africa), John B. (once 
attorney-general of the Republic of Texas), 



94 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Elizabeth (wife of John Davis), Simon P. and 
David M. The eldest son, Henry Barnes 
(father), was born in 1802, learned the mill- 
wright trade with his father, erected many mills 
and made over one hundred and fifty inven- 
tions and improvements. He married Mary, 
daughter of Francis Chapman, of Green town- 
ship, and reared a family of nine children : 
Joseph F., Sarah (wife of J. Haughton), Bar- 
bara E. (dead), Stephen A., George, Mary L. 
(Indian missionary in Nebraska), John C. (de- 
ceased), Phebe A. and Lydia E. (wife of John 
H. Martin). Mrs. Mary Barnes' mother, Jen- 
nie (Drum) Chapman (maternal grandmother), 
was a daughter of Lord Drum, of England, 
whose estates she was heir to until she was 
eight years of age, when a son was born to her 
father, who had re-married when she was 
about six years of age. Her mother's maiden 
name was Henderson. Their remains sleep in 
the Blairsville cemetery. 

Joseph F. Barnes was reared on a farm, and 
received his education in the rural schools of 
his native township and Elder's Ridge acad- 
emy. Leaving school, he went to Blairsville, 
where he published for two years a paper 
called the Appalachian. He then was engaged 
for thirteen years in teaching in the common 
schools of Indiana County and the public 
schools of Pittsburgh. During this time his 
vacations were spent as a proof-reader, local 
reporter and staff correspondent on the papers 
of Pittsburgh. In 1864 he quit teaching 
and went to the oil country, where he remained 
for two years. He then came to Indiana and 
engaged in the jobbing, produce and oil busi- 
ness, which he has followed successfully ever 
since. He handles, some years, as much as 
160,000 worth of produce and from ninety to 
one hundred car-loads of oil. He handles over 
fifty diflPerent kinds of oil. 

In 1858 he united in marriage, at Pittsburgh 
with Mary, daughter of Robert and Agnes 
McLaren, both natives of Scotland. Mr. and 



Mrs. Barnes have been the parents of five chil- 
dren: Ida C, wife of W. C. McKnight, of 
Pittsburgh ; Robert M., a practicing lawyer of 
Pittsburgh ; Agnes C, Joseph F., Jr., and 
Henry T., a stenographer of New York city, 
who married Flora Weaver, had one child 
named Edith, and was drowned in 1889, in 
Hacken.sack river while trying to rescue his 
cousin John C. Barnes from drowning. 

Joseph F. Barnes owns a farm near Blairs- 
ville and valuable property at Indiana. He is 
a member of the A. O. U. W. and Indiana 
Lodge, No. 313, F. & A. M., and has a beauti- 
ful P. M. jewel which was presented to him by 
that lodge. He is a democrat and has served 
as school director for several terms. He is a 
member and deacon of the Indiana Baptist 
church and has been for over fifteen years the 
honored superintendent of its Sunday-school. 
As clerk of the Indiana Baptist Association Mr. 
Barues has rendered valuable service to his 
church. As a writer he wields a ready pen and 
writes clearly, forcibly and at times very elo- 
quently. As a man he is respected and honored 
for his integrity and usefulness. 



HUGH M. BELL is prominent among the 
sons of Indiana county, who have won 
their own unaided way to prosperity and 
who have made for themselves names that will 
always figure conspicuosly in the history of the 
industries of Indiana borough. He is a son of 
George and Mary (Beatty) Bell, and was born 
in Black -Lick township, Indiana county, Penn- 
sylvania, December 13, 1852. The Bells are 
ofScotch-Irish descent and George Bell was born 
in Black-Lick township, in 1820, where he was 
reared to manhood aud resided until his death, 
in 1855, at the early age of thirty-five years. 
He was an industrious farmer and a consistent 
member of tiie Methodist Episcopal church. 
His early death prevented him from acquiring 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



95 



much of a competency. He married Mary 
Beatty, who now resides at Latrobe, Westmore- 
land county, this State. 

Hugh ]\r. Bell was bereaved of his father at 
so early an age that he coidd neither remember 
him nor realize his loss. Even before he had 
completed his first decade of years, he was use- 
fully employed, to a considerable extent, on the 
fiirm on which he was reared. His education 
was acquired in the winter district common 
schools, which at that day had not arrived at 
the degree of excellence tiiey have now readied. 
At seventeen years of age, imbued with the 
laudable ambition to win his own way in the 
world, he souglit employment and accepted the 
first honest labor which came to his hand and 
was in the shape of driving a mule in a bitumi- 
nous coal mine. He soon obtained a chance to 
leave his mule cart and dug coal, which paid 
him better wages than his former job of driving. 
In February, 1870, he came to Indiana, where 
he secured a position as clerk in the implement, 
grain and lumber house of John C. Moorhead. 
One year later he became a clerk in the dry 
goods house of A. S. Cunningham, where he 
remained for eighteen months. He then went 

into the foundry establishment of 

McFarland, witii whom he continued for ten 
years and where he laid the foundations of his 
present honorable and successful business career 
as a manufacturer and general dealer in en- 
gines, mill machinery and agricultural imple- 
ments. In 1882 he left the foundry and was 
employed for two years as a clerk in the pro- 
thonotary's office; but not liking the work, al- 
though rendering good satisfaction and having 
a decided inclination for the machinery busi- 
ness, he left the office to form a partnership, in 
October, 1884, with the Sutton Bros., under the 
firm name of Sutton Bros. & Bell. They pur- 
chased the plant of the Chilled Car Wheel & 
Plow company, of which they assumed posses- 
sion on January 21, 1885. They have increased 
the foundry and machine shops, have added 



large blacksmith and paint shops and extensive 
storage rooms. Their plant now covers over 
half a square in area and employs a regular 
force of twenty-five hands. Tiie foundry ttu-ns 
out land rollers, road scoops, stump pullers and 
all kinds of castings, and in the machine shop, 
engine, saw and flouring-mill machinery is 
manufactured and repaired. The firm deals 
largely in Syracuse chilled plows, engine boil- 
ers, iron and wood-working machinery, belting 
and steam and gas fittings. The present mem- 
bers of the firm are Thomas Sutton, John W. 
Sutton and Mr. Bell, and for thorough work 
and extensive patronage their establishment will 
compare favorably witii any of its class in the 
western part of the State. 

In 1876 he was married to Jennie Kerr, 
daughter of Valentine and Catherine Kerr, of 
Indiana. Mr. and Mis. Bell have six chil- 
dren : George M., Harry M., Emma V., Mary, 
Gilmore C. and Hugh M., Jr. 

Hugh M. Bell is past master of Palladium 
Lodge, No. 346, I. O. O. F., past master of 
Clymer Lodge, No. 28, K. of H., past 
archon in the I. O. H., past W. H. of Indiana 
Lodge, No. .313, F. & A. M. and a member of 
Indiana Grange, No. 313, P. of H. He is a 
member of Zerubabel Chapter, No. 162, H. R. 
A. M., and Pittsburgh Commandery, No. 1, 
Knight Templars. In politics Mr. Bell has 
been an adherent of the Rei)ublican party, 
served as chairman of the Indiana county re- 
publican committee in 1883, and in 1889 was a 
member of the republican State central commit- 
tee. Like most men whose lives are largely 
devoted to business he has spared but little time 
to public affiiirs, and although never seeking of- 
fice he has never refu.sed to serve his fellow-cit- 
izens in a public position. Since 1885 he has 
served as burgess of West Indiana and as a 
member of the school board of that borough. 
Huah M. Bell has been the architect of his own 
fortunes and has had no one to help him .so much 
ashehashelped himself He isa self-mademan. 



96 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



who by his business ability and energy has 
passed iu a few years from the depths of the 
ooal mine to an honorable and important posi- 
tion iu the manufacturing industries of the 
county. 



JOHN A. BELL, the well-known and efficient 
assistant agent of the P. R. R. company at In- 
diana, is a wide-awake, energetic and industrious 
citizen of Indiana county. He was born in 
Green township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
December 9, 1849, and is a son of William R. 
and Mary (Lydick) Bell. William R. Bell, of 
Irish extraction, is a native of eastern Pennsyl- 
vania, came to Indiana county in 1836, and 
located in Green township. He was a very 
prosperous farmer and came to Indiana in April, 

1866, where he has resided ever since. After 
coming to Indiana he was engaged in the lum- 
ber business for some time and for the last 
fifteen years has been janitor of the court-house. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian church and 
in political opinion is a democrat. He married 
Mary Lydick, daughter of Jacob Lydick. She 
was a native of Indiana county, died September 
16, 1886, aged seventy years, one month and 
nine days, and was also a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. 

John A. Bell was reared on his father's farm 
and received his education in the public schools 
of the county. Leaving school, he entered the 
employ of the P. R. R. company, November 11, 

1867, as warehou.«ie-man and by strict attention 
to business has attained to the position he now 
occupies. He served continuously for eight 
years as a member of the West Indiana council, 
but resigned in 1888. In 1889 he was elected 
as overseer of the poor and is now holding that 
office. He served very efficiently as treasurer 
of West Indiana borough in 1888 and 1889. 

On September 4, 1872, he married Sarah A., 
daughter of William Lewis, of Indiana. They 



have five children, one son and four daughters : 
Mamie, Lottie, Lee, Alice and Stella. 

J. A. Bell is an active and influential citi- 
zen and is ever ready and willing to aid in any 
enterprise that will be of benefit to the town. 
He is a strong democrat in political opinion, and 
always yields a whole-hearted support to his 
party. He is a member of Indiana Lodge, No. 
21, A. O. U. W., Improved Order of Hepta^ 
sophs, No. 180, P. R. R. Voluntary Relief de- 
partment, and the Methodist Episcopal church, 
of which he is also a trustee. He has been tor 
nearly a quarter of a century continuously in 
the employ of the Pennsylvania Central Rail- 
road, and this long service fully attests to his 
business ability and complete trustworthiness. 



MAJOR RICHARD M. BIRKMAN. No 
braver officer or nobler soldier served in 
the armies of the Union during the late war 
than Major Richard M. Birkman, the founder 
of the present Indiana Progress, and editor of 
it for the first decade of its existence. He was 
a son of Peter and Hannah (Swoyer) Birkman, 
and was born in St. Louis, Missouri, April 8, 
1837. His paternal grandfather Birkman 
was a strict lutheran and resided in Sweden, 
where his son, Peter Birkman (father), was 
born on the banks of the Wetter lake. 
Peter Birkman was a subaltern in the 
Swedish army at sixteen years of age, then 
was six years at Brest, France, after which 
he came to the United States and about 1820 
became a teacher at Harrisburg, Pa., where he 
married Hannah Swoyer. He .soon left there 
and finally accepted a situation as a book-keeper 
in St. Louis, Mo., where he died July 26, 1837. 
He was a man of high moral courage and noble 
principle. 

Major Richard M. Birkman was reared and 
received his education in Harrisburg, Pa. He 
visited a cousin at Blairsville in 1858, spent the 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



97 



next year in Memphis, Tenn., and then was in | 
Philadelphia until Ft. Sumter was fired upon 
by Beauregard, when he returned to Blairsville^ 
where he enlisted, ou June 10, 1861, in Co. E^ 
11th regiment, Penna. reserves. He was pro- 
moted on May 13, 1862, to second lieutenant, 
to first lieutenant September 22, 1862, and when 
his three years had expired, on June 6, 1864^ 
was made captain of Co. A, 190th reg., Pa. 
Vols. With his regiment he remained till the 
close of the war, and in April, 1865, received 
from President Andrew Johnston the rank of 
brevet-major for meritorious duty and gallantry 
in the service. The splendid record of his regi- 
ments, on a score of bloody battle-fields, needs ; 
no repetition here, and Capt. Birkman was 
always found at the head of his company 
After the war he returned to Blairsville, where, } 
in January, 1867, he bought the Neiv Era and 
published it until January, 1870, when he con- 
solidated it with the Indiana Reyister and 
American, under the name of the Indiana Pro- 
gress, which he edited until March 1, 1880^ 
when he sold the paper to Wm. R. Black. From 
1876 he had been slowly going down with con- 
sumption and died in less than two mouths after 
disposing of the Progress. " His heart was in 
the Progress. It was his life-work ; and when 
he yielded up his paper, it was like the final 
separation of dear friends. He had a right to 
be proud of the Progress, for under him it had 
been the friend of temi>erauce, morality and the 
oppressed." 

Ou June 8, 1865, he united in marriage with 
Mary L. Black, of Blairsville, and their union 
was blessed with two children: Sarah and Agnes. 

Major Birkman was a member of the Pres- 
byterian church and an earnest Christian. He 
died, April 24, 1880, when in the forty-third 
year of his age, but left a record upon which his 
widow and childreu can always look with pleas- 
ure. His remains were interred in the Blairs. 
ville cemetery under the auspices of the Grand 
Army of the Republic. Comrades around his 



bier, who had been with him on the march, in 
the camp and ou the battle-field, declared that 
no truer, braver soldier ever wore the blue than 
Major Richard M. Birknjan. 



TUDGE JOHN P. BLAIR. A worthy de- 
^ scendent of a time-honored family and a 
fitting representative of that grand old Scotch- 
Irish race so distiuguished for high moral 
character, unflinching courage and undying 
patriotism, is Ex-Judge John P. Blair, who 
ranks high among the foremost jurists and 
the ablest lawyers of Pennsylvania. He is a 
son of Rev. David and Margaret (Steele) Blair, 
and was born at Indiana, ludiana county, Penn- 
sylvania, March 28, 1835. Among the liberty- 
loving and God-fearing Scotch-Irish Presby- 
terian families of the north of Ireland, was the 
Blair family from which Judge Blair is de- 
scended. His paternal grandparents, Hugh and 
Jane Blair, were members of Donagar Associate 
Presbyterian church and were highly respected 
in the community in which they resided. They 
were the parents of eight sons and thi-ee 
daughters. They came to the United States in 
1802, and after spending one winter at Steuben- 
ville, Ohio, removed to near Hartstown, Craw- 
ford county. Pa., where Hugh Blair purchased 
a four hundred acre tract of laud. He here 
lived an exemplary life and died January 5, 
1837, when in the ninety-sixth year of his age. 
His wife had preceded him to the tomb by two 
years, having passed away on March 10, 1835, 
aged ninety years. Their eighth son, Rev. 
David Blair, a graduate of the oldest theologi- 
cal seminary of the new world and the founder 
of the United Presbyterian church in ludiana 
and adjoining counties, was born in the {)arish 
of Donagar, in Antrim, Ireland, in November, 
1786. In early life he was somewhat delicate. 
Having fitted for college with Rev. McLean, 
he entered Jefferson college in 1810 and would 



98 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



have graduated in the class of 1812 if his 
health had not given way early iu that year. 
Recovering his health somewhat, he spent the 
required four sessions at Dr. Anderson's Theo- 
logical seminary, — was ordained in October, 
1818, to the ministry of the Associate Presby- 
terian church and installed as pastor of the 
United congregations of Indiana, Crooked Creek 
and Conemaugh. He spent nearly half a cen- 
tury in laboring for these churches, and as the 
result of his labors nearly twenty congregations 
wei-e built up out of them — an unparalleled 
fact in the history of the United Presbyterian 
church. While inheriting the sturdy independ- 
ence and iron-willed determination of his own 
race, he was remarkably liberal, charitable and 
enlightened in his views. Rev. W. S. Owens 
pays this just and eloquent tribute to his char- 
acter : 

" He resisted the narrow spirit of exclusive- 
ness and advocated always the broad principles 
of Christian charity and unity. No man 
worked harder to secure that happy union of 
1858 (union of Associate and Associate Re- 
formed churches) which gave birth to our 
United Presbyterian church. In the great 
civil war he was a Union man and his pulpit 
gave forth no uncertain sound on the mighty 
issues then pending." Rev. David Blair, 
in 1821, married Margaret Steele, of Hun- 
tingdon, who was a help-meet to him in 
the fullest sense of that term. After a long 
life of quiet and unostentatious usefulness she 
was called hence April 6, 1865, when in the 
sixty-fourth year of her age. In 1862 he re- 
signed from active pastoral work. In 1882, in 
the ninety-fifth year of his life and in the land 
of his noble life-work as an able minister and 
excellent man, death quietly summoned him to 
the realms of everlasting peace. 

Hon. John P. Blair was reared at Indiana, 
and after completing his academic studies, en- 
tered Washington college, from which he was 
graduated iu the class of 1852. In 1853 he 



entered the law office of his eldest brother, 
Hon. Samuel S. Blair, of Hollidaysburg, and 
after the required course of reading was ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1856. During the ensuing 
year he located at New Castle, Lawrence county, 
this State, where he practiced until 1859, when 
he was elected district attorney of that county. 
He resigned when the late war broke out and 
enlisted as a private in Co. F., 12th regt., Pa. 
Vols. At the end of his three months' term of 
service he re-enlisted as a private and was 
elected first lieutenant of Co. I, 100th regiment. 
Pa. Vols. He held this position until after 
the battles of Second Bull Run, Chantilly and 
Autietam, when the company, whose ranks had 
been greatly thinned by the battles through 
which it had passed, was consolidated with 
Co. G, and he was commissioned captain of the 
new-formed company, which was designated as 
Co. G. When Hilton Head and Beaufort were 
captured, in the fall of 1861, he was detailed 
from his company to act as provost marshal 
and judge advocate general of the Port Royal 
district, which position he held until his brigade 
was sent north to join McClellan on the Penin- 
sula. He was twice wounded. At the first 
assault on the enemy's earth-works iu the rear 
of Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, a grape- 
shot struck his sword and inilicted a wound in 
his side and at the Second Bull Run battle, 
where his company suffered severe loss, he re- 
ceived a painful gun-shot wound. After pass- 
ing through the campaign against Vicksburg, 
under Grant, and the campaign in east Tennessee, 
under Burnside, he suffered from a fever, the 
seeds of which were sown at Vicksburg and 
which clung to him so tenaciously as to event- 
ually disable him for further service, and he 
was honorably discharged on the 31st day of 
May, 1864. Soon afterward and before his 
own recovery his mother died, leaving his father 
alone — the other children being married and 
residing elsewhere — and at the request of his 
I father he left New Castle and commenced the 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



99 



practice of his profession at Indiana, when his 
health was sufficiently restored, in the fall of 
1865. He was soon employed in important 
cases and in a short time attained a high stand- 
ing at the bar. He tried his cases upon their 
merits, became an impressive, earnest and suc- 
cessful jury pleader and developed those quali- 
ties so essential to a calm, unbiased and uuim- 
passioned consideration of legal matters. His 
ability, learning, and thorough knowledge of the 
law recommended iiim to the public as capable of 
filling the highest judicial position within the gift 
of the people of Indiana county, and in 1874 
he was elected president judge of the Fortieth 
Judicial District of Pennsylvania, composed of 
the county of Indiana. When Judge Blair 
took his seat on the bench, he found the busi- 
ness of the district many years behind, owing 
to the fact that the county had previous to his 
election been iucluded, with Armstrong and 
Westmoreland counties, in the Tenth Judicial 
District of Pennsylvania, and its judge had 
found it impossible to keep up with the busi- 
ness of three counties. Judge Blair entered 
upon the duties of his office with the purpose 
and ambition of disposing of this accumulated 
mass of business, still further increased by the 
financial disturbances commencing in the fall of 
1873, with such rapidity as would be consistent 
with care and accuracy, and would leave the 
dockets entirely clear at the end of his term. It 
was no ordinary task, but a labor of gigantic 
proportions ; yet he succeeded in its accomplish- 
ment and left a clean docket to his successor in 
office at the end of his ten years' term. He de- 
cided causes upon their merits alone after such 
careful and thorough examination of every au- 
thority bearing upon them, as the circumstances 
would allow, aud by his entire impartiality and 
able decisions won the esteem of the public and 
attained high standing as a judge before the 
supreme court. The records of his district will 
show that, notwithstanding the number of jury 
cases tried by him, he has the i-are distinction 



of never being reversed in any of them. At 
the end of his term, in 1885, he resumed and 
has continued successfully the practice of law in 
Indiana aud various other counties and before 
the supreme court of Pennsylvania. Judge 
Blair is a regular attendant of the Presbyterian 
church and a member of the Union Veteran 
Legion. He is a stock-holder and director and 
the solicitor of the First National Bank of 
Indiana. He has one of the finest residences 
and most beautiful homes in Indiana county. 

On February 14, 1866, he was married to 
Elizabeth Sutton, daughter of James and Sarah 
Sutton, of Indiana. Judge and Mrs. Blair are 
the parents of three children, two sons and one 
daughter: Margaret S., James S. and David. 

In politics Judge Blair has ever steadfastly 
held to the principles of the Republican party. 
As a lawyer he is well read and easily grasps 
the salient points of his cases. As a counselor 
his comprehensive knowledge of the general 
principles of law render his advice very valu- 
able and as a jury pleader he is logical in argu- 
ment and convincing in manner. Before public 
bodies and in large assemblages or important 
gatherings, he is a strong and impressive speaker, 
who clothes logical argument in appropriate and 
eloquent language. 



pAPT. ADAM C. BRAUGHLER, com. 
^ mander of Indiana Post, No. 28, Grand 
Army of the Republic, and a prominent citizen 
and substantial business man of the borough of 
Indiana, is a son of Solomon and Nancy (Boyle) 
Braughler, aud was born in Canoe township, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, November 20, 
18.37. He is of German ancestry on his pa- 
ternal side and Irish descent in his maternal 
line. His grandfather, Adam Braughler, came 
from Germany to Bucks county, and in 1817 
removed to what is now Canoe township, where 
he died at a ripe old age in 1842. His son, 



100 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Solomon Braughler (father), was born at 
Qiiakertown, Bucks county, December 27, 
1803. He came in 1817 with his father to 
Canoe township, wiiere he followed farming and 
stock-raising till his death which occurred in 
May, 1870. He was a presbyterian and a demo- 
crat and held several township offices. He 
married Nancy Boyle, who was born in White 
township June 9, 1805, and passed away Jan- 
uary 6, 1886. She was a member of the Pres- 
byterian church and her father, Johnson Boyle, 
came when a young man from county Antrim, 
Ireland, to what is now White township. He 
was a farnier, and re-visited his native land 
several times. 

Adam C. Braughler was reared on his father's 
farm in Canoe township and attended the com- 
mon schools until he was eighteen years of age. 
He then served an apprenticeship of two and 
one- half years at the trade of carpenter, which 
he followed until the dark and stormy days of 
1861, when he was one of the first to respond 
to the Union call for troops. He enlisted as a 
private in Co. D, 78th regiment, Pa. Vols., and 
served until November 4, 1864. He was pro- 
moted to orderly sergeant soon after enlisting, 
and after the battle of Stone river was commis- 
sioned second lieutenant. From August, 1862, 
to January, 1863, he was stationed as a recruit- 
ing officer at Pittston and Freeport, Pa. In 
January, 1863, he rejoined his regiment and 
participated in the battles of Hoover's Gap, 
Macleymore's Cove, Chickamauga and Grays- 
ville. He fought above the clouds at Mission- 
ary ridge and in all the battles of the campaign 
of 1864, from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Ga., 
and then was placed under Thomas and served 
for six mouths beyond his term of enlistment. 
In the fall of 1865 he became a member of the 
grocery and shipping firm of Brilhart, Ellis 
& Co. In 1867 David Ellis retired from the 
firm, and in February, 1872, Mr. Braughler 
purchased J. H. Brilhart's interest and since 
then has successfully conducted a large grocery 



and queensware business. He enlisted as first 
lieutenant in the National Guard of Pennsyl- 
vania, when it was organized in 1875, served 
in the Pittsburgh riots of 1877 and received his 
present commission as captain August 7, 1880. 
He is commander of Post 28, G. A. R., and has 
been adjutant of encampment No. 11, U. V. L. 
since its organization. He is a member of the 
I. O. O. F., the K. of L. and the Jr. O. U. A. M. 

On April 4, 1865, he united in marriage 
with Sarah C. Donahey, a daughter of Wm. B. 
Donahey, of Black Lick township. They are the 
parents of five children, one son and four daught- 
ers: Mary, Iva, Sadie, Jessie and William A. 

Capt. Adam C. Braughler is an unswei'ving 
republican in politics, was a member of the 
borough council for four years and is now in the 
twelfth year of his service as school director. 
He is a member of the Indiana Presbyterian 
church, has won friends and patronage in busi- 
ness by straightforward and honorable dealing 
and is an enterprising and prominent citizen of 
Indiana, who takes deep interest and an active 
part in the military, educational and business 
affairs of the county. 



" Tj^PHRAIM CARPENTER was of New 
-L^ England birth, having been born at 
Sharon, Vermont, August 10, 1788. When a 
young man he taught in the academy at Greens- 
burg, Pa., and tiiere studied law. He com- 
menced the practice of the law at Indiana 
in 1819, and remained there until his death, 
June 10, 1860 (at the age of seventy years). 
For many years he was deputy attorney-general 
for Indiana and adjacent counties. He was ex- 
ceedingly particular and precise in his business 
habits, and made an excellent prosecuting 
officer." 



THOMAS B. CLARK, of Indiana, is an ar- 
tist who occupies a front rank in the pro- 
fession of photography. He was born at Union- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



101 



town, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, May 30, 
1858, and is a son of Samuel M. and Harriet 
(Semans) Clark. His paternal grandfather, Sam- 
uel Alexander Clark, was the only son of Wil- 
liam Clark, who emigrated to this country from 
northern Ireland about the time of the Revolu- 
tioD, and earned his first dollar on this side of 
the ocean with his musket, in the defence of 
Independence. When peace was declared he 
bought land near Uniontown, and settled on it, 
living there until his death, whic^h occurred in 
1828, at the age of eighty-five years. A coin- 
cidence, in this family was that his wife and 
himself were born in the same year and died in 
the same year. Samuel M. Clark, son of Sam- 
uel Alexander Clark, and father of Thomas B. 
Clark, was born in the year 1822, in Fayette 
county, Pa., where he has always resided. He 
learned the trade of carpenter, which he has 
followed ever since. For many years he has 
been a resident of Uniontown, where he is em- 
ployed at his trade. He is a member of the 
Baptist church, and in political matters has 
always given his undivided support to tlic Re- 
publican party. He married Harriet Semans, 
who was a daughter of Thomas Semans and 
died December 16, 1872, aged forty years. She 
was a faithful and devout member of the Bap- 
tist church, aud left a family of one son and 
two daughters. 

Thomas B. Clark was reared at Uniontown, 
where he received his education in the public 
schools. Leaving school, his first employment 
in life for himself was as a clerk in a grocery 
house. In 1874 he engaged with E. A. Lingo 
to learn the art of photography, and after serv- 
ing a four years' apprenticeship he formed a 
partnership with Mr. Lingo's brother, Albert 
Lingo, under the firm-name of Lingo & Clark. 
They opened a photographic gallery at Indiana, 
which they conducted successfully for three 
years, when Mr. Clark purchased his partner's 
interest and has continued the business until 
the present time. His photographic gallery 
7 



and art studio is situated on Philadelphia street. 
No artist in Indiana county sustains a higher 
reputation for fine work than Mr. Clark, whose 
pictures are first-class in representation, execu- 
tion and finish, while no better commendation 
of his skill need be mentioned than what is 
offered by his extensive, influential and con- 
stantly increasing patronage. His esbiblish- 
ment is well and tastefully furni.shed, and is 
provided with the latest photographic appli- 
ances. Courteous operators are employed, and 
photography in all its branches is executed in 
the highest style of the art. 

June 15, 1882, he united in marriage with 
Laura E. Kline, daughter of Wellington B. 
Kline, a prominent dry-goods merchant of In- 
diana. Their union has been blest with two 
children, both sons : Welliugtou and George. 

In politics Mr. Clark is a republican, and 
has served his borough for five years as a mem- 
ber of the school board. He is a member of 
the Indiana Presbyterian church. Palladium 
Lodge, No. 346, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and Improved Order of Heptasophs. 
He is ever alive to the rapid advances of his 
chosen profession in this wonderful age of prog- 
ress, and is abreast of the times as a progressive 
photographer. 



WILLIAM S. COLLINS is a leading citi- 
zen of Indiana, prominent in business 
and social circles as well as in the church and 
secret societies of which he is a member. He 
was born in W^estmoreland county. Pa., June 6, 
1846, aud is a son of Joseph and Rebecca 
(Young) Collins. Joseph Collins is a native 
of Westmoreland county. Pa., and came to 
Indiana county in 1852, locating at West 
Lebanon. He is a machinist, and worked at 
his trade until 1868, when he removed to 
Green township, where he bought a saw-mill, 
which he run for twenty -one years, moving it 
first to Cauoe township, and some six years 



102 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



after to Jefferson county, where he run it until 
1889. He then found the work too arduous, 
and sold the saw-mill and bought a farm, on 
which he now resides in his old age. He is 
now in his sixty-ninth year. He has always 
been a stirring, energetic man, cautious and 
frugal and has acquired a competency. He is 
an esteemed member of the Presbyterian church. 
He married Rebecca Young, a daughter of 
Joseph Young, of Westmoreland county, and 
now in her sixty-sixth year. Her father, 
Joseph Young, was all his life a farmer in 
Westmoreland county. 

William S. Collins was reared in Indiana 
county and received a common-school educa- 
tion. When his father moved from West 
Lebanon, in 1868, to Green township, he went 
with him. He remained in his father's employ 
until 1873 ; then, wearying of the monotony of 
the work, he learned the art of photography, 
which he followed for five years. In 1878 he 
accepted a position as book-keeper and clerk 
for the lumber firm of J. M. Guthrie & Co. 
So faithfully did he discharge his duties that 
for several years he had complete supervision 
of their business in West Indiana. In the 
spring of 1889 he united with his father in the 
general mei'cantile business, under the firm 
name of J. Collins & Son, since which time 
they have built up a large trade. Tliey deal in 
dry-goods, groceries, and all the different arti- 
cles which go to make up the stock of a first- 
class store. During the Great Rebellion, 
William Collins served three mouths in Col. 
Gallagher's regiment, and aided in Morgan's 
capture. 

He was married, in 1865, to Harriet J., 
daughter of Alex. Henderson, of Indiana 
county, l)y whom he has five children : Joseph 
v., Minnie E., George A., Bertram L. and 
Sarah J. 

William S. Collins is a prohibitionist, and 
a member of the Presbyterian church. He is a 
member of William Penn Council, No. 305, 



Royal Arcanum, and Ware Union, No. 326, 
E. A. U., Branch No. 341, O. I. H., and 
Conclave No. 180, Improved order of Hepta- 
sophs. He is a public-spirited citizen and 
always ready to give liis assistance to any 
scheme which may benefit Indiana. 



Y INCENT M. CUNNINGHAM, a thorough- 

' going and successful business man and 
the proprietor of one of the oldest and leading 
general mercantile establishments of the enter- 
prising borough of West Indiana, is a son of 
John H. and Mary P. (Thompson) Cunning- 
ham, and was born in Armstrong township, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 
1852. His American paternal ancestors came 
originally from Ireland, and his grandfather, 
Archibald Cunningham, was born in the latter 
part of the eighteenth century in the western 
part of this State. He followed farming in 
Indiana and Westmoreland counties. He mar- 
ried Rosanna Hutchinson and reared a family 
of nine children : Jane, married Andrew Patter- 
son ; Elizabeth, wife of William Cochran ; 
Mary, married to William McAdo ; George, 
Ruth, wife of John Lucas ; John H., Archi- 
bald, Jr., Martha, married to Rev. Mr. Chap- 
man ; and Rosanna, wife of L. E. Free!. The 
second son, John H. Cunningham (father), was 
born September 11, 1817, in Young township 
and removed to Armstrong township, where he 
followed farming until 1864. In that year he 
returned to White township and purchased a 
farm. 

In 1867 he engaged in the general mercan- 
tile business in the room now occupied, for the 
same purpose, by the subject of this sketch. 
He was a republican in politics, a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church and a man of 
good business ability. He had held several 
township and borough offices, was highly 
esteemed in the different communities in which 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



103 



he had resided and passed away December 17, 
1871, at fifty-four years of age. He married 
Mary P. Thompson, daughter of James Thomp- 
son, a native and farmer of this county, a rela- 
tive of Judge Joseph Thompson, and a mem- 
ber of the United Presbyterian cluirch. He 
died at Indiana in 1872, at seventy-eight years 
of age. Mrs. Cunningham was a memljer of 
the M. E. church, and died January 29, 1874, 
aged fifty-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Cunning- 
ham had twelve children, six of whom are liv- 
ing : A. S., John M., Vincent M., Joanna M., 
wife of J. T. Gibson ; Phebe J., married to 
W. W. Lockhard ; and Laura C, wife of 
Charles Wood. 

Vincent M. Cunningham was reared until 
eleven years of age on his father's Armstrong 
township farm, and then came to the site of 
West Indiana. He received his education in 
the common schools of Armstrong and White 
townships. Leaving school, he assisted his 
father in the store and on tlie farm till 1872. 
From 1872 to 1875 he was engaged in farming 
in White township. In 1877 he embarked 
in merchandising at Cook port, where he re- 
mained for five years and enjoyed a good trade. 
He closed out, however, in 1882, at that place 
in order to remove to West Indiana, where he 
had effected the purchase of his father's store. 
He refitted the entire premises, put in a new 
and general stock of goods and entered upon 
his present successful career as a leading mer- 
chant of Indiana. 

He united in marriage, on September 
19, 1877, with Mary E., daughter of Isaac 
McHenry, of Clearfield county. Pa. Their 
children are: John Simmons, Charlie V., 
Laura B., Edwin B., Mary E. and Joanna M. 

V. M. Cunningham is a member of Clymer 
Lodge, No. 28, Knights of Honor, William 
Penn Council, No. 305, Royal Arcanum, Indiana 
Conclave, No. 180, Improved Order of Hepta- 
sophs. Local Branch, No. 341, Order of the 
Iron Hall, and Indiana Methodist Episcopal 



church, in which he is now serving as steward. 
He is a republican, has served as auditor of 
West Indiana and is now treasurer of his 
borough. He has carefully followed the laws 
of commercial progress and prosperity, and as a 
natural consequence has won mercantile suc- 
cess and an extensive patronage. 



JOHN M. CUNNINGHAM, a man of good 
*J business ability, a popular liveryman, the 
proprietor of the well-known Cunningiiara liv- 
ery, feed and sales stables of Indiana, and a 
dealer in carriages, buggies and sleighs, is a 
son of John H. and Mary P. (Thompson) Cun- 
ningham, and was born three miles west of 
Indiana, in White township, Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania, June 19, 1848. His paternal 
grandfather, Archibald Cunningham (see sketch 
of Vincent M. Cunningham), was of Irish de- 
scent, and followed farming until his death. 
His maternal grandfather, James Thompson, of 
Scotch-Irish descent, was a native of this coun- 
ty, followed farming in White township and 
died at Indiana in 1872. John H. Cunning- 
ham (father) was born on the Cunningham 
homestead in 1817, and owned a farm, of which 
forty acres to-day are included in the site of 
West Indiana. In that borough he was after- 
wards engaged for many years in the genei'al 
mercantile business. He was a republican in 
politics, a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, a man of good business qualifications, 
a well-respected citizen, and died December 17, 
1871, at fifty-four years of age. He married 
Mary P. Thompson, who was also a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and died Jan- 
uary 29, 1874, aged fifty-three years. They 
reared a family of three sons and three daugh- 
ters : A. S., John M., Vincent M., Joanna M., 
wife of J. T. Gibson ; Phebe J., who married 
W. W. Lockard, and Laura C, wife of Charles 
Wood. 



104 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



John M. Cunningham was reared as all 
fanners' sous were at that day, and trained to 
farm work. He received his education in the 
common schools, engaged in farming and after- 
wards became interested in stock-dealing. In 
1877 he removed to Indiana, where, in 1880, 
he engaged in his present livery business. He 
erected his large livery, feed and sales stable in 
1887. It is substantially constructed and most 
conveniently arranged, being 60x100 feet in di- 
mensions. It is two stories high, with box-stalls 
and buggy rooms, has all the modern improve- 
ments, including the Casper oat-cleaner, and 
built according to Mr. Cunningham's own 
plan. He has a well-selected assortment of 
carriages and buggies and a large stock of sad- 
dle and harness horses. He also deals exten- 
sively in carriages, buggies and carts, which he 
has manufactured especially for him. He has 
a handsome three story residence, to which lie 
has added a large and convenient store-room, 
which he rents. He owns a well-improved 
tract of three hundred and twenty acres of land 
in Wilkin county, in the celebrated Red River 
Valley of Minnesota. As a man he is pleasant, 
agreeable and genial ; as a citizen public-spirited 
and progressive, and as a business man is 
prompt, accurate and reliable. His success in 
life and his large business patronage are due to 
his energy, honesty and methods of fair dealing 
in his various enterprises. He is a member of 
the Metliodist Episcopal church, a republican 
in political afiFairs and a man who enjoys the 
respect of iiis neighbors and patrons. 

In 1876 he married Maggie McCuue, daugh- 
ter of Samuel McCune, of Blairsville. They 
have two children, a son and daughter: John 
L. and Charlotte McCune Cunningham. 



WILLIAM S. DAUGHERTY, ex-deputy 
sheriff and ex-prothonotary of Indiana 
county, and the proprietor of the well-known 



Daugherty planiug-raill, is one of the active and 
progressive business men of the borough. He is 
a son of James R. and Mary A. (Hart) Daugh- 
erty, and was born at Saltsburg, Indiana coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, January 22, 1846. His 
paternal grandfather, Hugh Daugherty, was a 
native of Lycoming county, Pa., and removed 
in 1799 to Westmoreland county, this State, 
where he settled on the site of Irwin, in what 
is now North Huntingdon township. His 
maternal grandfather, William Hart, was of 
Scotch descent, and settled in Indiana county, 
where he resided till his death. James R. 
Daugherty (father) was born and reared in 
Westmoreland county until he was fourteen 
years of age, when he came to the site of Salts- 
burg to work upon the construction of the old 
Pennsylvania canal, and there are but few men 
living now who were engaged upon that work. 
In 1863 he was elected sheriff^ and removed to 
Indiana, where he has resided ever since. In 
1866 he became a member of the firm of Cole- 
man, Ewing & Co., who were engaged in the 
planing-mill business, but withdrew in 1872 to 
fill a secondterm as sheriff', and three years later 
purchased the planing-mill of which he had for- 
merly been part owner. In 1889 he disposed of 
this mill property to his son, the subject of this 
sketch. He is a member of the Presbyterian 
church and a stanch republican, and has held im- 
portant offices of Indiana borough. He has also 
been a trustee of the Indiana Normal school for 
sixteen years. For nearly thirty years he has 
been|one of the leading citizens and prominent 
business men of the county. In 1839 he married 
Mary A. Hart, daughter of William Hart, and 
who was born in 1820, and is a member of the 
Presbyterian church. Their family consists of 
eight children : Robert J., a member of Co. C, 
9th regiment Pa. Vols., who died of exhaustion 
in the Seven Days' fight ; William 8., Martha, 
wife of John P. St. Clair; James, Frank, 
Annie, John and Silas C. 

William S. Daugherty was reared in the 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



105 



county and received his education in the com- 
mon schools and Saltsburg academy. Leaving 
school, he learned the trade of carpenter, which 
he followed for three years. At the end of this 
time he embarked in the drug business, in 
which he was engagetl, with more or less regu- 
larity, until 1872, when he became deputy 
sheriff under his father, and at the expiration of 
the term of the latter he was successively em- 
ployed in the same capacity by sheriffs William 
C. Brown and Daniel Ansley. His third term 
as deputy sheriif having expired in 1881, he 
was elected prothonotary of Indiana county in 
that year, and re-elected in 1884. In 1888 he 
retired from the prothonotary's office, and in 
1889 became superintendent of the erection of 
the West Indiana school building. Late in the 
fall of the last-named year he purchased his 
present planing-mill from his father, and since 
then has devoted his time and energies princi- 
pally to supplying the wants of his many patrons 
and meeting the demands of his constantly- 
increasing trade. This planing-mill is a large 
two-story frame building, which was erected in 
1856, and has been greatly enlarged and much 
improved since. The power is furnished by a 
thirty horse-power engine ; eight men are con- 
stantly employed, and the large quantity of 
work which is turned out is first-class in every 
particular. The building is fitted throughout 
with all needed conveniences for the planing- 
mill and lumber business. Mr. Daugherty 
manufactures and deals in rough and worked 
lumber of all kinds, consistiny; of flooriua;, 
weather-boarding, ceiling and bill lumber. He 
also handles doors, sash, mouldings and brack- 
ets, and furnishes, on short notice, anything 
that can be made in a well-regulated planing- 
mill. He not only enjoys a home trade, but 
ships work to many points throughout the 
southern part of the county. 

On September 19, 1876, he married Martha 
V. Sanson), daughter of John Sansom, and 
sister of James B. Sansom, late editor of the 



Indiana Democrat. They have two children. 
Hart B. and Ross S. 

William S. Daugherty is a member of Pal- 
ladium Lodge, No. 346, I. O. O. F., Indiana 
Lodge, No. 21, A. O. U. W., and Indiana Lodge, 
No. 346, F. and A. M. In the Masonic frater- 
nity he is also a member of Zerubabel Cliapter, 
No. 162, and Pittsburgh Commandery, No. 1. 
In politics Mr. Daugherty is an influential re- 
publican, who, besides the county offices which 
he has satisfactorily filled, has served his 
borough for ten years as school director. He 
is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is 
one of the leading citizens and foremost busi- 
ness men of the county. 



FRANK DOUGLASS, an enterprising citi- 
zen, a reliable business man and a pros- 
perous merchant of Indiana, is a son of Barna- 
bas and Elizabeth (Oaks) Douglass and was 
born in Green township (near Cherry Tree), 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1863. 
His paternal grandfather, Barnabas Douglass, 
was born in Ireland, came to Indiana county 
when a young man, and followed farming until 
his death, which occurred March 15, 1845, 
when he was seventy years of age. In 1823 he 
built, on the Susquehanna river, the Douglass 
grist and saw-mill, now known as " Garman's 
Mills." He settled in Green township in 1825, 
when it was almost all woods, and wolves would 
chase their stock to the cabin door. His mater- 
nal grandfather, Stephen Oaks, was born in 
Maine and came from the " Pine Tree Stale " to 
western Pennsylvania in 1837, where he was 
engaged in farming in Indiana and Cambria 
counties until he died, in 1874, at seventy -eight 
years of age. He was the eldest of nine sons, 
and when a boy went with his father to what is 
now East Sangerville, Piscataqua county, Maine, 
where, thirty mil&s from human habitations, 
they cleared out a farm. The moose was their 
principal dependence for meat. Barnabas Doug- 



106 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



lass (father) was a native of this county. He 
was a prosperous farmer of Green township, 
wliere he owned a farm of two hundred acres of 
land, and in connection with farming handled 
stock and followed lumberinj;. He was adem- 
ocrat, a member of Cherry Tree Baptist church 
and died November 29th, 1875, aged seventy- 
two years. He married Elizabeth Oaks, who 
was born in Maine in 1822, and came with her 
parents to this county about 1837. She is an 
earnest, zealous and active member of Cherry 
Tree Baptist church. 

Frank Douglass was reared on a farm in his 
native township. He received his education in 
the common schools and the State Normal 
school at Indiana. While attending the nor- 
mal school he taught several M'inters in the 
common schools. In 1884 he formed a mer- 
cantile partnership with Barto Beringer, under 
the firm name of Beringer & Douglass, and 
they built the dwelling-house and store-room 
now occupied by Mr. Douglass, on Second 
street, near the normal school, Indiana, Pa. On 
December 5, 1884, they opened a store and the 
firm continued until February 2.3, 1888, when 
McLain Davis purchased Mr. Beringer's in- 
terest and the new firm of Douglass & Davis 
ran about six months. Mr. Davis was sue- | 
ceeded then by R. O. Barber and the firm of 
Douglass & Barber continued about six months, 
when Mr. Douglass bought out Mr. Barber's 
interest. Since that time Mr. Douglass has 
continued to gradually increase both his stock \ 
and his patrons. 

October 31, 1889, he united in marriage with 
Bertha Neal, daughter of J. Milton Neal, of 
Jacksonville, this county. 

In politics Mr. Douglass is a democrat. He 
is a pleasant and courteous gentleman and has 
a wide circle of friends. He has a neat and 
tasteful store-room which is well filled with a 
good stock of general merchandise, including 
special lines of dry -goods, groceries, boots, shoes 
and notions. He also deals extensively in 



country produce and pays out a considerable 
amount of money for the large quantities which 
he ships every year. He is noted for handling 
the best shingles in the county. He has the 
agency of Indiana county for Lister's Agricul- 
tural Chemical works, of Newark, N. J., which 
fully explains the cause of his present large 
trade in commercial fertilizers. 



" A UGUSTUS DRUM was a son of Simon 
■^ Drum, of Greensburg, Pa., and was 
educated at JeflPerson college. Pa. He studied 
law under John B. Alexander, at Greensburg, 
and located in Indiana in 1831. He was a 
successful lawyer, and a gentleman of pleasant 
social qualities and a fine literary taste. 

" He was a member of the Democratic party, 
and took a decided part in politics, and to some 
extent was a newspaper writer. He served in the 
State Senate and in Congress. He died on the 
17th day of September, 1858, aged forty-three 
years." 



MARTIN EARHART, the accommodating 
and popular proprietor of the "American 
House," and president of the " Library Hall," 
of Indiana, is a son of John and Catherine 
(Shu maker) Earhart, and was born near the 
tunnel in Conemaugh township, Indiana coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, on the last day of April, 
1834. John Earhart, a man of sterling worth 
and generous disposition, was born in eastern 
Pennsylvania in 1797, and commenced life for 
him.self by hauling goods over the "Old Pike " 
from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. In 1850 he 
left teaming and removed to Saltsburg, where 
he ran the Earhart house for twenty years, and 
during all that time he was identified with the 
interests of Saltsburg and exerted himself un- 
tiringly in everything that pertained to the 
public weal of the place. He w"as kind and 
generous to the poor, whose wants he alway 



INDIAXA COUNTY. 



107 



relieved with great willingness as well as with 
great cheerfulness. He contributetl largely to 
the growth and prosperity of Saltsburg, in 
which he owned a considerable amount of prop- 
erty, besides his farm in Couemaugh township. 
He was a lutheran and a republican, and served 
his town most acceptably in many places of , 
honor and trust. In the midst of a life of ac- j 
tivity and usefulness he was summoned from 
time to eternity and passed away April 14, 
1864, when in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 
His wife was Catherine Shumaker, of Boiling 
Springs, Armstrong county, Pa. She was a 
life-long member of the Lutheran church and 
died July 4, 1861, aged 54 years. 

Martin Earhart was reared on his father's 
farm until he was sixteen years of age, when 
he went with his parents to Saltsburg and as- 
sisted them in the hotel. He received his edu- 
cation in the common schools, and in 1857 
engaged in the livery business at Saltsburg? 
which he followed for five years. He then 
came to Indiana, where he formed a partner- 
ship with his brother Solomon, who was the 
proprietor of a large livery stable. In the 
spring of 1865 he withdrew from the firm, re- 
moved to West Indiana and opened a hotel, 
which he conducted until 1876. In that year 
he purchased the present well and favorably 
known " American House," which he has con- 
ducted successfully ever since. This hotel, 
which is on the corner of Philadelphia and 
Eighth streets, was originally a private dwell- 
ing-house. In 1865 Solomon Earhart added 
an additional story to it and opened it as the 
"Continental Hotel." In 1876 Martin Ear- 
hart became the owner, added the rear wings to 
the building and changed the name to the 
" Americau House." 

December 29, 1859, he married Celia M. 
Curry, daughter of John R. Curry, of Blairs- 
ville. To this union have been born seven 
children : John A., William M., Frank H., 
Celia G., married to A. H. Chesley, of Pitts- 



burgh ; Charles E., Flora M. and Harry E. 
Mrs. Earhart was born January 9, 1839, and 
passed away on September 16, 1890. She was 
a woman of many excellent traits of character, 
and her funeral was attended by a large con- 
course of her friends and acquaintances. 

In the various improvements which have 
been undertaken for the advantage and pros- 
perity of Indiana Mr. Earhart has always taken 
an active part. He is a stockholder of the In- 
diana water-works and a stockholder and presi- 
dent of Library Hall, which was erected for 
public entertainments. He is a republican and 
attends the Presbyterian church, to which he is 
a liberal contributor. He is a member of the 
A. O. U. W., the Iron Hall order, the Knights 
of Honor and the Improved Order of Hepta- 
sophs. He was a member of the school board 
which erected the present fine school building 
of West Indiana. His hotel is well arranged 
and convenient in all of its appointments, while 
its proprietor cannot be surpassed by any land- 
lord in the State for making his guests com- 
fortable. 



HON. JOHN P. ELKIN, an active and suc- 
cessful young lawyer, a potent factor in 
the present rapid development of the coal fields 
of Indiana county, and a prominent republican 
leader in the Thirty-seventh Senatorial Dis- 
trict of Pennsylvania, is a son of Francis and 
Elizabeth (Pratt) Elk in, and was born in West 
Mahoning township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, January 11, 1860. The Elkin family 
of Ireland has long been resident in the north- 
ern part of the " Emerald Isle." One of its 
numerous descendants was Francis Elkin, the 
great-grandfather of Hon. John P. Elkin. He 
lived to be eighty-nine years of age, and his 
wife, Elizabeth Elkin, was a daughter of 
Joseph Hill, who died in 1844, at the remark- 
able age of one hundred and seven years. Their 
sou, William Elkin (grandfather), was born in 



108 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



1803, raarrial Martha Beattie and came to 
Pittsburgh iu 1850. Four years late he re- 
moved to West Mahoning township, where he 
still resides, at the ripe old age of eighty-seven 
years. Their son, Francis Elkin (father), was 
born at Omagh, county Tyrone, Ireland, May 
4, 1830, and came, in 1850, to Pittsburgh, 
where he learned the rolling-mill trade. He 
soon removed to West Mahoning township, and, 
after farming for some years, he became a resi- 
dent of Smicksburg, where he built a foundry I 
and opened a store. In 1874 he went to Wells- 
ville, Ohio, and, in company with others, 
founded the American Tin Plate company, and 
erected the first mill in this country which ever 
manufactured tin plate. In 1875 he returned 
to Smicksburo; and resumed his mercantile busi- 
ness, in which he continued until his death, 
Dec. 12, 1882, when in the fifty-second year of 
his age. He was a member and vestryman of 
the Protestant Episcopal church of Smicksburg, 
and built the present church edifice of that re- 
ligious denomination at that place. He was a 
republican, and served his township as school j 
director. Prompt as a business man, honorable 
as a citizen and scrupulously honest in all of his 1 
dealings, he was highly esteemed by all who i 
knew him. He married Elizabeth Pratt, who 
was born in 1833, in Queens count}', Ireland, 
and came to the United States in 1851. She 
still resides at Smicksburg, and is a member of 
the Protestant Episcopal church. 

John P. Elkin was reared at Smicksburg ; 
he attended the State Normal school at Indiana 
and was graduated from that favorably-known 
institution of learning in the class of 1880. He 
taught in the common schools of the county for 
several terms, both before and after his gradu- 
ation. He began his career as a school-teacher 
when but fifteen years of age. Many of the 
boys and girls who went to his schools are now 
occupying positions of trust in many parts of 
the country. As a teacher he had the reputa- 
tion of being a decided success. Desiring 



another field of work, he quit teaching, and de- 
termined upon the profession of law, and in 
1882 entered the law department of the univer- 
sity of Michigan, and was graduated from that 
famous institution in 1884, where he carried off 
the honors of his class, being the orator at the 
closing exercises. After his graduation he pur- 
sued the study of law in the office of the able 
law firm of Watson & Telford, and was ad- 
mitted to practice in the several courts of In- 
diana county in September, 1885. Since then 
he has lieen engaged iu the active prac'tice of 
his profession at Indiana. In 1884 he was 
elected as a member of the Pennsylvania House 
of Representatives. In 1886 he was re-elected 
and ran two hundred and seventy-one votes 
ahead of the republican ticket, headed by James 
G. Blaine. During his first terra he came into 
notice by championing the oleomargarine act, 
which became a law after a very exciting con- 
test, between the farmers on one side and the 
manufacturers of bogus butter on the other. 
He was chairman of the Committee on Constitu- 
tional Reform, and as such had charge of the 
Constitutional amendment prohibiting the sale 
of intoxicating licjuors. He was a member of 
the sub-committee which drafted the amendment 
afterwards submitted to a vote of the people. 
He also served on the committees on judiciary 
general, retrenchment and reform and library. 
In 1887 he was a delegate to the State conven- 
tion which nominated Hart for State treasurer 
and Mitchell for the supreme bench. In 1890 
he was a delegate to the Republican State con- 
vention which nominated Hon. George W. Del- 
amater, of Crawford county, for Governor of 
the " Keystone " Commonwealth. This was one 
of the fiercest contests in the State, and was won 
after a three months' canva.ss. 

He united in marriage, on the 17th day of 
June, A. D. 1884, with Adda P., daughter of 
John Prothero, president of the First National 
Bank of Indiana. To their union has been 
born one child, a daughter, named Helen P. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



109 



The subject of this sketch is a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church at Indiana. He 
is president of the Indiana School board and a 
member of the board of trustees of the State 
Normal school. His fine law practice and sig 
nal success in the political field have not taken 
his entire time or attention, for he has been 
largely instrumental, with several others, in de- 
veloping the Cush creek coal region, and secur- 
ing the construction of the Cusli creek branch 
of the Jefferson & Clearfield K. R. He is a 
director of tiie Homer & Susquehanna railroad, 
which is now being surveyed with a view of 
connecting the Cush creek branch with the 
Indiana branch of the P. R. R. He is also 
connected with the Gilpin Coal company and 
various other local enterprises. The coal and 
coke industry is among the gigantic industrial 
enterprises that are centred in Western Penn- 
sylvania. Its growth has been as wonderful as 
its history is marvelous. Fifty years ago it 
was known, but to-day it is one of the fore- 
most industries of the Unitwl States. Some 
of its rich fields are those of Indiana county, 
which are being developed by Mr. Elkin and 
other public-spirited men of this section. John P. 
Elkin is of the sturdy Scotch -Irish stock. He 
has a high standing at the bar, wields great 
influence in the political field, and has been, 
throughout the few sliort years of his public 
life, a tiiorough business man of earnest will 
and vast industry. He is pre-eminently the 
architect of his own fortune, as he inherited 
nothing save a strong body and good mind, 
and his remarkable success is an evidence of 
what those imperial qualities — energy and de- 
cision — can accomplish for their fortunate pos- 
sessor. 



"pRANK T. EMPFIELD, a courteous and 
-L pleasant gentleman and the present clerk 
of the board of commissioners of Indiana 
county, is a son of Isaac and Clarissa (Churchill) 



Empfield, and was born at Greenville, Cherry 
Hill township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
March 26, 1860. Among the jiiany reliable 
German settlers of eastern Pennsylvania were 
the Empfields, and one of their descendants, 
wIk) settled in Indiana county during the early 
years of the present century, was Peter Emp- 
field, the grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch. He followed farming, reared a very 
respectable flimily of children and died in 1870, 
at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. His 
son, Isaac Empfield (father), was born in Brush 
Valley township, November 20, 1818, and died 
July 5, 1872, when in the fifty-fourth year of 
his age. He was an extensive farmer of his 
native township and owned about six hundred 
acres of land. He became a resident of Green- 
ville when a young man and was prominent and 
influential in the affairs of that place as long as 
he lived. In addition to the management and 
supervision of his farms he kept a first-class 
hotel and livery stable at Greenville, and dealt 
largely in stock. As a republican and a 
presbyterian he was active in religious and 
political matters in his section of the county. 
His wife was Clarissa Churchill, who still re- 
sides at Greenville and has been for over twenty 
years a member of the Presbyterian church. 

Frank T. Empfield was reared to manhood 
at the pleasant village of Greenville. He re- 
ceived his education in the public schools and 
the academy of that place. Leaving Greenville 
academy he engaged in farming which he fol- 
lowed for two years and then (1884) embarked 
in the drug business at Greenville, in which he 
continued succe-ssfully until 1888. In Decem- 
ber of that year he w;us offered, and upon signi- 
fying his willingne.ss to accept, was elected to 
his present position of clerk of the board of 
commissioners of Indiana county. Since then 
he has given his time and attention to the many 
and various duties of his office, in which he has 
acquitted him.self very eredital)ly. 

June 18, 1890, he united in marriage with 



no 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Ruth Porter, daughter of the late Colonel 
Dauiel S. Porter, who was, during his life- 
time a well-known citizen and attorney of 
Indiana. 

Frank T. Empfield is a member of the Cos- 
mopolitan, the leading club of Indiana, and 
various other social organizations. He is a de- 
cided republican in his political opinions and 
his work so far in the commissioner's office has 
been satisfactory to the public. 



DAVID HALL, D.D. It is the privilege 
of few men who are engaged in the work 
of the Christian ministry in this State to be so 
highly respected as the Rev. David Hall, D.D., 
the pastor of the First Presbyterian church of 
Indiana since 1874. Of him it is re- 
corded in the standard historical work of the 
Presbyterian church of the United States, that 
"his ministry in Indiana has been largely 
blessed " and that " he is greatly beloved and 
admired by his people." David Hall, D.D., is 
a son of David and Margaret (Hiudman) Hall 
and was born at Slate Lick, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, December 13, 1828. Of the 
numerous Hall families in the United States, 
which have produced eminent divines of the 
Presbyterian church, one is the Hall family of 
Indiana county, which was founded by Capt. 
David Hall, who was a native of England and 
came with his parents to Westmoreland county 
when quite young. He became an early settler 
of Armstrong county, served as a captain in 
the war of 1812 and participated in several 
Indian expeditions into the Western Reserve 
of Ohio, where he afterwards took up several 
large tracts of land. He married Jane Jackson 
and died March 27, 1836, at the age of 74 
years. His son, David Hall, was born October 
27th, 1792, and died at Slate Lick, May 18th, 
1884, when rapidly nearing his ninety-second 
mile-stone on the pathway of life. His first 



business was manufacturing salt in the Kis- 
kiminetas Valley, which he soon abandoned to 
engage in farming. He was an old-time demo- 
crat, an extensive farmer, an upright, truth- 
ful man and an exemplary member of the 
Presbyterian church. He was remarkable for 
strength of purpose. Christian charity and moral 
firmness. He married Margaret Hindman, who 
was a daughter of James and Mary (Mc- 
Clellan) Hindman, and a member of the 
Presbyterian church. She was born June 25, 
1793, in Armstrong county, where she died 
March 15, 1864. 

Rev. David Hall was reared on a farm until 
he was sixteen years of age. He received his 
elementary education in the subscription schools, 
attended Kittanning academy and at sixteen 

'. years of age entered Jefferson college, at Can- 
nonsburg. Pa., from which institution he was 
graduated with honors on March 30, 1850. 

j Leaving college, he served for eighteen months 
as assistant principal of the Witherspoon insti- 
tute, a presb}terian academy at Butler, Pa. At 
the end of this time he resolved to devote 
his life to the cause of Christianity and 
entered the Western Theological seminary, 
of Allegheny, Pa., to prepare for the work 
of the ministry. After three years of hard and 
profitable study, he was graduated May, 1854, 
with high standing in his class. In the mean 
time, June 20, 1854, he was licensed by the 
presbytery of Allegheny, Pa., but wishing to be 
thoroughly prepared for his work, he went, after 
his graduation at Allegheny, to Princeton 
Theological seminary, where he spent one year 
as a resident graduate and took the post- 
graduate course of that thorough and efficient 
institution. Returning from Princeton, he was 
called as oo-pastor of the First Presbyterian 
church of Columbus, Ohio, .serving with Rev. 
Dr. James Hoge. He remained there about 
one year, then accepted a call from his native 
county and was ordained and installed by the 
Presbytery of Allegheny on November 5, 1856, 




4^ 




INDIANA COUNTY. 



113 



as pastor of Union and Brady's Bend churches, 
of Armstrong county. His pastorate of these 
two churches was a very pleasant and successful 
one and extended over a period of eleven years. 
It terminated in 1867, when he became pastor 
of the Presbyterian church of Mansfield, Ohio, 
where he labored with acceptance and good re- 
sults until 1874. On June 30th of that year he 
was installed as pastor of the First Presbyterian 
church of Indiana, which he has served ac- 
ceptably ever since. When he assumed his 
present charge the membership was threo hun- 
dred and fifty, but now the church-roll bears 
the names of five hundred and twenty members- 
In 1858 Jefferson college conferred the degree 
of D.D. upon him for his ability, learning and 
valuable services in the ministry. In 1857 he 
was elected at Jefferson college as professor of 
Latin and Literature, and in 1858 he served as 
a member of the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church, held in New Orleans, 
In political matters Dr. Hall is a democrat from 
principle. 

December 2, 1856, he married Elizabeth 
Walker, daughter of David Walker, of Butler, 
Pa. Their children are : Edward Payson, 
Henry Walker, Laura Baudelle, Mary Camp- 
bell and Caroline Rowland. The eldest son, 
Edward Payson Hall, is an attorney of the 
pension bureau, in Washington City, and the 
second son, Henry Walker Hall, is a successful 
artist of New York city, who spent three years 
in art studies in Paris, France, and is now en- 
gaged in illustrating. 

Dr. Hall is of fine physique and dignified 
bearing. He is an impressive and earnest 
speaker, whose style is characterized by clear- 
ness, simplicity and strength. As a minister of 
God and an ambassador for Christ, no one has 
ever mistaken his character or his purpose. 
\\ hilc gentle to all men, yet he is never pliant, 
and his every word, tone and gesture bears the 
unmistakable impress of sincerity. Rather 
timid in disposition, with no desire to preach 



on set occasions, yet he is bold as a lion in the 
pulpit, in rebuking vice, folly and injustice. 

In the biography of Dr. Hall in the Ency- 
clopedia of the Presbyterian church in the 
United States, Rev. Alfred Nevin, LL.D., says: 
" He (Dr. Hall) is a man of fine scholarship 
and much culture, and his motto seems to be, 
* Do all the good you can and say nothing about 
it.' In his preaching he emphasizes Christian 
morality, honor, manliness, integrity, truth, 
chivalry, charity and helpfulness, as in the sight 
of God and in the love of Christ. He teaches 
that salvation is largely character and exalts 
Christ's offices of Prophet (or Teacher) and 
King, as well as his office of Priest. He 
abounds in illustrations from nature. He makes 
an impression on the community by his efforts 
to tone up public morals." 



T CLEMENT HASINGER. Although oue 
^ ' of the younger business men of Indiana, 
J. Clement Hasinger is noted for the indus- 
try and frugality which so much tend to 
make busiuess a success, and when we add 
to this the simple encomium that means so 
much. He is an honest man, we have noted his 
whole character. He is a son of Clement and 
Susannah (Rising) Hasinger, and was born at 
Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Jan- 
uary 24, 1862. His father, Clement Hasinger, 
was a native of Bavaria, and in 1853 came to 
Indiana, where he engaged in the grocery busi- 
ness for some twenty-five years, when he retired 
from active busiuess life, leaving to his sons, as 
a result of his untiring energy, a well-estab- 
lished business. He was a member of the 
Catholic church and a democrat. He died 
December 8, 1888, aged sixty-three years. His 
wife was a daughter of Martin Rising, who 
came to this country with her parents in 1839, 
landing at Baltimore. They settled in Cherry 
Hill township, where Martin Rising bought a 



114 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



farm on which he still lives, being now eighty- 
five years of age. He is a member of the Cath- 
olic church, as is also his daughter, Mrs. Has- 
iuger, who lives in Indiana with her sons, and 
is now in the fifty-third year of her age. 

J. Clement Hasinger receivetl his education 
in the public schools of Indiana. Leaving 
school, he assisted his father in the grocery store 
until the latter gave up the business, in 1888, 
to J him and his brother, John E., who have 
since done business under the firm-name of 
Hasinger Bros. John E. also runs a cigar fac- 
tory at Indiana, while J. Clement owns a bread 
and cake bakery. 

On October 5, 1880, he was married to 
Mary, youngest daughter of Conrad Bergman, 
of Indiana. They have two children, a daugh- 
ter, named Florence, and a son, William Ralph. 

J. Clement Hasinger is a democrat in politi- 
cal opinion, and a member of the Catholic 
Knights of St. George. The Hasingers — father 
and sons — are an example of what industry 
and frugality, the noted German characteristics, 
will accomplish. 



JOHN S. HASTINGS. One of the most 
" useful and important industries of any 
town or city is the lumbei business. A repre- 
sentative lumber manufacturer and dealer of 
Indiana county is John S. Hastings, a soldier 
of the late war and the proprietor of the 
Hastings planing-mill. He was born near 
Dayton, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
January 16, 1848, and is a son of Enoch and 
Eliza (Sutor) Hastings. He is a descendant of 
the old Hastings family of England. His 
grandfather, John Hastings, lesided nearBelle- 
fonte, Centre county, this State, where he died. 
His .son, Enoch Hastings, was born in 1781, 
removed to Armstrong county, near Day- 
ton, where he worked at his trade of black- 
smith and was engaged for many years in 
farming and operating a flouring-mill. He 



soon became a leading citizen in the com- 
munity in which he resided. He was a 
member and deacon of the Baptist church and 
served as a justice of the peace and in local 
offices for many years. He died on his farm 
near Dayton in 1855, in his seventy-fourth 
year. He married Eliza Sutor, daughter of 
John Sutor, who was a native of Scotland and 
after coming to this State located in Washing- 
ton county, but subsequently removed near 
Marion, this county, where he followed farm- 
ing till 1875, when he passed away in the 
ninety-sixth year of his age. Mrs. Eliza 
Hastings was born in Washington county and 
was brought at seven years of age to this 
county, where she was reared in the faith of 
the Presbyterian church, with which she united 
in early life, but subsequently joined the Bap- 
tist church. She died in 1883, aged about 
72 years, and her remains were interred at 
Marion, while her husliand's, body was en- 
tombed in the Glade Run church-yard in 
Armstrong county. 

John S. Hastings was reared on a farm un- 
til he was 16 years of age, and received his ed- 
ucation in the common schools and Dayton 
academy. On February 23, 1864 — just shortly 
after his .sixteenth birthda}' — he enlisted in the 
United States Signal Corps and served till he 
was honorably discharged at San Antonio, 
Texas, April 20, 1866. During the last named 
year he went to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he work- 
ed at the trade of carpenter with William 
Dick, and in the fall of 1867 came to Indiana. 
There he finished his trade with his uncle, 
Johu Sutor, for whom and with whom he 
worked until 1872. He then purchasetl his 
uncle's half-interest in a planing-mill and be- 
came a member of the firm of Lowry, Hastings 
& Co. In 1877 hepurcliased Lowry's interest, 
and the firm was Hastings & Leach until June, 
1879, when Mr. Leach sold his share to Col. D. 
S. Porter and the business was carried on in 
the name of John S. Hastings. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



115 



The Hastings planing-mill is a two-story 
frame, 50x113 in dimensions, and is run by a 
forty-five horse-power engine and supplied with 
all late and improved machinery. The central 
portion of the mill was erected in 1866; next 
the southern addition was built and later the 
eastern addition was erected. Mr. Hastings 
keeps constantly on hand a large stock of rough 
and dressed pine, oak, hemlock and all other 
kinds of lumber and manufactures doors, 
sash, blinds, frames, scroll work, stair rails, 
lath and shingles in large quantities to supply 
the wants of his many patrons. He is also a 
contractor and has built a great many buildings. 
The Indiaua county jail, First Presbyterian 
church of Kittanning and Jackson street Bap- 
tist church of Scranton, Pa., being among the 
number. 

He was married, February 28, 1884, to Vir- 
ginia Coleman, a resident of Indiana, but a 
native of Wheeling, W. Va. Their union has 
been bles.sed with one child, a son, named Ralph 
Wendell Hastings. 

John S. Hastings is a republican in politics 
and supports his party whenever it is necessary, 
but is no politician. For twenty )-ears he has 
been identified with the material interests and 
prosperity of Indiana. Every movement for 
the advancement of the borough has met with 
his approval, enlisted his attention and secured 
his support. His business has built up with the 
town in its steady and substantial growth and de- 
velopment of the last two decades. His busi- 
ness has expanded slowly from year to year until 
it has attained very respectable proportions and 
extends over considerable area of territory. Mr. 
Hastings is a notable example of a wide-awake 
and self-made man. 



THOMAS E. HILDEBRAND. Prominent 
among the leading representatives of the drug 
business in this section is Thomas E. Hildebiand, 



the proprietor of the oldest drug house in Indiana 
county and one of the young and progressive 
business men of Indiana borough. He is a son 
of William B. and Sarah (McClaran) Hilde- 
j brand, and was born at Indiana, Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania, February 18, 1860. His ances- 
tors were early settlers in this State. The Hil- 
debrand family is one of the old families of 
Adams county. His paternal grandfather, Wil- 
liam Hildebrand, was a sou of John Hilde- 
brand, of German origin, and married Elizabeth 
Swigart. One of their .sons was William B. 
Hildebrand (father), who was born in Adams 
county in 1825 and removed in 1853 to Indi- 
ana borough , where he embarked in the drug 
business, which he followed until his death, 
which occurred in 1886, when in the sixty- 
first year of his age. He was an experienced 
and enterprising business man who had estab- 
lished a wide reputation for honorable dealing 
and was highly esteemed by the many who 
knew him. On account of his business ability 
and experience, in 1876 he was elected .secretary 
of the Indiana State Normal school of Pennsyl- 
vania. His services were so satisfactory in this 
position that he was annually re-elected till his 
death, in 1886. He was a member of the Indi- 
ana Presbyterian church, in which he had served 
ten years as a trustee. In politics he was a re- 
publican, but aside from a general interest in 
political matters he devoted his time chiefly to 
the management of his business undertakings. 
In 1859 he married Sarah McClaran, by whom 
he had six children, three sons and three daugh- 
ters: Thomas E., Gertrude, Frank, Walter, 
Willie M. and Mary (deceased). Mrs. Sarah 
Hildebrand was born at Blairsville, this county, 
in 1826, and is a member of the Presbyterian 
church. She is a daughter of Hon. William 
McClaran, who was of Scotch-Irish descent. 

He was born in .Indiana county, where 
he always lived. He was an old line whig, 
a strict Presbyterian and a man who com- 
manded respect by the integrity of his actions 



116 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and the uprightness of his life. He represented 
his native county twice in the State legislature 
and served two terms as register and recorder of 
Indiana county, being elected to the latter posi- 
tion iu 1842 and re-elected in 1845. 

Thomas E. Hildebraud was reared at Indiana, 
where he received his education in the public 
schools aud the State Normal school of that 
place. His first employment was in the drug 
business with his father, whom he assisted till 
the death of the latter, when he purcliased aud 
assumed entire charge of the drug store and has 
continued successfully to conduct it ever since. 
In 1889 he tore down the old building aud 
erected on its site his present large and beauti- 
ful three-story brick drug house, 21 x 75 feet in 
dimensions. His establishment is on Philadel- 
phia street, and is one of the best furnished 
drug houses in the western part of the State. ; 
His stock is large and varied in order to meet 
the numerous demands of his constantly increas- 
ing patronage. He is a skillful and accom- j 
plished druggist and an agreeable gentleman of 
excellent business qualifications. 

In 1884 Thomas E. Hildebrand was made 
teller of the Indiana County Deposit bank, 
which position he still holds. He is a member 
of the Cosmopolitan club, which is composed 
of the young business men of Indiana. Mr. I 
Hildebrand is a republican in political opinion, 
has served three terms asauditor of his borough 
and takes considerable interest in political af- j 
fairs. He is also well informed upon the im- 
portant events of this wonderful age, and has 
acquired quite a fund of general information. 



JOHN H. HILL, one of the Hancock and 
English democratic presidential electors of 
Pennsylvania in 1880, a well-known member of 
the Indiana bar since 1874 and a soldier of the 
Army of the Potomac during 1864 and 1865, 
was born at Elderton, Armstrong county, Penn- 



sylvania, October 12, 1848, and is a son of Dan- 
iel and Eliza A. (Trimble) Hill. On both his 
paternal and maternal side he is of Scotch-Irish 
descent. His grandfather, Daniel Hill, Sr., was 
a native and resident of some county in the 
eastern part of the State until he attained his 
majority, when he joined the hardy pioneers who 
were venturing into the forest regions v/est of 
the Allegheny mountains at the risk of their 
lives. He settled in what is now Westmoreland 
county, where he died. His son, Daniel Hill, 
was born in 1817, learned the trade of mill- 
wright, and removed to Armstrong county, 
where he remaineil until 1855. He then came 
to Indiana county aud embarked in the lumber 
business on the Susquehanna river, which he 
followed up to 1880, when he removed to White 
township and has been engaged in farming ever 
since. He is a Presbyterian in religious belief, 
a democrat in political faith and has .served in 
various township offices. He married Eliza A. 
Trimble, who was born in 1811 and died in 
1866. She was a daughter of Thomas Trimble, 
a life-long resident and well-to-do farmer of 
Westmoreland county, who died in 1850. 

John H. Hill was reared principally at Cher- 
ry Tree, this county. He attended the common 
schools, Pine Flat academy and Cherry Tree col- 
lege, a chartered institution which has since 
gone down. In 1870 he entered Washington 
and Lee university at Lexington, Va., and 
became a student in the law department of 
that institution, from which he was graduated 
in the law class of 1873. One year later he 
was admitted to the Indiana 'county bar, and 
since that time has been actively engaged in the 
practice of his profession in the courts of this and 
adjoining counties. In 1864 he enlisted in 
Company K, 88th Regiment, Pennsylvania 
Volunteers (from Philadelphia), participated in 
all the principal battles of his regiment, and 
was honorably discharged under general orders 
at Washington City in 1865. He is a member 
of Indiana Post, No. 28, G. A. R. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



117 



In 1873 he married Mollie I. Kingports, 
daughter of David R. Kingports. They have 
one child, named Don James Hill. 

John H. Hill is considerably interested in 
manufacturing, and is the senior member of the 
firm of J. H. & W. B. Hill, proprietors of 
the Hill flouring mill and Hill woolen factory, 
of White township, which are in operation. In 
addition to his investments with his brother in 
milling and woolen manufacturing, he owns a 
grain and stock farm of considerable size. He 
is a stanch democrat, one of the democratic 
leaders of the county, and has served as school 
director for six years and as a member of In- 
diana borough council for the same length of 
time. He was chairman of the Democratic 
county committee for three years. He was 
nominated by his party for prothonotary, 
and again for district attorney, and, although 
polling the full democratic strength and receiv- 
ing complimentary votes from the opposition 
party, yet was bound to be defeated in a county 
largely republican. Mr. Hill is an active and 
energetic worker in his profession and enjoys a 
good practice. 



HON. GEORGE W. HOOD. Among the 
prominent citizens and public men of 
Indiana county who are held in high esteem for 
integrity, good judgment and business and pro- 
fessional ability is Ex-State Senator George W. j 
Hood. He is a son of James and Margaret 
(Trimble) Hood, and was born in White town- 
ship, Indiana couuty, Pennsylvania, December 
1, 1846. The historic north of Ireland, which 
contributed so largely to the worthy pioneer stock 
of early settlers in Indiana couuty, was the 
birth-place of his paternal grandparents, Thomas 
and Jane (Henderson) Hood. They left the 
home of their childhood and early associations 
in life and settled in 1799 in what is now 
Indiana county, where Thomas Hood died in 
1861, aged 83 years. Of the family which 



they reared in their new found home one son is 
James Hood (father), who was born in 1810. 
Upon arriving at manhood he engaged in farm- 
ing, which he pursued until 1880, when he 
retired from active business life. He resides at 
Indiana, is well preserved for his four-score 
years and is a consistent member of the United 
Presbyterian Church. He is a republican in 
politics, has always been active in support of 
his party and served creditably as treasurer of 
Indiana county from 1851 to 1853. He mar- 
ried Margaret Trimble, who died January 1, 
1888, and reared a family of six sons and three 
daughters. 

George W. Hood was reared on the home 
farm in White township. He attended Dayton 
academy in Armstrong county and Tuscarora 
academy of Juniata couuty, and then entered 
Westminster college, Lawrence county, from 
which well-known institution of learning he was 
graduated in the class of 1870. After grad- 
uating he read law with Hon. A. W. Taylor 
and was admitted to the Indiana county bar in 
December, 1872. The summer of the ensuing 
year he spent in traveling through Europe for 
the purpose of gaining general information of 
the habits and customs of its people and the laws 
and institutions of its leading nations. During 
the latter part of 1873 he opened a lawof3fice at 
Indiana, where he has been engaged ever since 
in the active and successful practice of his pro- 
fession. In 1882 he made a trip to Europe on 
professional business and spent some time in 
Ireland, England and France. In 1884, in 
recognition of his many valuable political ser- 
vices and on account of his fitness for the posi- 
tion, he was nominated for State senator by the 
Republican party of Indiana county. He was 
elected in November, 1884, and for four years 
creditably represented the Thirty-seventh Sena- 
torial District of Pennsylvania. He served 
on the committees on federal relations, judiciary 
(both general and special) and congressional 
appointment. His legal ability and profes- 



118 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



sioual ability and political experience well fitted 
him for the efficient service which he rendered 
on those four important committees. During 
the session of 1885, Senator Hood with Senator 
Biddis, of Pike, and Ex-speaker Faunce, of i 
Philadelphia, Robinson of Delaware and • 
Sponsler of Perry, were the committee ap- ' 
pointed on the Senate and the House for the 
purpose of inquiring into the fitness of district 
Judge Kirkpatrick of Allegheny county. He 
had refused to resign after a petition had been 
sent into legislature for his removal on account of 
his physical disability to fill the office. The com- 
mittee removed. His entire course in the State 
senate was such as to gain him many warm friends 
in the ranks of the opposition as well as among 
his own colleagues on the republican side of 
the senate. While ever alive to the interests of j 
his own district, yet he never slighted the actual 
needs or just requirements of any other section 
of the State. In 1890 he was appointed and 
served as supervisor of the Eighth Census 
District of Pennsylvania. His patriotism was 
shown in the late war, when, at the age of 
seventeen years, he entered Co. F, 2d Battalion 
(six months) Pa. Vols., and yielded most will- 
ing service in the armies of the imperiled 
Republic in her ever-memorable struggle against ; 
dismemberment and dissolution. His interest 
still continues unabated in his companions in 
arms of the Great Rebellion, and is manifested 
by his membership in, and services for Indiana 
Post, No. 28, Grand Army of the Republic. 

In 1878 he married Sarah E. Ehrenfield, 
daughter of Rev. A. C. Ehrenfield, of Indiana. 
Mrs. Hood died November 12, 1879 and left 
one child, a son named Augustus. On December 
22, 1888, Mr. Hood united in marriage with 
Adalene M. Quigg, a handsome and talented 
lady of Oswego, New York. 

Senator Hood is a large and fine looking man 
of good address and affiible manners. He is 
of Scotch-Irish descent, has a large law practice 
and is a very pleasing speaker. In 1887 he 



was largely instrumental in the organization of 
the Indiana Water company, of which he was 
and is its president. Their water works are on 
the artesian well .system and carry fifty pounds 
pressure in their pipes, which can be increased 
to one hundred and thirty pounds in case of 
fire. He owns land in Idaho, is interested in 
the irrigating system of that State and has 
ttt'ice visited the Pacific coast states. Senator 
Hood devotes his energies to the practice of his 
profession and to such financial and business 
iluties as- naturally come to a man in his position. 
He is a popular republican leader, has been 
very successful in the political arena and stands 
well with the masses, whose true interests he 
has alway advocated and defendetl. 



SUMMERS M. JACK. One of the promi- 
nent names which go to make up the 
strength and give importance to the Indiana 
count}' bar is that of Summers M. Jack, the 
late efficient district attorney and one of the 
rising lawyers of western Pennsylvania. He 
was born at Summersville, Jefferson county, 
Pennsylvania, July 18, 1852, and is a son of 
Lowry and Cornelia (Baldwin) Jack. As the 
name would indicate, the Jack family is of 
Scotch origin. Jacob Jack, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch, was born and reared 
in Scotland, which he left when a young man 
to come to this State, where he settled in Cen- 
tre county at an early day in its history. He 
married Sarah Collin, of that county, and after- 
wards removed with his family to Clarion 
county, where he died in 1831. His sou, 
Lowry Jack, was born in Clarion county. Pa., 
July 18, 1830. He is a carpenter and painter 
by trade, but is chiefly engaged in the lumber 
business, and resides at Summersville, Jetlerson 
county, this State. He is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, is a republican in 
politics, has served as a school director, and 
held other township offices. His wife is a na- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



119 



tive of Summersville, which was named for her 
uncle, Summers Baldwin., .Her father, Alonzo 
Baldwin, owned at that time the large tract of 
land which included the site of that town. 
Alonzo and Eliza (Carrier) Baldwin (maternal 
grandparents) were natives of Connecticut, and 
came from that State to Pennsylvania early in 
life, where they were married. Alonzo Bald- 
win died iu LSoS, when in the sixty-second 
year of his age, and his wife passed away two 
years later, at the age of sixty years. 

Summers M. Jack was reared at Summers- 
ville, where he received his early education in 
the public and private schools of tliat place. 
He completed his education at the State Normal 
school at Indiana, then was engaged in teaching 
for two vears in the common schools of Jeffer- 
son county, and came to Indiana borough, 
where he was vice-principal of the high school. 
He filled this position satisfactorily for four 
years, when he relinquished teaching, although 
it offered him some very remunerative positions, 
and commenced reading law with the Hon. 
Silas M. Clark. After two years of diligent 
and assiduous reading, he was admitted in 1879 
to the Indiana county bar. The same year he 
opened an office and entered upon the active 
practice of his profession, which he has followed 
successfully ever since at Indiana. In the fall 
of 1883 he was elected by the Republican party 
as district attorney of Indiana county, and his 
course of action during his term was so highly 
satisfactory that in 1886 he was re-nominated 
and re-elected as district attorney for a second 
term, which expired January 1, 1890, when he 
retired from the office, after six continuous 
years of hard and faithful services in the inter- 
ests of the county. Since returning to his in- 
dividual practice as a lawyer, he has continually 
increased his influence and extended his prac- 
tice. 

He is well read, thorough and practical, 
and prosecutes his cases with all possible care 
and attention. He is a clear thinker, an earn- 
8 



est and effective speaker, and a diligent and 
persistent worker. 

On November 8th, 1881, he united in mar- 
riage with Margaret F. IMitchell, daughter of 
W. J. and Sai-ah E. (Adair) Mitchell, of West 
Indiana. They have two children, both sous: 
William J. and James L. 

In politics he is a strong republican, and 
has always worked for the success of the prin- 
ciples of his party. He has held various bor- 
ough offices, and is a member of the United 
Presbyterian church. In 1886 Mr. Jack Wius 
appointed by Gov. Pattison to represent the 
State as a member of the board of trustees of 
the State Normal school at Indiana, and at the 
expiration of his term of service he was re-ap- 
pointed by Gov. Beaver for a second term, 
which will expire iu 1892. Summers M. Jack 
has won respect, confidence and esteem by his 
honesty, his ability and his energy. As a law- 
yer, he is true to his client ; as a business man, 
he is exact, prompt and accurate ; as a citizen, 
he is honorable and just, and as a friend, he is 
kind and faithful. 



JOHN A. JOHNSTON, a successful business 
man of twenty years' experience and one 
of the leading merchants of Indiana, was born 
in Plum Creek township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, June 20, 1847, and is a son of 
Andrew and Rebecca (Mahan) Johnston. His 
paternal grandfather, John Johnston, was a 
native of and followed flirining in Plum Creek 
township, where he died June 19, 1843, while 
his wife, Jane (McCreight) Johnston, lived till 
September 16, 1862, when she passed away iu 
the eighty-fourth year of her age. His ma- 
ternal grandfatlier, William Mahan, was a native 
of county Donegal, Ireland, and came to this 
country about 1819. Andrew Johnston (father) 
was born January 23, 1811, and reared in Plum 
Creek township, where he has always resided, 
being successfully engaged iu farming. He died 



120 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Sept. 9, 1890, wheu in the eightieth year 
of his age, but the hand of Time had dealt 
gently with him and he was well preserved for an 
octogenarian. He was a democrat, a prosperous 
farmer and a member of the United Presby- 
terian church. His wife, Rebecca (Mahan) 
Johnston, was born in Ireland, November 13, 
1816, and was brought to this country by her 
parents when only three years of age. She is 
a member of the same church as her hus- 
band. 

John A. Johnston was reared on a farm and 
attended the common schools until 1864, when 
he went to the oil region of this State. Five 
years later he entered upon his successful mer- 
cantile career by engaging as a clerk with J. W. 
Marshall & Co., of Atwood, Armstrong county, 
Pa. In October, 1870, he and Thomas Martin 
bought out Marshall & Co., and ran for ten 
months under the firm name of Johnston & 
Martin. They then admitted John Stewart as 
a partner, and continued business under the 
name of Johnson, Martin & Stewart until May, 
1873, when Mr. Johnston sold out to his part- 
ners. On Christmas, 1873, he formed a part- 
nership with W. G. L. Black, of Ambrose, and 
spent two years there in the mercantile business. 
He then retired from the firm and was engaged 
in the produce business until the fall of 1879, 
when he purchased the store of J. P. Leach, on 
Church street, Indiana. In 1882 he admitted 
A. T. Lowery as a partner, and in December, 
1887, disposed of his entire interest to Mr. 
Lowery. In January, 1888, he bought one- 
half interest in Fred. Wegley's store, on the 
corner of First and Philadelphia streets, in West 
Indiana. In June, 1889, Mr. Wegley was 
killed in a flouring-mill, and Mr. Johnston 
purchased his interest of his heirs. In April, 
1890, he sold a half interest to D. C. Mack, the 
present sheritf of Indiana county, and the pres- 
ent successful and prosperous mercantile firm of 
Johnston & Mack was inaugurated. Their es- 
tablishment is known by the popular name of 



" The Farmers' Headquarters," and they carry a 
full and complete stock of general merchandise, 
deal in agricultural implements and purchase 
all kinds of country produce. They command 
a large share of trade and patronage. 

John A. Johnston was married on December 
20, 1870, to Margaretta Black, daughter of 
Samuel Black, of Armstrong county. To their 
union have been born five children : Ida E., 
Olive R., Rebecca A., Wellington B. and 
Martha B. 

In politics Mr. Johnston is a republican. He 
is a member of the Merchants' and Salesmen's 
association of Philadelphia, Pa., and a member 
and elder of the United Presbyterian church. 
Much of his good fortune and mercantile success 
is due to his business ability, venture, activity 
and enterprise, yet a considerable part of his 
prosperity is attributable to his reliability, 
promptness and fair dealing. 



FRANK KEENER, one of the young and 
promising members of tiie Indiana county 
bar and secretary of the Republican county 
committee, is a son of Johnston and Lena A. 
(Armstrong) Keener, and was born in Arm- 
strong township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
January 24, 1862. The grandparents of Frank 
Keener on his paternal side were of German 
descent and became residents of this county, in 
which they afterwards died. The grandfather, 
Isaac Keener, was a native of Armstrong 
county, this State. He was a republican and a 
hard-working farmer, and died in 1877, aged 
seventy-five years. His .sou, Johnston Keener, 
was born in Armstrong township, where he was 
reared to manhood, after which he removed to 
White townshij), and engaged in his present 
occupation of farming. He is a republican, a 
member of the Indiana United Presbyterian 
church and a reliable citizen. He has served 
in nearly all of his township's local offices and 
is in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He mar- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



121 



ried Lena A. Armstrong, who was born in 
1836, and is a member of the same church as 
her husband. She is a daughter of John Arm- 
strong, who is a native of Armstrong township. 
He is of Scotch-Irisii descent, was born in 1804 
and belongs to the U. P. church. He is a re- 
pul)lican in polities. 

Frank Keener was reared on a farm until he 
was eighteen years of age. His early education 
was received in the conmiou seiiools of his 
native township. He then took a three years' 
college preparatory course at the Indiana Noi- 
mal school and entered the University of Woos- 
ter, Ohio, from which institution of learning he 
was graduated in June, 1887. During the 
winter of 1887-88 he was principal of Van 
Buren High school, Hancock county, Ohio, and 
also superintendent of the schools of the town- 
ship adjoining Van Buren. In the spring of 
1888 he commenced reading law with the legal 
firm of Watson & Telford and was admitted to 
the bar of Indiana county in November, 1889. 
After his admission to practice in the courts of 
the county he engaged in his profession at In- 
diana, where he lias his office with Watson & 
Telford, with whom he read. He has secured 
a practice which is steadily increasing and is 
regarded as a safe counselor and careful pleader. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, an 
active republican and has been serving since 
June, 1889, as secretary of the Republican 
county committee. As a high school principal 
and superintendent he was very successful, and 
in the practice of law he bids fair to make his 
mark at a day not far distant in the future. 



JAMES M. KELLY was a native of Indi- 
ana county, sou of James Kelly and one of 
the early settlers of the county. At an early 
day the attention of George Armstrong, a lawyer 
of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, who attended the 
courts at Indiana, was arrested by the sprightli- 
ness of young Kelly and his skill as a performer 



on the violin. Armstrong, who was without 
children, induced young Kelly to go to Greens- 
burg and become a member of his family, where 
he assisted him in obtaining an education and in 
the study of tlie law. Upon being admitted to 
the bar, he returned to Indiana and engaged in 
tiie practice of the law, where he had a brilliant, 
but brief career. 

He was tall, slender, graceful, and most win- 
ning in his ways. He was bright and took the 
hearts of the people by storm. Altiiough a 
member of the minority party, a federalist, he 
was irresistil)le as a candidate, and was triumph- 
antly elected to the State Legislature, in a strong 
democratic district. lu 1820 he visited Cuba, 
in company with Dr. Kobert Mitchell, for the 
benefit of his health, but consumption had 
marked him for her own, and soon after his 
return home, in the same year, he breathed his 
last, aged thirty-five years. 



SAMUEL S. LANDIS, M.D., assistant sur- 
geon of the 2d Pa. regiment of Volun- 
teers during the Mexican war, was a physician 
whose early and unexpected death in 1853 was 
much deplored in the northern part of West- 
moreland and the southern part of Indiana 
county. He was born in York county, Penu- 
.sylvania, September 20, 1820, and was a .son 
of Henry Landis. 

Samuel S. Landis was reared in York county, 
wliere he read medicine and practiced his pro- 
fession in his native county, until lie removed to 
Westmoreland county where he soon built up a 
good practice at New Alexandria. When war 
was declared with Mexico, he volunteered as a 
private in Co. B., 2d regiment. Pa. Volunteers, 
but was soon made assistant surgeon of the 
regiment and participated in its many battles in 
the Mexican republic until near the close of the 
war. Hardship, toil and death terribly thinned 
the ranks of the regiment, and Dr. Landis was 
one of those who, in the last few months of the 



122 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



contest, was stricken down by disease, so preva- 
lent under the burning rays of Mexico's un- 
changing summer suu. He returned to West- 
moreland county, where, after recruiting his 
badly-shattered health, he resumed the practice 
of medicine. He opened an office at New Salem, 
but soon removed to Ijivermore, where he secured 
an extensive practice, which extended into 
Indiana county and which was rapidly increas- 
ing at the time of his death, iu 1853. Ou 
April 13, 1852, he married Margaret Todd, 
who survives him. Mrs. Landis is a daughter 
of Hon. James Todd aud resides in her com- 
fortable and well-appointed home at Indiana, 
where she owns some very valuable and de- 
sirable property. She is an amiable and intelli- 
gent woman and has been a consistent member 
of the Presbyterian church for many years. 

Dr. Samuel S. Landis was stricken down in 
his home at Livermore, by the hand of death, 
on September 20, 1853, when only in the thirty- 
third year of his age and in the midst of a 
highly successful career as a physician. 



JONATHAN N. LANGHAM, a young and 
rising member of the Indiana bar, is a son 
of Jonathan and Eliza (Barr) Langham, and 
was born in Grant township, Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania, August 4, 1861. The Langham 
family can be traced back for several centuries 
in England. Several members of it came to 
America and from one of them was descended 
Joseph Langiiara (grandfather), who was born 
in Bedford county. Pa., and followed farming 
for many years previous to his death, which 
occurred in August, 1864. Of his sons who 
lived to arrive to the years of manhood, one 
was Jonathan Langham, father of the subject 
of this sketch, who was born in Bedford county, 
this State, and is now in the sixty-seventh year 
of his age. When ten years of age he removed 
to Indiana county, where he located permanently 
and has continued to farm ever since. In con- 



nection with farming, he has also been engaged 
to some considerable extent in the lumber busi- 
ness. He married Eliza Barr, who was born 
in Indiana county. Her father, Robert Barr. 
of Irish descent, was born in this county, in 
1796, learned the trade of cooper, which he 
followed for many years and died in 1871, aged 
seventy-five years. Mr. and ]\Irs. Langham 
are the parents of twelve children. Two of 
their sons, Samuel S. and Joseph L., .served as 
soldiers in the late war. 

Jonathan N. Langham was reared on his 
father's flirm. He attended the common schools 
and Purchase Line academy and completed his 
educational course at the State Normal school 
of Indiana, where he graduated in the class of 
1882. Leaving school, ho was engaged in teach- 
ing for several years. In June, 1887, he com- 
menced the study of law with John N. Banks, 
of Indiana, being admitted to practice on De- 
cember 6, 1 888. 



pHARLES T. LEMMON, stenographer of 
^ the courts of Indiana county, is a self-made 
man in the true .sense of that term. He was 
born in Kittainiing, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, July 14, 1861, and is a son of John 
H. and Rosanna (Taylor) Lemmon. His pater- 
nal great-grandfather, Thomas Lemmon, was a 
native of eastern Pennsylvania, and was of 
Scotch-Irish descent. He served as a soldier 
in the Revolution. The following romantic 
story concerning him has been handed down in 
the family from generation to generation : 
While on his way to join the Continental army, 
he was very thirsty one day and asked for a 
drink of water from a hand.some young lady 
who was present. Seeing his worn-out condi- 
tion, she hastened to bring him a gla.ss of milk. 
Touched by her womanly sympathy and thought- 
fulness, he told her, half in jest, half in earnest, 
that when the war closed he would return and 
marry her ; which promise he afterward ful- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



123 



filled. Their son, Col. Daniel Lemmon (grand- 
father), iu earlj life moved to Fraukliu town- 
ship, Armstrong county, where, for many years, 
he was engaged in farming and hotel-keeping. 
He served iu the Black Hawk war, with the 
rank of colonel. He died in 1857, when in the 
seventy- lift I J year of his age. His son, John 
H. Lemmon (father), was born at Kittanning. 
He is a blacksmith by trade, and is now in his 
seventy-third year. During the Rebellion he 
served in Co. K, 78th reg.. Pa. Vols, for one 
year, and was discharged on account of his eye- 
sight failing. He is a member of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal church, and since the late war 
has been a stanch republican. He has- (illed the 
office of coroner of Armstrong county for several 
terms. He married Rosanna Taylor, who was 
born in Valley townsiiip, iu 1819, and died in 
1888, aged sixty-nine years. She was a mem- 
ber of the Protestant Episcopal church. She 
was a daughter of Thomas Taylor, whose father, 
a Presbyterian minister of the same name, \vas 
chaplain in the Continental army and was killed 
in the battle of Brandywine. Thomas Taylor 
was a native of eastern Pennsylvania, aud re- 
moved to Armstrong county when a young man, 
where he was engaged in farming. He was a 
soldier in the Mexican war. He died in 1853, 
aged about eighty-two years. 

Charles T. Lemmon was reared at Kittan- 
ning. While attending the public schools, he 
laid out a course of study for himself, which he 
followed diligently in spite of all obstacles. 
After becoming proficient in phonography, he 
assisted the late G. S. Crosby in his law office 
at Kittanning, as well as in the publication of 
the " T^nioii Free Preaa" of which Mr. Crosby 
owned a one-lialf interest. He remained in Mr. 
Crosby's employ until June, 1885, when he re- 
moved to Indiana borough, having been appointed 
stenographer of the courts of the county, which 
position he still holds. He was married, in 
February, 188!), to Laura E. Shankel, daughter 
of Samuel S. Shankel, of Kittanning. 



In polities, Mr. Lemmon is a republican, and 
like his forefathers is a communicant in the 
Protestaut Episcopal church. He is one of the 
solid men of the borough, taking an active part in 
the business interests of the county as well as in 
the public welfare of Indiana. He is financially 
interested in several business enterprises of 
prominence iu Indiana and Armstrong counties. 



HON. JAMES A. LOGAN was president 
judge of the courts of Indiana county 
from 1871 to 1875. 

" He was a native of Westmoreland connty, 
born in the limits of Burrell township. He 
received his education at Elder's Ridge academy, 
a preparatory .school in Indiana county, and 
Studied law with ^^'illiam A. Stokes, Esq., and 
with the Hon. H. P. Laird, aud on motion of 
W. H. Markle, Esq., was admitted to practice 
on the 16th of May, 1863. AfW his ad- 
mission to the bar he entered into partnership 
with Mr. Markle, aud remained with him until 
the senior member of the firm was appointed 
collector of the United States revenue of this 
congressional district. He was, shortly after 
his admission, appointed solicitor of the Penn- 
sylvania railroad, and after the Southwest rail- 
way was incorporated was selected to manage 
the legal affairs of the road, of which he was 
also a director. 

" He applied himself with diligence to the 
study of the law, and soon evidenced legal 
talents of more than ordinary degree. He ac- 
quired a good practice, and was prominent as a 
rising politician in the Republican party, and 
was mentioned as a candidate for Congress a 
year or two prior to his appointment as judge. 

" Judge Logan, presiding with satisfaction in 
each of the three counties of his district under 
this appointment, was nominated by the Re- 
publican party as its candidate for election, and 
was elected, his party having a majority in the 
district. He presided after his election over all 



124 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



the courts of the district until Westmoreland 
was made a separate judicial district by the 
Constitution of 1874, when he was retained as 
judge of that county alone. He resigned in 
1879 to accept the position of assistant 
general solicitor of the Pennsylvania railroad, a 
position in the legal department of that corpo- 
ration which he was the first to occupy." 



HORACE M. LOWRY. In the advance 
of modern journalism the newspapers of 
Indiana county have not been behind. To-day 
better home newspapers are nowhere to be 
found in the State thau are those of this 
county ; nor do we know of the jjress of any 
county of equal population and wealth any- 
where which surpasses them in the full and 
complete chronicling of local as well as general 
news. Foremost among the influential papers 
of the county-seat is the Indiana Times, edited [ 
by Horace M. Lowry, one of the progressive 
editors of Indiana. He was born at Clarks- 
burg, in Conemaugh township, Indiana county, 1 
Pennsylvania, February 23, 1856, and is a son { 
of Hon. John and Nancy (McCartney) Lowry. ' 
The Lowreys were among the pioneer settlers 
of what is now South Bend township, in Arm- 
strong county, where, in 1773, Joseph Lowry 
(grandfather) came from eastern Pennsylvania 
and settled on a tract of one hundred and seven : 
acres, which was one of the original thirty-five : 
tracts of land first taken up in tiie township. 
He served as justice of the peace for many years | 
and married more couples than any other squire 
in the county. Hon. John Lowry (father) was 
born near the village of South Bend, January ; 
25, 1832, and died April 23, 1886, aged fifty- 
six years. He was educated in the common 
schools and by private tutors ; he read law in 
the office of Hon. William M. Stewart, and | 
Hon. Silas M. Clark, judge of the supreme : 
court. He was admitted to the Indiana county 



bar in 1860, and soon became a prominent man 
in Indiana county, served as district attorney 
from 1862 to 1865, was elected as prothonotary 
in 1866 and held that office until 1873. In 
1882 he was elected as a member of the House 
of Representatives of Pennsylvania and was 
re-elected in 1884. During both of his terms 
he served his constituents faithfully and was 
chairman of the committee on constitutional 
reform. His journalistic career commenced when, 
in connection with J. C. Rairigh, he founded the 
Indiana Times, whose initial number they issued 
on September 4, 1878. On the 13th of No- 
vember following, he purchased his partner's 
interest and was sole proprietor until his death, 
in 1886. He was an earnest republican who 
rendered valuable service to his party. In 1 855 
he married Nancy McCartney, daughter of 
John Y. McCartney, who was born in 1808, on 
what is now the State experimental farm near 
Indiana ; married Sarah Coleman and was a 
merchant for forty years at Clarksburg. He 
was a son of Samuel McCartney, who came 
from eastern Pennsylvania, married Nancy 
Young, a native of Maryland, and died in 
1815, of black fever, of which his wife also 
died in the same year. 

Horace M. Lowry was reared at Indiana, 
where he received his education in the public 
schools of that place. He assisted his father in 
the publication of the Indiana Times until the 
death of the latter, in 1886, when he succeeded 
him as editor and publisher of the paper. Mr. 
Lowry has successfully kept the Times up to 
the demands of what a county paper should be, 
has always yielded the full and proper measure 
of support to his party and has never allowed 
any department of news, local or general, to be 
slighted in its presentation to the public through 
the Times. As a citizen Mr. Lowry takes a 
deep interest and just pride in the advance of 
his native county, and as an editor he is zealous 
in advocating and supporting all movements 
for the benefit of the borough and the county. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



125 



pAPT. DAVIS A. LUCKHART, a wounded 
^ veteran of the grand old Army of the Po- 
tomac, and the present trustworthy and efficient 
treasurer of Indiana county, is a son of Jacob 
and Lena (Davis) Luckhart, and was born in 
West Mahoning township, Indiana county, Penn- 
sylvania, March 21, 1841. His paternal ances- 
tors were early settlers of Blair county, this 
State, from which his grandfather, Conrad 
Luckhart, removed to South Mahoning town- 
ship, where he purchased a large tract of land, 
and was engaged in farming for many years. 
He was of German extraction, stood high as a 
man and a citizen in the community in which 
he resided, and died May 6, 1861, aged seventy- 
seven years, seven months and three days. Of 
his sons, one was Jacob Luckhart (father), who 
was born in Blair county in 1810, aud died in 
West Mahoning township in 1863. He was a 
farmer by occupation, a republican in politics 
and a strict member of the Baptist church, in 
which he had frequently served as deacon. He 
married Lena Davis, who was also a mem- 
ber of the Baptist church, and died in 1887, 
when in the seventy-first year of her age. She 
was a daughter of Abraham Davis, of Wales, 
who came to this county, \\here he was engaged 
in farming for many years previous to his 
death, on September 18, 1869, at eighty-three 
years of age. 

Davis A. Luckhart was reared on a farm 
and attended the common schools of his native 
township. Leaving .school, he learned the trade 
of carpenter, which he followed till the break- 
ing out of the last war. On August 21, 1861 
he enlisted as a private in Co. A, 61st regi- 
ment. Pa Vols., aud was discharged with the 
rank of captain, and in command of the compa- 
ny, at Pittsburgh, Pa., on June 28, 1865. He 
participated in all the principal battles of the 
Army of the Potomac, and for meritorious con- 
duct and soldierly bearing was successively 
promoted until he was commissioned captain of 
his company. He was wounded four times 



while in the Union service. His first wound 
was received when he was a private, at the 
battle of Fair Oaks, May 31, 1862, where a 
musket-ball fractured one of the bones of his 
left arm, which in the last few years has be- 
come paralyzed from the effects of that injury. 
He was next slightly wounded in the side, at 
Fredericksburg, by a shell, while serving as a 
corporal in the color guard of the regiment. 
He passed safely through several battles until 
the dreadful wilderness fights came, in which, 
on the 24th of May, he had one of his little 
fingers split open by a minie ball. His 
fourth and last wound was received at Win- 
chester, where, on the 1 9th of September, 1 864, 
he was struck on the left leg by a piece of shell 
while serving as first lieutenant. He was 
never in the hospital but twice, had several 
hair-breadth escapes and his life was once 
.saved by a frying-pan in his knapsack inter- 
cepting a bullet that otherwise would have 
reached his heart. 

After the close of the war Capt. Luckhart 
returned home ; but in October, 1865, he re- 
moved to Missouri, where he resided in Mor- 
gan county till 1876. While in Mi.ssouri he 
was engaged in teaching school, milling and 
farming. In the Centennial year he returned 
to his native county, where he worked at his 
trade for several years. In 1879 he was ap- 
pointed postmaster at Smicksburg, in West 
Mahoning township, which office he filled un- 
til October, 1885. The succeeding year he was 
elected justice of the peace, and held that office 
till the fall of 1887, when he resigned to accept 
the county treasurership, to which he had been 
elected by the Republican party. He entered 
upon the duties of the latter office January 2, 
1888, and so far has ably and honorably dis- 
charged the .same. The duties of his office are 
many and various, but to their discharge he 
has brought such good judgment, keen insight, 
great energy and executive ability that he thor- 
oughly understands and .satisfactorily manages 



126 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



the Diauifokl complications of the business 
brought under his control. To the mastery of 
the more important business of his office, Capt. 
Luckiiart has added close attention to every 
detail of the minor affairs, and has been enabled 
to secure favorable results in the interests of 
the county and its tax-payers. 

March 28, 1865, he united in marriage with 
Catliariue Stear, daughter of John Stear, of 
Smick-sburg, this county. 

Capt. Luckhart is an active and leading re- 
publican, a member of the Lutheran church, 
and at present lieutenant-colonel of Encamp- 
ment No. 11, Union Veteran Legion. 



DAVID C. MACK, a prominent and leading 
citizen, and the present efficient and popular 
sheriff of Indiana county, was born in West 
Wheatfield township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, September 7, 1846, and is a son of Joseph 
and Elizabeth (McRorey) Mack. His paternal 
grandfather, Eobert Mack, was a native of 
county Antrim, Ireland, and came about 1798 
to Pennsylvania, where he located in what is 
now West Wheatfield township, this county, 
and was engaged for many years in farming. 
He was a member of the United Presbyterian 
church, was a large landholder and influ- 
ential citizen, and died in 1844 at the age of 88 
years. John McRorey (maternal grandfather) 
was born in county Antrim, Ireland, where he 
learned the trade of shoemaker. He came to 
this county about 1 800, was an elder in one of the 
first United Presbyterian churches organized in 
Indiana county, and died in 1865, when in the 
78th year of his age. Joseph Mack (father) 
was born in West Wheatfield township, where 
he has always resided, and is an extensive 
farmer and stock-raiser. He is a prominent 
member aud useful elder of the LTnited Presby- 
terian church, a leading republican who has 
held various of his township's offices. He is a 



practical and accurate business man. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth McRorey, and has reared a fam- 
ily of six sons and two daughters. Although in 
his seventy-third year, he is yet able to conduct 
his farm and manage all of his business. His 
wife is one year his junior in age, and has been 
for many years a member of the United Pres- 
byterian church. 

David C. Mack was reared on the home farm 
till he was thirteen years of age. His educa- 
tion was received in the common schools and 
Elder's Ridge academy. Leaving .school he 
followed teaching for seven or eight years, at the 
end of which time he purchased a farm in West 
Wheatfield township, and was engaged in the 
stock business for twelve years. In 1883 he 
built hou.se and store-room at New Washington, 
on the old Frankstown road, in the eastern part 
of the township, where he embarked in the gen- 
eral mercantile business, which he followed for 
four years. In 1887 he was elected on the re- 
publican ticket as sheriff of Indiana county, 
and moved to Indiana, where he now resides, 
and is the first sheriff to occupy the new jail. 
He is a republican from principle, has always 
been active in politics and is well acquainted with 
all the political issues of the day. In 1890 
Sheriff Mack formed a partnership with J. A. 
Johnson, under the firm-name of Johnson & 
Mack, and engaged in the general mercantile 
business at the old stand of Wegley & Johnson, 
on the corner of First and Philadelphia .streets. 
Their mercantile e.stabllshment is known as the 
" Farmers' Headquarters," and is well filled 
with a large, varied and complete stock of general 
merchandi.se. They deal extensively in country 
produce, and are exclusive agents for improved 
harrows and plows and other useful fiirm ma- 
chinery. By close attention to business and the 
requirements of their patrons they are building 
up a very prosperous trade. 

On July 18, 1872, he married Emma K. 
Wilson, of New Wilmington, fiercer county, 
Pa. They have five children, four sons and 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



127 



one daughter: Joseph P., James W., Edgar 
McRorey, Olive E. aud Paul W. 

Sheriff Mack owus a valuable farm of oue 
hundred and twenty-one acres of well improved 
land in West Wheattield townshi]). He is a 
man of good judgment, of fine business ability 
and extended business experience. His manner 
of discharging the duties of the slieritf's office 
has made him very popular with the masses of 
the people throughout the county, irrespective 
of party. He is courteous, prompt and accu- 
rate in the discharge of eitlier public or private 
business, and has many warm and faithful 
friends. 



JOHN McGAUGHEY, the oldest real estate 
agent now doing business at Indiana, and 
a battle-scarred veteran of oue of Pennsylvania's 
most famous fighting regiments of the late war, 
is a son of Nicholas and Sarah (Lowry) Mc- 
Gaughey, and was born in Armstrong town- 
ship, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, April 4, 
1842. The McGaughey family is of Scotch- 
Irish origin, and was early settled in south- 
eastern Pennsylvania. Alexander McGaughey, 
Sr. (great-gi-andfather) came from York to 
Westmoreland county prior to the war of 1812, 
but soon thereafter removed to C'ouemaugh 
township, where he was a farmer. He married 
Sally Marshall, and one of their sons was Alex- 
ander McGaughey (grandfather), who married 
Jane Coleman, and followed farming in Cone- 
raaugh township until his death. Plis son, 
Nicholas McGaughey, was born October 6, 
1806, and died in June, 1872, aged sixty-six 
years. He remove<i in 18.34 to Armstrong 
township, where he purchased two hundred and 
thirty acres of land, which was in the woods, 
and cleared it out, and made of it one of the 
best imjiroved farms of this day. His wife was 
Sarah Lowry, who died in 18.55, at forty-seven 
years of age. They were members of the 
United Presbyterian church, and their remains 
are buried in Crete church Cemetery. Mrs. 



McGaughey was a daughter of Robert Lowry, 
who was a native of Ireland and a well-to-do 
farmer aud good millwright of Armstrong 
township, where he died about 1850, when in 
the ninety-second year of his age. 

John McGaughey was reared on the farm 
and attended the common schools of his native 
township until he was nineteen years of age, 
when he enlisted on September 25, 1861, as a 
private in Co. K, 105th regiment Pa. Vols, 
and was promoted to corporal in 1863, and to 
color-sergeant January 1, 1865. He partici- 
pated in the Peninsular campaign, fought in all 
of the hard battles of Buruside, Hooker, Meade 
and Grant, and was honorably discharged on 
July 11, 1865. At the battle of Fair Oaks a 
musket-ball went through his right arm, at 
Gettysburg, on the 2d of July, a piece of a shell 
wounded him in his right side and hand, and 
in the Wilderness fight, of May 5th, a rifle-ball 
struck him in the right leg. After the close 
of the war he was engaged in farming until 
1875, when he removed to Indiana and dealt 
in farming implements for three years. He then 
embarked in his present real estate and general 
agency business. He buys, sells and exchanges 
real estate. He is a member of Indiana M. E. 
church, Lodge No. 21, A. O. U. W. Improved 
Order of Heptasophs, Indiana Post, No. 28, 
G. A. R., and commander of Encampment No. 
11 of the Union Veteran Legion. He is a re- 
publican from principle and a member of the 
borough council, in which he has frequently 
served within the la.st ten years. He is prompt 
and attentive to the interests of his patrons, has 
secured an extensive business and is active and 
energetic in all of his various enterprises. He 
is honorable and fair-dealing in all of his busi- 
ness transactions. 

On March 22, 1866, he united in marriage 
with Susan Lowman, daughter of Michael and 
Nancy Lowman, of Armstrong township. Mr. 
and Mrs. McGaughey arc tlic parents of two 
children, Mary L. and Charles McGaughey. 



128 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



JAMES McGregor. One who has in- 
herited the careful foresight, the prudent 
thrift and the strict morahty of liis Scottish an- 
cestors is James McGregor, the present register 
and recorder of Indiana county. He was born 
in Potter township, Jefferson county, Pennsyl- 
vania, December 6, 1840, and is a son of Maii- 
lon and Margaret (Chambers) McGregor. Dur- 
ing the latter half of the eighteenth century, 
one of the sturdy Scotchmen who left his native 
county and came to Pennsylvania was Alex- 
ander McGregor. He was a mill-wright by I 
trade and located near Bedford, in Bedford ; 
county, where he purchased a farm which he 
cultivated until his death. His son, Daniel 
McGregor (grandfather), was born in Bedford 
county, learned the trade of carpenter, came to j 
Washington township, this county, where he ! 
remained four years and then removed to Por- 
ter township, Jefferson county, in which he [ 
resided until his death in April, 1880, in the 
eighty-ninth year of his age. He was a farmer 
and a member of the Baptist church. Of his 
sons one was IMahlon McGregor (father), who 
was born in Bedford county in 1810, and died 
in Armstrong county, July 12, 1873. In his 
twenty-first year he removed to Jefferson 
county, where he located in Porter township. 
He then followed farming and stock-raising 
until 1869, when he went to Cowanshannock 
township, Armstrong county, and continued in 
the same line of business until his death. He 
was an active business man, a member of the 
Presbyterian church and a stanch republican, 
but was never an aspirant for any office. He 
mai'ried Margaret Chambers, a daughter of 
James Chambers, an extensive farmer of Jeffer- 
son and Indiana counties, as well as being en- 
gaged in the general mercantile business. Mrs. 
Margaret McGregor was a native of Perry 
township, Jefferson county, a member of the 
Presbyterion church and died February 4, 
1845, in the twenty-sixth year of her age. 
She was baptized, married and had her funeral 



sermon preached by the same minister. Rev. 
John Carothers. 

James McGregor was reared on his father's 
farm and obtained his education in the common 
schools. At thirteen years of age he went to 
work in a brick-yard, where he remained one 
year. Three years later he engaged in teaching, 
which he followed for one year and then ac- 
cepted a position as clerk in a store. After 
seven years' experience as a clerk he engaged in 
the mercantile and live-stock business for him- 
self at Marion, this county. In 1884 he was 
elected sheriff of Indiana county and served in 
that capacity from January 1, 1885, to January 
1, 1888. In 1889 he was nominated by the 
republicans and elected register and recorder. 
On the first Monday of January, 1890, he 
took charge of that office and his term of 
service will expire on the first Monday of Jan- 
uary, 1893. 

James McGregor was married on September 
'20, 1860, to Catherine, a daughter of John 
Pounds, of East Mahoning township, who died 
March 11, 1880, leaving eightchildren : Daniel 
E., William H , James C, May O., Clara L., 
Alice C, Anna D., and Harvey M. On the 
14th of March, 1883, Mr. McGregor married 
for his second wife, Mrs. Agnes A. (Duncan) 
Sutton. By his last marriage he has three 
children living, two sons and one daughter : 
John, Frank and Ola A. 

In religious belief he is a methodist, of 
which church he has been a member for twen- 
ty-one years. He was president of the board 
of trustees of Marion M. E. church, and a 
member of the building committee which 
erected the present M. E. church at that place. 
After removing to Indiana in 1884, he was 
elected to the same position he had held at 
Marion and was one of the committee who 
built the handsome M. E. Parsonage in 1888 at 
Indiana. In politics he is an ardent and en- 
thusiastic republican. He served for a long 
period as school director in Marion borough 




/j- ij, MjX^.aJJ^ 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



131 



and also as justice of the peace for five years. 
As sheriff he gave good satisfaction and has so 
far filled the office of register and recorder in a 
manner creditable to himself and acceptable to 
the public. Mr. McGregor is always firm and 
decided in doing that which he believes to be 
right, and allows no influence to swerve him 
from any duty. In business he is liberal, 
honest and straightforward and those who have 
to do with him will find him an affable and 
courteous gentleman. 



WILLIAM J. MITCHELL. Among the 
older business men of Indiana who are 
highly respected by all w^ho know them, is 
William J. Mitchell, the accommodating and 
efficient cashier of the First National Bank of 
Indiana, Pa. He was born in Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, August 2, 18.37, and is a 
son of James and Sarah (Johnston) Mitchell. 
Among the many pioneer settlers who came 
from Cumberland county and the grand old 
Cumberland Valley into western Pennsylvania, 
was James Mitchell (paternal grandfather), who 
selected, purchased, cleared out and improved a 
tract of land in Armstrong county, on which he 
resided until his death in 1845, at seventy years 
of age. His wife, who was Agnes (Sharp) 
Mitchell, was the first white child born west of 
Crooked creek, in this county. Of their .sons, 
one was James Mitchell (father), who was born 
in Armstrong county in 1811, and died at 
Black Lick, aged about sixty-four years. He 
came to Indiana when a young man, was en- 
gaged in the mercantile business for many years, 
and traded in live-stock. He was a member of 
the United Presbyterian church, and a republi- 
can, and was a prominent and energetic business 
man of the borough. His wife was Sarah 
Johnston, a daughter of John Johnston, who 
came from Ireland to Armstrong county, Pa., 
where he engaged in farming near Elderton, 
and died in 1843 at the age of about sixty-four 



year.s. He and A. C. Boyle built and operated 
a very fine flouring-mill at Indiana, which 
burned down a few years ago. Mrs. Sarah 
Mitchell was a United Presbyterian in religious 
faith and church membership, and passed away 
in 1864, when in the fifty-first year of her 
age. 

William J. Mitchell was reared principally at 
Indiana, having come with his father to that 
place in 1845, when but seven years of age. 
He received his education in the common schools 
when they were not so far advanced as they are 
now. From 1861 to 1870 he was employed as 
a clerk for J. P. Carter, who was in the grain 
business. The nature and extent of Mr. Car- 
ter's trade made the position of clerk a very 
difficult one to fill, while in connection with it 
was some very hard labor. In 1870 he was 
given the position of teller in the Indiana Coun- 
ty Deposit Bank, which he held for one year, 
when he accepted the position of teller in the 
First National Bank of Indiana, Pa. In 1878 
he was made cashier and has acted in that capac- 
ity ever since. He is a member of the United 
Presbyterian church and a republican in poli- 
tics. He has served as school director of Indi- 
ana for nine years, also trustee of the Indiana 
State Normal school for the last six years, be- 
sides holding other borough offices, and is now 
a member of the town council of West Indiana, 
where he resides, and has a nice house and beau- 
tiful grounds. 

On May 4, 1858. he married Sarah E. Adair, 
daughter of Joseph H. and Eliza (Todd) Adair, 
of White township, this county. They are the 
parents of two children : Maggie F. and Delia 
L. Maggie F. is married to S. M. Jack, a 
prominent lawyer of Indiana, and Delia L. is 
the wife of James R. Daugherty, Jr., who is 
assistant cashier of the First National Bank of 
Indiana, Pa. 

Although denied the educational advantages 
of the present day, William .1. Mitchell added 
much to the limited education which he received 



132 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



by reading, observation and meditation. By 
his energy and faithfulness and business ability, 
he has always gained the confidence of those 
by whom he has been employed. By his wil- 
lingness to work and close application to what- 
ever labor has been given him he has been able 
to hold any position in which he has been 
placed, for as long a time as he has desired. His 
business career in life has been chiefly confined 
within the limits of the county, yet has been 
eminently successful in all that truly goes to make 
a career successful, which is integrity, honesty, 
liberality and the practice of the Golden Rule. 
Mr. Mitchell has never sought for political 
preferment, and is a good citizen as well as a 
successful business man. In his business in- 
vestments he has been fortunate, and has 
secured for himself a beautiful and comfortable 
home. 



FERGUS MOORHEAD, one of the pioneers 
of Indiana county, was a man of honor, 
honesty and great courage. 

" In the month of May, 1772, Fergus Moor- 
head, his wife and three children, his two 
brothers, Samuel and Joseph, James Kelly, 
James Thompson and a few others bid farewell 
to their friends and relatives in Franklin 
county, and set out on their journey to the 
' Indian country ' west of the Allegheny. 
Though the prospects of acquiring extensive 
possessions and wealth for themselves and pos- 
terity might buoy up the adventurous spirits of 
the three brothers, it may well be imagined 
that Mrs. Moorhead left home and all its en- 
dearments with a heavy heart. But, being a 
woman possessing great energy of character, as 
is shown in the sequel, and touched, perhaps, 
with that romantic spirit peculiar to that period 
of which we are writing, she pressed forward 
with a firm step and a resolute heart, deter- 
mined to share with her devoted husband the 
dangers and trials of the wilderness. 

" At length, at the end of four weeks from 



the time they had left Franklin county, the 
party reached the point of their destination. 
Where the town of Indiana is now built was 
the spot that had been selected for a settlement 
by Fergus Moorhead, who had made an excur- 
sion into this section in 1770. For reasons 
which to them were obvious, the party changed 
their determination, and located a few miles 
further west. Though they were now relieved 
from the fatigue incident to their journey, our 
pioneers were far from living at their ease. 

" The land now owned by Isaac A. Moor- 
head was that which they selected for their 
future residence." 

In July, 1776, he took command of the 
frontier fort at Kittanning, while his brother 
Samuel, the commandant, was recovering from 
an attack of small-pox. Upon Samuel's recov- 
ery, Fergus started for home, accompanied by 
a soldier named Simpson ; and when they ar- 
rived at " Blanket Hill," on the Kittanning 
path, they were waylaid by Indians, who shot 
both their horses and killed Simpson. Moor- 
head was taken prisoner, dressed in Indian 
costume, and, after arriving at his captors' 
camp, was compelled to run the gauntlet. He 
was then taken to Quebec, and sold to the 
British, who kept him in close confinement and 
on miserable food for eleven mouths. At the 
end of this time he was exchanged and sent to 
New York, from which he set out on foot for 
his former home in Franklin county, which he 
reached after enduring great hardships. He 
there found his wife and three children, who 
had given him up for dead and returned to 
that county. In 1781 he and his family returned 
to their border home, and in a few years be- 
came comfortably situated. Mr. Moorhead lived 
to the ripe old age of eighty-nine years, and 
has left a numerous and respectable progeny, 
many of whom are yet residents of the county. 
Of his sons one was William Moorhead, and 
another was Fergus Moorhead, Jr., who was 
the first white child born in Indiana county. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



133 



CAPTAIN JAMES S. NESBIT. One who 
has passed through the perils incident to 
early western mining camps, and shed his blood 
and risked his life on southern battle-fields, is 
Captain James S. Nesbit, ex-associate judge of 
Indiana county, and a prominent merchant of 
Indiana borough. He is a son of James and 
Margaret (Smith) Nesbit, and was born in Con- 
emaugh township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, October 30, 1833. The Ne.sbit family, 
of which Captain Nesbit is a member, was 
founded in Conemaugh township in 1805 by 
his paternal grandfather, Nathaniel Nesbit, who 
came in that year from Ireland and settled in 
the above-mentioned township. Of his sous, 
James Nesbit (father) was born in 1807, and 
died May, 1852. He was a prosperous farmer, 
a member of the United Presbyterian Church, 
and married Margaret Smith, who w:is a native 
of " Elder's Ridge," and united at an early 
age with the U. P. Church. She was born in 
1812 and passed away in 1843, when in the 
early prime of life. 

James S. Nesbit was reared on a farm, and 
received his education in the early common 
schools of Conemaugh township and Elder's 
Ridge academy. Leaving school, he was engaged 
for some time as a clerk in a mercantile estab- 
lishment, and in 1854 made the then perilous trip 
across the " Plains " to the gold fields of Califor- 
nia, where he was engaged for six years in mining. 
In 1860 he returned to this county, and on 
September 19, 1861, enlisted in Co. F, 55th 
regiment Pa. Vols. He was elected captain 
and commanded the company in South Caro- 
lina and in the armies of the James and Poto- 
mac. The)' fought bravely in some very hard 
battles. On June 3, 1864, Capt. Nesbit suc- 
ceeded to the command of the regiment at the 
battle of Cold Harbor. During that terrific 
struggle he carried a line of Confederate breast- 
works, and, in daringly exposing himself to the 
enemy's fire, he was struck in the left thigh by 
a musket-ball. He was borne from the field 



and taken to the hospital at Washington City, 
from which he was sent home. After a short 
stay he reported on crutches to the hospital at 
Annapolis, Md., where he was discharged Octo- 
ber 8, 1864, on account of his wound. In 
January, 1865, he engaged in the drug business 
at Indiana, which he followed until 1873, when 
he went to Virginia and bought a farm in the 
Roanoke Valley. After two years of exper- 
ience in farming there he returned to Indiana, 
where he engaged in general mercantile busi- 
ness, in which he continued for five years. At 
the end of that time he again embarked in the 
drug business and followed it successfully 
until 1887, when he removed to Walworth 
county. South Dakota. He there turned his 
attention to farming, but at the end of two 
years returned to Indiana. In November, 
1889, he opened his present general mercantile 
establishment on Philadelphia street. His 
stock is large and well selected, and his patron- 
age is good and rapidly increasing. 

November 20, 1860, he married Margaret 
Houston, daughter of William Houston, of 
Indiana. They have nine children : Robert, 
James, William, Frank, Annie, Joseph, 
Charles, Samuel and Maggie. The four old- 
est sons are now in South Dakota. 

Capt. James S. Nesbit is a member of the 
United Presbyterian Church, Indiana Post, No. 
28, G. A. R., and Encampment No. 11, "U. V. 
L. He is a stanch republican and was elected 
associate judge of Indiana county in 1870, but 
resigned two years later upon removing to Vir- 
ginia. He has served as burgess and school 
director. His life has been one of activity and 
event, of adventure and travel, and of patriot- 
ism and usefulness. He is one of Indiana 
county's honored sons and useful business men. 



EDWARD NIXON, the second male child 
born at Indiana and a prominent mer- 
chant and influential citizen of tliat progressive 



134 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



borough for over half a century, was a sou of i 
Robert and Mary (Sutton) Nixon, and was 
born at Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
February 25, 1807. His paternal grandfather, 
Edward Nixon, was a life-long resident of 
Ireland, where he married a Miss Bracken and 
reared a family. One of his sons, Robert 
Nixon (father), was born in county Fermanagh, 
Ireland, in 1780. He came to the vicinity of 
Carlisle, Pa., in 1794, but removed the next . 
year to Washington county, and then in 1798 ! 
came to Newport, on Black Lick creek, this 
county, where he was engaged as a clerk in a ' 
store for several years with his second cousin, 
Robert Nixon. In 1803 he purchased some of 
the first lots sold at Indiana, and erected a story 
and a half hewed log house on the corner of 
Philadelphia street and Carpenter's alley. In ■ 
the upper part of his house he opened a store 
which was reached by a pair of outside stairs. 
In 1812 he removed his store to a larger room 
and in 1832 he opened the celebrated Nixon 
hotel, of which he was proprietor for several 
years. He died in 1850, aged seventy years. 
He married Mrs. Mary Ayers, who was a 
daughter of Peter Sutton, Jr., and died in 1851, 
at seventy years of age. Their children were : 
Edward, George, Mary, wife of Rev. Robert 
White; James and Robert. 

Edward Nixon was reared at Indiana, where 
he obtained his education in the public schools 
of that place. He was an excellent mathema- 
tician and one of the finest penmen in the 
State. At an early age he engaged with his 
father in the mercantile business and afterwards 
was associated with him in conducting the 
Nixon hotel. He was engaged in the mercan- 
tile business at Indiana for over half a century, 
excepting four years, during which he 
operated Sharp's mill and conducted a store in 
connection with it. His health became impaired 
in 1861, and he was more or less of an invalid 
until his death, in 1889. He was a relative of 
Col. John Nixon, who first read the Declara- 



tion of Independence to the people of Philadel- 
phia on July 8, 1776. He was a Democrat in 
politics and a consistent member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church. At the end of a 
long, honorable and highly useful life, he passed 
away on June 2, 1889, and his remains were 
interred in Oakland cemetery. 

On July 3, 1843, he married Phebe Birg 
Keely, who is a daughter of Henry Keely, and 
was born at MiiHin, Mifflin Co., 1818. They 
were the parents of five children : Robert, now 
a clerk in the post-office, who married Lizzie 
Hawes, was a clerk for the Cambria Iron com- 
pany and lost his wife and three children in 
the Johnstown flood; Fannie W.; Emma T., 
wiio died May 31, 1890; Mary B., wife of 
Frank T. McAvoy, of Duke's Centre, Pa.; and 
Virginia B., married to John McCune, of 
Johnstown, Pa. 

Fannie W. Nixon received her education in 
the public and select schools of Indiana. 
She was a clerk in Judge Clark's law office for 
eight years, and in December, 1 888, was com- 
missioned, for four years, by President Cleve- 
land, as postmaster of Indiana. She is an in- 
telligent woman of unusual business ability, 
and under her excellent management the Indiana 
post-office has won its justly merited reputation 
of being one of the best managed and most 
systematically conducted offices in the State of 
Pennsylvania. Miss Nixon is courteous, amiable 
and obliging, yet insists upon everything in the 
post-office being done according to correct busi- 
ness principles, and has given good satisfaction 
to all interested in postal matters at Indiana. 



EDWIN G. ORR, one of the successful mer- 
chants and popular young business men 
of Indiana, was born in Armstrong township, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, October 16, 
1862, and is a son of Andrew and Martha J. 
(Lowman) Orr. The Orr family has been 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



135 



resident of Ireland for several centuries. James 
Orr (grandfather) was born in the year 1801 
in that country, and was brought to Indi- 
ana county when but seven years of age. He 
was an extensive farmer of Armstrong township, 
where he owned a large tract of land. He was 
a consistent member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church, reared a family of eight sons 
and six daughters, lived a quiet but useful life 
and died in 1881, when he had reached his 
four-score years. His son, Andrew Orr 
(father), was born in 1830, in this county, where 
he resides in Armstrong township, and is 
chiefly engaged in farming and dealing in 
horses, cattle and hogs. He makes the State 
of Indiana the field of his extensive stock 
purchases. He is a democrat, a member of the 
Lutheran church and married Martha J. Low- 
man, who is of the same religious faith and 
church membership as her husband. She is a 
daughter of Abraham Lowman, who was a 
strict presbyterian, a farmer of East Mahoning 
township and lived to be eighty-three years of 
age. Andrew and Martha Orr have ten chil- 
dren: Jas. Ij., Mary A., Lizzie C, Agnes L., 
Maggie Olive, Bertha A., Carrie C, Paul 
Lafayette, Grace Amber and Edwin G. 

Edwin G. Orr was reared on the home farm, 
attended common and select schools and com- 
menced life for himself as a teacher in the 
district schools. In two years he quit teaching 
and embarked (1885) with his brothei", James 
L. Orr, in the lumber business near Indiana, 
which they still pursue and in which they em- 
ploy nearly fifty men. In October, 1889, he 
and his brother purchased the store of J. M. 
Guthrie and engaged in their present general 
mercantile business. Into merchandising Mr. 
Orr threw his whole energy, and his success has 
been commensurate to his well-directed efforts. 
He has continually added to his stock of goods 
in quantity, quality and variety, has branched 
out in the lines of articles which he handles 
and is constantly adding to the number of his 



patrons. This firm deals in dry-goods, clothing, 
hats and caps, and boots and shoes, handles 
hardware, groceries and flour and makes a 
specialty of ladies' and gentlemen's furnishing 
goods. Their establishment, popularly known 
as the "Farmers' Exchange," is on the corner 
of Church and St. Clair streets. It is complete 
throughout its many departments, neat and 
tasty in all of its arrangements and has ample 
floor space for the large stock of goods which 
is constantly kept on hand to supply the many 
wants of numerous purchasers. 

Edwin G. Orr has always believed in im- 
proving present opportunities and in never being 
idle. In whatever he does he works with a 
will and for a purpose, and as a natural conse- 
quence success has crowned his efforts. AVith 
but little capital to coraraeuce the battle of life, 
he has by good judgment, quick perception, 
honest dealing and earnest and persistent labor 
won success and become prominent among the 
business men of the county. He is a republican 
in politics. He is a member of William 
Penn Council, No. 305, Royal Arcanum ; Ira- 
proved order of Heptasophs Lodge, No. 280; 
Junior Order of United American Mechanics, 
and the Evangelical Lutheran church. Live, 
active and energetic, the possibilities of the 
future open to him a wide field for a successful 
business career. 



REV. WILLIAM S. OWENS, D.D., a 
popular and eloquent divine and the effi- 
cient general superintendent of the Home Mis- 
sions of the United Presbyterian church of the 
United States, is a son of Robert and Sarah 
(Steele) Owens, and was born in county Down, 
Ireland, July 25, 1842. His parents were both 
natives of county Down and members of the 
Presbyterian church. They came to this State 
in 1844. The father, Robert Owens, died in 
Allegheny, in the fall of 1848, when only in 
the twenty-eighth year of his age. His wife 



136 



BIOOEAPHTES OF 



survived biin but nine years, passing away in 
1857, agetl thirty-eight years. Both were mem- 
bers of what is now the First United Presby- 
terian churcli of Allegheny. They were the 
parents of four children, of whom two were: 
Rev. William S. and Elizabeth, now the wife 
of W. K. Hamilton. 

William S. Owens was brought by his parents 
to Allegheny city, where the death of his father 
and mother left him, although but a child, to 
make his own way in the world. He received 
his early education in the public schools and 
from the age of twelve to that of nineteen years 
he was engaged in making his own living at 
such work as a boy could procure at that time. 
He obtained his academic education in the 
Western University of Pennsylvania at Pitts- 
burg and in 1861 entered Westminster College, 
at New Wilmington, Pa., from which institution 
of learning he was graduated in June, 1866. 
He then prepared for the work of the ministry 
by taking the full course of the Allegheny Theo- 
logical seminary of the United Presbyterian 
church, from which he was graduated in the 
spring of 1869. Immediately after graduation 
he was called and settled as minister of the 
North United Pre.sbyterian church iu Philadel- 
phia. He served that church until August, 1871, 
when he resigned to become pastor of the United 
Presbyterian church at Indiana. After labor- 
ing there six years, he removed (in July, 1877) 
to Steubenville, Ohio, and assumed charge of 
the United Presbyterian church of that place. 
His pastorate in that field of labor lasted for 
ten years and was pleasant and useful. His 
standing as a minister and as a public-spirited 
citizen was very high in that community. In 
June, 1886, he was elected by the General As- 
sembly of the United Presbyterian church as 
the general secretary of its Board of Home Mis- 
sions. One year later he was requested to resign 
his pastoral charge and devote his entire time 
to superintending the home mission work. In 
order to discharge the duties of this wide and 



important field of labor which was placed under 
his charge, he resigned the pastorate of the 
Steubenville United Presbyterian church and 
returned to his former home at Indiana, in the 
spring of 1887. Since then he has been actively 
engaged in traveling in various parts of the 
United States in the interests of home mission 
work and in the developenient of the church 
with which he is connected. In 1888, Dr. 
Owens w'as elected chairman of the constitutional 
amendment county committee, and so well or- 
ganized and directed the campaign that Indiana 
rolled up out of a total poll of seven thousand 
votes the surprising majority of two thousand 
eight hundred and ninety-nine in favor of the 
prohibitory amendment to the State constitu- 
tion. 

During the late war he was not lacking in 
devotion to the cause of the Union, and iu Au- 
gust, 1862, enlisted as a soldier in Co. E, 123d 
regiment, Pa. Vols. He was true to every duty 
of a soldier and was present at the hard-fought 
battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chan- 
cellorsville. At the expiration of his nine 
months' term of service, he was employed as a 
clerk in the ofBce of the paymaster-general at 
Washington City, where he remained until near 
the close of the war. 

Augu.st 26, 1869, he married Elmira Mc- 
Caughey, who was a classmate of his at West- 
minster college and is a daughter of Thomas 
McCaughey, of Fredericksburg, Wayne county, 
Ohio. They have seven children, three sons 
and four daughters: Sarah, Robert E., Eliza- 
beth, Charles Truesdale, Margaretta, AVilliam 
Brownlee and Helen. 

Rev. W. S. Owens, D.D., possesses that rare 
but happy faculty which so many men of genius 
and ability lack — that of throwing his whole 
soul and energy into his work. His has been a 
life of activity and usefulness in every field in 
which he has been called to labor, and they have 
not been few in number nor easy in the work 
they presented. He is probably the most widely 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



137 



known minister of his church in the United 
States in consequence of his extended mission 
travels, liis many able sermons and numerous 
eloquent addresses. Wiiile pleasing and popular 
as a speaker, yet he is not lacking in earnestness or 
logic. Genial, courteous and sel f- possessed upon 
all occasions, yet sufficiently dignified and de- 
cidedly stern enough when necessity requires to 
rebuke severely and with etfect, vice or folly in 
whatever place appearing or in whatever guise 
presented. He is a republican in politics and 
has a fine residence with- beautiful surroundings 
at Indiana. In personal appearance he is rather 
below medium height with an intelligent face 
and winning manners. In the matured prime 
of life he is but in the midst of a career of use- 
fulness and distinction. 



JOHN L. PAUL. Among the business 
men of Indiana, none is better known 
than John Lochry Paul, who is prominent in 
the fire insurance business of that place. He 
is well-informed, courteous and obliging. He 
is a son of Robert A. and Mary (Cochran) 
Paul, and was born at Apollo, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1865. The 
Paul family came from county Antrim, Ireland, 
and located in Franklin county about 1750, but 
soon removed to Westmoreland county. Sam- 
uel Paul (great-grandfather) was a native of 
Westmoreland county, was for many years 
justice of the peace in Washington township, 
that county, and lived to a good old age. His 
son, John Paul (grandfather), was born in 
1803. He has been all his life a prosperous 
farmer of Bell and Washington townships, in 
Westmoreland county, and has always com- 
manded the respect of his neighbors. He was 
one of the commissioners appointed to take the 
vote of the soldiers during the rebellion. He 
retired from active life some twenty-five years 
ago and has since resided at Paul ton (a town 
named after him), opposite Apollo. He is now 
9 



in his eighty-eighth year and quite active. He 
is a consistent member of the Presbyterian 
church. His wife, whose maiden name was 
Thompson, died January, 1890, in tlie eighty- 
sixth year of her age. Her mother was a 
daughter of Col. Archibald Lochry, a famous 
Indian fighter. In July, 1781, Col. Lochry, 
then county lieutenant of Westmoreland 
county, commanded au expedition against the 
Indians, with a force of one hundred and 
twenty-five men. He was surprised by the In- 
dians some nine miles below the Muskingum 
river, Ohio, at the mouth of a small stream 
which has since borne the name of Lochry's 
creek. Col. Lochry and forty-two of his men 
were killed while the remainder of the force 
was captured and carried to Canada. Robert 
A. Paul (father) was born in Westmoreland 
county, and is Postmaster at Saltsburg, 
of which borough he has been a citizen for 
twenty-one years. He is engaged in mercan- 
tile pursuits and has lived in the Kiskiminetas 
Valley most of his life. He is one of the 
trustees of the Presbyterian church, is a promi- 
nent republican and has been sent as a delegate 
several times to the republican State convention. 
He married Mary Cochran, daughter of Judge 
M. Cociiran, who was born in Armstrong 
county, in 1831, and is also a member of the 
Presbyterian church. 

John L. Paul removed with his parents to 
Saltsburg, in 1869, and attended the public 
schools there, and afterward the Saltsburg 
academy. From 1880 to 1883 he acted as 
salesman for his father, who was dealing in 
farming implements, then opened a fire insur- 
ance office at Saltsburg, but removed to Indi- 
ana in February, 1884, as the prosjiects of suc- 
cess there seemed brighter. He and his fatlier 
have a neat office at the corner of Sixth and 
Philadelphia streets, doing business under the 
firm name of R. A. Paul & Son. They have a 
large patronage, and represent the Fire associa- 
tion, the American Fire and the Franklin Fire 



138 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



insurance companies of Philadelphia ; the Lib- 
erty of New York ; the Artisan of Pittsburgh ; 
the National and Teutonia of Allegheny City 
and the Commercial, Union and Lancashire 
fire insurance companies of England. 

In 1888 he married Jean Reynolds, daugh- 
ter of C. C. McLain (deceased), of Indiana. 
They have one child, a son, Charles Robert. 

He is a republican and a charter member of 
Indiana Council, No. 260, Jr. O. U. A. M., 
and William Penn Council, No. 305, Royal 
Arcanum. He attends and contributes to the 
Presbyterian church, and is one of the straight- 
forward reliable men of Indiana. 



EDWARD A. PENNINGTON. Among 
the business men of Indiana, none are 
more highly respected by the public than Ed- 
ward A. Pennington. An honest, reliable man 
is the general verdict of those who know him. 
He was born in Brownsville, Fayette county, 
Pennsylvania, April 11, 1855. He is a son of 
Allison Campbell and Martha (Faull) Penn- 
ington. Allison C. Pennington was born at 
Wellsburg, W. Va., December 19, 1827. When 
eighteen years old he went to Brownsville, where 
he learned the trade of jeweler, and followed that 
business all his life. In 1868 he moved from 
Brownsville to Rice's Landing, Pa., and in 
1870 he removed to Greensboro', Greene county, 
where during the latter years of his life he 
held the office of justice of the peace. 
Soon after the beginning of the rebellion he 
enlisted (October 30, 1862) in Co. D, 168th 
regiment, Pa. Vols., and served 9 months. He 
was an ardent member of the Democratic party, 
a prominent member of the Baptist church, 
and a strong temperance mau. He married 
Martha Faull, who was born in Norfolk, Va., 
August 15, 1830. She is a member of a Bap- 
tist church of Allegheny city, in which she has 
made her home since the death of her hus- 
band, on September 6, 1881. 



Edward A. Pennington lived the first eight 
years of his life in Brownsville, then went 
with his parents to Rice's Landing, Jefferson 
township, Greene county, where they remained 
two years, and removed to Greensboro', on the 
Monongahela river, when Edward was fifteen 
years of age. He attended the public schools, 
but the river jirovod too attractive, and at an 
early age he shipped as cabin boy on one of 
the steamers plying up and down the Monon- 
gahela. He retained this position some two 
years, when he went to learn the tailoring trade 
at Greensboro', with H. C. Horner, and after- 
ward, in 1872, finished his trade with Samuel 
Harbough, of Elizabeth, Allegheny coun- 
ty. In May, 1875, he went into partnership 
with T. P. IMoffett, of Waynesburg, Greene 
county, in the merchant tailoring business at 
Elizabeth and at West Elizabeth, under the 
firm name of Moifett & Pennington, Mr. Penn- 
ington taking charge of the former house. 
On June 30, 1877, they dissolved partnership 
and Mr. Pennington established himself at 
Elizabeth, following his trade there until No- 
vember, 1878, when he removed to Indiana, 
where he has since carried on his present busi- 
ness of merchant tailoring most successfully. 
He has fully illustrated the old adage that what 
you want well done you must do yourself. He 
is his own cutter, and has so personally man- 
aged all theminutiEe of his busine.ss that it has 
grown to be one of the most solid in that sec- 
tion of Pennsylvania. 

On October 7, 1879, he married Louisa B. 
Kliue, daughter of George B. Kline, of Indi- 
ana. To their union have been born four 
children : Fay Edward, Effie Louis, Earnest 
Bertolette and Clarence Allison. 

He is a Republican in politics, and is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church, and William 
Penn Council, No. 305, Royal Arcanum. He 
is also one of the managers of library hall. 
By dint of quiet, steady energy and persever- 
ance, he has raised himself from a poor cabin 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



139 



boy to the position in which he now stands — an 
honored, respected merchant. 



TOHN H. PIERCE, a member of the 
^ Indiana county bar, was born in Cleai-tield 
county, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1855, and is 
a son of James and Sarah A. (Harrold) Pierce. 
The Pierce family is of Scotch descent and was 
planted in this country at an early day in its 
Colonial history. One of its numerous descend- 
ants was William Pierce, the grandfather of 
John H. Pierce. He I'emoved to Armstrong 
county, this State. His son, James Pierce 
(father), received a good education, and became 
a successful teacher of his native county. He 
died in 1864, at Rimersburg, Clarion county. 
Pa., where he had gone on a business trip. He 
was an active member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. His wife was" Sarah A. Harrold, 
who still survives him. She is a native of 
Columbiana county, Ohio, from which her par- 
ents removed when she was small, and settled 
first near Elderton, Pa., but in a few years 
located in Jefferson county, near Punxsutawney, 
where they resided as long as they lived. After 
her husband's death Mrs. Pierce moved to near 
Elderton, Armstrong county, where she now 
resides. She is in the sixty-third year of her 
age, and has been a member of the M. E. 
church for many years. 

John H. Pierce is the eldest of a family of 
five children, was reared principally near Elder- 
ton and received his early education in the com- 
mon schools. He graduated at the Indiana 
State Normal school of Pennsylvania, in the 
class of 1881. He taught in the common 
schools from 1875 until the winter of 1883. 
He commenced the study of law with Hon. 
Silas M. Clark, who was shortly afterwards 
elected to the Supreme Bench of the State. He 
next prosecuted his legal studies with Col. 
Daniel S. Porter, until the death of the latter, | 
when he completed the prescribed course of 



reading with the law-firm of Jack & Taylor, 
of Indiana, and was admitted to the Indiana 
county bar in the fall of 1885. Since then he 
has been engaged in the practice ol' his profes- 
sion. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church of Indiana. He is a republican 
in politics, has been serving for several years as 
secretary of the Indiana County Agricultural 
society and is a safe and prudent lawyer. 

On September 5th, 1883, John H. Pierce 
united in marriage with Josie Moore, daughter 
of John and Eliza Moore, of Whitesburg, 
Armstrong county, Pa. Their union has been 
blessed with two children, both sons : John M. 
and William E. 



JONATHAN ROW, who ably edited at dif- 
^ ferent times during his lifetime three 
English and two German newspapers in West- 
moreland, Somerset aud Indiana counties, this 
State, was one of the founders of the Republi- 
can party in western Pennsylvania. His dis- 
tingfuished career as an editor and his valuable 
services as the earliest historian of Indiana 
county, require that space be allotted on these 
pages for his life-i'ecord. Jonathan Row was 
born four miles northofGreeusburg, Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania, June 2, 1802, and 
was the fifth of six sons born unto Andrew and 
Elizabeth (Heintzelman) Row. The Rows are 
of German extraction and were among the early 
settlers in the vicinity of New York city. One 
of their descendants was Andrew Row (father), 
who was born in Northumberland and after- 
wards removed to Westmoreland county, Pa., 
where he died. He was thrice married and his 
second wife was Elizabeth Heintzelman, a 
daughter of George Heintzelman, who was a 
native of Germany and settled in Northampton 
county. Pa., where he reared a family of four 
sons and two daughters, and one of these sons 
was the grandfather of Major General Samuel 
P. Heintzelman. Andrew and Elizabeth 



140 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



(Heintzelman) Row were the parents of ten 
children : six sons and four dangiiters. Jonathan 
Row was reared in a day of limited educational 
advantages and received only one term of three 
months in a subscription school in which he 
learned to read. He learned the trade of brick- 
layer, which he followed for several years, was 
then engaged in the mercantile business at 
Adamsburg, in his native county, and in 1836 
was appointed register and recorder of West- 
moreland county, Pa. He was reappointed in 
1839 and served a second term. In 1838 he 
entered upon his great life-work of journalism in 
western Pennsylvania, by establishing a Ger- 
man paper in Greensburg, Pa., which was 
known as the Republikaner, and then became 
the Sentinel. In 1842 he disposed of the latter 
paper and purchased the Herald (English) and 
Hcpuhlican (German) newspapers of Somerset 
county, Pa., which he edited until 1850. In 
1847 he was elected treasurer of Somerset 
county, and three years later a stroke of paral- 
ysis prevented his appointment, by President 
Taylor, as consul to Hamburg, Germany. Four 
years later, having recovered from his paralytic 
stroke (1852) he purchased the Indiana Regis- 
ter-, entered into the whig cause with his old time 
vigor, and after the defeat of Winfield Scott 
had sounded the death-knell of the whig party, 
Jonathan Row continued earnest and zealous in 
that opposition to democracy that eventually 
crystallized into republicanism. In the for- 
mation, growth and progress of the Republican 
party in Indiana couuty, he was a potent factor 
and an indefatigable worker. A second stroke 
of paralysis in 1858 finally incapacitated him 
from work, and the next year he retired from 
business and left the control of his paper to his 
sons, George, Amos and Augustus Row. 
While prominent and conspicuous in political af- 
fairs, yet in another field he deserves great 
credit for the large amount of historical matter, 
covering a wide range of adventure and experi- 
ence by the early settlers of western Pennsyl- 



vania, and the formation and development of 
Indiana county,- which he secured and saved 
from oblivion by publication in his several news- 
papers. In 1831, and again some years later, he 
was aflflicted with cataract of both eyes and had 
two operations performed for the relief of that 
trouble. 

He was marrietl in 1821 to Maria C. Miniam, 
who is a member of the Lutheran church and 
was born in 1801. They reared to manhood 
and womanhood a family of eleven children : 
Samuel J.; Martha, relict of Rev. W. S. Emery, 
late of Frenchtown, N. J., deceased ; E. Eliza- 
beth, who was intermarried with J. H. Beuford, 
late of Johnstown, Pa., deceased (Mrs. Benford 
was the proprietress of the ill-foted " Hulbert 
House " of Johnstown, which was swept away by 
the terrible flood of May 31, 1889, and she and 
one son and two daughters perished in the wreck); 
Catherine, relict of H. B. Woods, a lawyer late 
of Reading, Pa., deceased ; Simon B.; Jane 
Mary, wife of Dr. W. H. McCormick, of Cum- 
berland, Md.; George; Amos; Augustus; Her- 
man, who died in 1880; and Charles Henry. 
One other, J. Franklin, died in infancy in 1838. 
Mrs. Row is a daughter of John George Min- 
iam, who was born on what was then the 
French side of the Rhine River. He was a 
tailor by trade, came to Westmoreland county, 
where he followed farming, and died in 1856, 
aged eighty-nine years. 

Jonathan Row was a member of the Luth- 
eran church and died February 22, 1866, when 
in the sixty-fourth year of his age. 

One well acquainted with him in life has 
written of him after death: 

" In looking over the files of papers issued 
from his press, the reader will observe, every- 
where, the evidences of originality, intelligence, 
thought, prudence and uprightness as conspic- 
uous characteristicsof the editorial management. 
When the great southern rebellion burst 
upon the land, the old man's enthusiasm burn- 
ed with intense ardor for the salvation of his 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



141 



country, and at all times and under all circum- 
stances, his voice was for maintaining the unity 
of the states, and upholding the supremacy of 
the national authoritv." 



pEORGE ROW, ex-editor of the Indiana 
^ RegMer, a prominent and one of the old- 
est justices of the peace in this county, and the 
senior member of the real-estate firm of Row 
& Books, was the well-known editor of the 
Kingwood Chronicle, which was one of the few 
Union papers of western Virginia in 1861. 
He was born near Adamsburg, in Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1832, 
and is a son of Jonathan and Maria C. (Min- 
iam) Row. [For ancestral history, see sketch 
of Jonathan Row ] 

George Row was reared in AVestmoreland 
county, where he received his education in the 
common schools. He served a four years' ap- 
prenticeship to the tanning business, which he 
did not follow very long. In 1852 he removed 
to Indiana, where he assisted his father in the 
printing business for eight years. Upon solicit- 
ation of prominent parties in Virginia (now 
W. Va.), he and his brother, Amos Row, in 
February, 1861, went to the beautiful and 
pleasant town of Kingwood, the county-seat of 
Preston county, Va. (now W. Va.), and started 
the Kingirood Chronide. They were ardent 
and radi<'al Unionists, naturally encountered 
all the hostility of the Secession element of that 
section, and were repeatedly threatened with 
personal violence and the destruction of their 
press. In May, 1861, it was rumored that the 
press would be destroyed, and the Row brothers, 
with other prominent citizens, would be hanged. 
This elicited the following: in the issue of the 
Chronicle for June 8th: " We have endeavored 
to pursue a fair and frank course throughout, 
both as publishers and as citizens, and, feeling 
thus, we have no fears for our persons or prop- 
erty through or by process of law ; and as for 



I mobs, we hate and despise them." The Chron- 
icle was a folio of seven columns to the page, 
and while ardently advocating the preservation 

j of the Union and the suppression of the Great 
Rebellion, was not lacking in literary merit or 
deficient in county news. Copies of the paper, 
still preserved at Kingwood, bear evidence to 
the patriotism and editorial ability of its "Yan- 
kee" editors, as they were termed by the Seces- 
sionists. The governor of Virginia, in Januarv, 
18(51, convened the Legislature of that State in 
extra session. The Kingwood Oironic/e, soon 
thereafter, pointed out the fiillacy of the non- 
coercive policy demanded by the A'irgiuia legis- 
lature. Referring to the persistent efforts of 
leading secessionists to intimidate the Union 
settlement, on April 6th the Chronicle fearlessly 
condemned the fanaticism of secession as viti- 
ating the moral sense of society in all classes ; 
and further reviewing the violent measures 
threatened from Richmond, the Chronicle as- 
sumed that the people of West Virginia would 
not suffer themselves, by any means whatever, 
to be coercetl out of the Union, or be compelled 

, to fight the battles of those who were seeking 

I to oppress her, without a struggle. Herein 
was foreshadowed the formation of a public 
sentiment which bore its legitimate fruits a lit- 
tle farther on in time, in the division of the 
old State of Virginia. George Row again ar- 
gued that in the Secession action of the State 
government was the hope of West Virginia ; 
that western Virginia being the only loyal part 
of the State, upon her devolved all the respon- 
sibility of the government and the election of 
officers by the sovereign. people in convention 
assembled, and supported his position by a 
lengthy and able argument. On June 29, 1861, 
George Row strictly advanced and advocated 
the importance of a division of the State. He 
.said : " The question is an important one, and 
the dissimilarity of interests in the eastern and 
western sections demand for it very grave con- 
siderations." ..." For a long while the basis 



142 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



of representation and the discrimination in the 
rates of taxation in favor of property in slaves 
which are in favor of east Virginia have been 
just causes of complaint on the part of the peo- 
ple of western Virginia. The east, having the 
power, lost no opportunity of securing her own 
aggrandizement by liberal appropriations, while 
the interests of the west have suffered detriment 
from neglect." ..." The State debt has accu- 
mulated, and the legislature has attempted to 
force a new and weightier wrong upon us : we 
are ordered to aid with our lives and our for- 
tunes to destroy the government of our fathers, 
by setting up treason and rebellion in our 
midst. Forbearance has ceased to be a virtue, 
and the people of the west, not willing to be 
made tools in this new infamy, are urging a 
division of .the State." 

The editors of The Kingioood Chronicle ac- 
tively bore their part, and by their independent 
course and decided utterance, exercised a wide 
and positive influence in keeping the western 
counties of western Virginia in the Union line, 
and establishing the new State of West Vir- 
ginia. The perils of the times, the unsettled 
condition of business and threatened Confeder- 
ate raids into Preston county were fatal to all 
newspaper enterprises there during the first two 
years of the late war, and in 1862 the Row 
Brothers were compelled to stop the publication 
of their paper for the want of pecuniary sup- 
port. While at Kiugwood, George Kow was 
instrumental in securing for the Unionists of 
Preston county a large stock of arms and am- 
munition, which had been stored in the court- 
house at King wood by order of Gov. Henry 
A. Wise, of Virginia, soon after the John 
Brown raid. George Row first suggested the 
seizure of these arms to the Union men of 
Kingwood, and none too soon ; for, as was af- 
terwards learned, a Confederate force had been 
sent on the preceding Friday from Phillippi, 
with wagons to carry away these military stores. 
Their instructions were to be at Kingwood on 



Sunday night, May 12, 1861. But heavy rains 
and storm impeded their progress, so that they 
did not arrive on time (intending, however, to 
fulfill their mission on the succeeding night), 
and thus failed to secure the much coveted and 
highly valuable prize. Upon learning the facts, 
Gov. Letcher, as commander-in-chief of the 
Virginia military, issued an order for the arrest 
of George and Amos Row, and some half-dozen 
others who had participated in taking the arms ; 
but the order was never executed. 

In 1862 Mr. Row returned to Indiana, where 
he assumed charge of the Register, which had 
lost prestige and influence with the republicans 
on account of criticising some of the influential 
leaders of that party. He soon won the entire 
confidence and full support of the Indiana re- 
publicans, and successfully conducted the paper 
until 1870. Three years later he was elected 
justice of the peace, and has served as such 
ever since. In 1888 he formefl a partnership 
with John W. Books in the real estate and col- 
lection business, under the firm-name of Row 
& Books. They occupy rooms in the Stadt- 
miller building, and buy, sell and lease real 
estate, besides giving prompt attention to the 
collecHon of rents and accounts. 

On April 20, 1866, George Row was united 
in marriage with Phebe E. Brooks, daughter 
of John J. Brooks, of New York, and sister to 
the distinguished and courteous Edward Brooks, 
A.M., author of Brooks' arithmetics, algebras, 
geometry and mental science. Mrs. Row passed 
away January 30, 1878, and left one child, — 
Rose Miniam, who married F. J. Neeson, of 
William-sport, Pa., and died December 20, 1889, 
leaving two children, — Phebe A. and Thomas 
F. Neeson. 

He is a republican, but is liberal in his po- 
litical views. As an editor, he followed in the 
footsteps of his father, and was unswerving in 
his fealty to the principles and interests of the 
Republican party. As a magistrate, his effi- 
ciency has been endorsed by his successive re- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



143 



elections, and as a business man, his success is 
attested by his large patronage. 



"PRANKLIN SANSOM. A vigorous and 
J- enterprising weekly journal of Indiana is 
the Indiana Democrat, whose motto is, " Tiie 
Union and equality of States." It is the only 
democratic paper published in Indiana county, 
and its energetic editor, Franklin Sansom, has 
lal)ored faithfully in making it a first-class 
newspaper of power and influence. He was 
born at McConnellsburg, Fulton county, Penn- 
sylvania, August 8, 1852, and is a son of James 
B. and Sarah (Leander) Sansom, both natives 
of Bedford county, this State. His paternal 
great-grandfatlier, William Sansom, was born 
in England, and came to Pennsylvania psior to 
the commencement of the present century. Two 
of his sons were Rev. James G. and John 
Philip Sansom, the grandfather of Franklin 
Sansom. Rev. James G. Sansom, a native of 
Philadelphia, was one of the founders of Meth- 
oflisra in Indiana county, organized the first 
M. E. class at Indiana, in 1831, was a popular 
and highly respected minister throughout the 
county, and served for many years as presiding 
elder of the Indiana circuit, which embraced a 
large area of territory. John Sansom (grand- 
father) was reared in eastern Pennsylvania and 
died in Bedford county in 1859. He married 
Elizabeth Pizel, daughter of Philip Pizel, who 
came from Germany, and after residing some 
time ill Bedford county removed to York, Pa., 
where he died. Mrs. Elizabeth (Pizel) Sansom 
was born in Bedford county, April 1 7, 1800, and 
altliough now in the ninety-first year of her age 
is in good health, with all her faculties unim- 
paired. She is the mother of fen children, of 
whom five are living : Andrew, Philip, Joseph, 
Amanda and Martha, the wife of W. S. 
Daugherty. James B. Sansom (father) was 
born in 1825 and died September 1, 1885, when 
in the sixtieth year of his age. In 1852 he 



founded the Fulton Oounty Democrat, and four 
years later was appointed postmaster at McCon- 
nellsburg, by President Buchanan. He was 
elected treasurer of Fulton county ; afterwards 
served as sergeant-at-arms of the Pennsylvania 
legislature, and was, during his entire life, an 
influential and unswerving democrat. He was 
a prominent Free Maison and Odd Fellow. In 
1862 he came to Indiana, where, on the 4th of 
May of that year, he issued the first number of 
the present Indiana Democrat. The fii-st press 
and type used in the office came from the Moun- 
tain Echo office, of Johnstown, Pa. On May 
1, 1871, he associated with him his son, Frank- 
lin, and the firm of J. B. Sansom & Son con- 
tinued until Mr. Sansom's death, since which 
time the paper has been owned by his widow 
and son, who is the subject of this sketch. Mr. 
Sansom at his death left a widow, five sous 
and one daughter. His widow is a daughter 
of William Leander, who was a prosperous 
German farmer of Bedford county. 

Franklin Sansom was chiefly reared at In- 
diana, and received his education in the public 
schools of that place and Indiana academy. 
Leaving school, he became a partner with his 
father in the newspaper business, and since the 
death of the latter, in 1885, he has been editor 
and publisher of the Indiana Democrat. 

On July 2, 1876, he married Catharine Metz, 
who was a daughter of Peter A. Metz, of 
Indiana, and died July 14, 1879, leaving 
two children : James B. and Mary Edna. 

The Iruliana Democrat has been very suc- 
cessful under Mr. Sansom's charge ; has nearly 
thirteen hundred subscribei-s and circulates over 
a wide area of territory. It is a folio in form, 
with eight columns to the page, and filled with 
brief but forcible editorials, current news, both 
local and general, and carefully selected miscel- 
lany. It is published every Thursday on 
Church street near the railroad depot, and its 
subscription price is one dollar and fifty cents 
per year. The Indiana Democrat is continu- 



144 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ally increasing in influence and power, both in 
and outside of the Democratic party, whose 
principles it always earnestly advocates, and 
ever resolutely defends. 



JOHN A. SCOTT. The bar of Indiana has 
^ many successful young lawyers who are 
destined to make the future legal reputation of 
the place equal to its present well-earned fame 
in the field of the law, and one of these 
promising young attorneys is John A. Scott, the 
present well-known and able prothonotary of 
Indiana county. He is a son of Thomas J. and 
Sarah A. (Anderson) Scott, and was born at 
Clarksburg, Indiana county, Peunsylvania, 
September 2, 1858. The Scotts are of Scotch- 
Irish descent. John Scott (paternal grand- 
father) was a native of Huntingdon county, Pa., 
from which he removed about 1830 to Burrell 
township, where he followed farming for many 
years and died in 1859, aged sixty-five years. 
Of his children, one was Thomas J. Scott 
(father), who was born and reared in Burrell 
township. He was in the general mercantile 
business for many years at Clarksburg and is 
now engaged as a clerk in the prothonotary's 
office. He married Sarah A. Anderson, who 
was born and reared in Young township. They 
are both members of the Presbyterian church. 
She is a daughter of Thomas Anderson, who 
was a native of Mercer county, this State, and 
came to Young township about 1824. He ran 
a pottery in connection with his farm. After 
some years' residence in this county he purchased 
a grist-mill at Clarksburg, which he operated 
sucessfully for many years. He was a strong 
presbyterian, a pronounced republican and died , 
in 1879, aged eighty years. The Andersons , 
are of Scotch-Irish descent. 

John A. Scott was reared principally at 
Clarksburg, in Conemaugh township. His 
rudimentary education was received in the com- 
mon schools. He fitted for college at Elder's 



Ridge academy and entered Washington and 
Jefferson college, from which well-known edu- 
cational institution he was graduated July 1, 
1879. After graduating he taught for one year 
at Elder's Ridge academy, then became a 
teacher in the Johnstown grammar school, and 
after serving for one year in that capacity he 
was electal principal of the Johnstown high 
school, which position he left in one ye&v in 
order to give his undivided attention to the 
study of law. He commenced reading with 
Hon. Silas M. Clark and upon the election of 
the latter to the Supreme Bench of the State he 
completed the required course with Hon. George 
W. Hood and was admitted to the bar of 
Indiana county, December 19, 1884. For three 
years after his admission he practiced his pro- 
fession, at Indiana. He was then elected pro- 
thonotary and clerk of quarter sessions and 
oyer and terminer, took charge of that office on 
January 2, 1888, and has faithfully discharged 
all of its duties ever since. In 1890 he was re- 
nominated by the republicans of Indiana county 
for prothonotary, which is equivalent to election, 
as the county is republican, and Mr. Scott has 
conducted the business of his office in a very 
.satisfactory and commendable manner to the 
public. 

In politics John A. Scott has always been a 
republican and one who ever worked vigorously 
in behalf of the political principles which he 
advocated. In 1886 he served as chairman of 
the county republican committee and did his 
work so well that his party rewarded his many 
efficient services with an election as prothonotary. 
He is a member of the Improved Order of 
Heptasophs, and takes an interest in whatever 
tends to the advancement of Indiana borough 
and county. 



DAVID W. SIMPSON, the present favor- 
ably known deputy sheriff of Indiana county 
and a man of considerable business experience, 



INDUNA COUNTY. 



14-5 



was born in Kittanning township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylania, November 24, 1858, and 
is a son of Tliomas and Ann (Gray) Simpson. 
His grandfatiier, Rev. John Simpson, came in 
1829 from England to Armstrong county, where 
he purcha.sed a farm and was for many years 
an active minister of the M. E. church. Thomas 
Simpson (father) was born in England, and 
when twelve years of age (1830) came with his 
brother William (but fourteen years of age) to 
New York. He soon went to reside with an 
uncle in the interior of the State. He learned 
the trade of butchering and in a few years re- 
moved to Armstrong county, this State, where 
he followed farming until 1873. In that year 
he came to White township where he purchased 
a farm, which he tilled until 1884, when he re- 
tired from active life. He then removed to 
Indiana, where he has resided ever since. He 
is a republican, a member of the M. E. church 
and a man who enjoys the respect and good-will 
of his neighbors. He was born in 1818, and 
in 1843 married Ann Gray, who was a daughter 
of William Gray, of Armstrong county, and died 
April 12, 1865, when in the fortieth year of her 
age. 

D. W. Simpson was reared on his father's 
farm in Armstrong county until he was fourteen 
years of age. He then came with his father to 
this county. He received his education in the 
common schools and was continuously engaged in 
farming until 1880, when he left the farm to ac- 
cept the position of a clerk in the Indiana county 
co-operative store. He remained with that com- 
pany for one year and then embarked in the gen- 
eral mercantile business which he followed with 
good success for four years. He then disposed 
of his store and was employed for six months as 
a clerk in a liardware store at Kittanning, Arm- 
strong county. For the next two years he was 
engaged in various lines of business. At the 
end of that time (fall of 1887) he became deputy 
.sheriff of Indiana county under James ^IcGregor, 
who was then sheriff, and served as such until 



January 1, 1888, when David C. Mack assumed 
charge of the sheriff"'s office. He then qualified 
as deputy sheriff under Mr. Mack and haseon- 
tinuetl to serve in that capacity ever since. He 
is active, attentive and diligent in the discharge 
of his duties as deputy sheriff and allows noth- 
ing at any time to di"aw his attention from his 
business. During the past three years his posi- 
tion has been one in which a man would have 
required prudence, judgment and no small 
amount of patience to be as successful as Mr. 
Simpson has been. He is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, Palladium Lodge, 
No. 346, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
Lodge No. 28, Knights of Honor, and Indiana 
Council, No 260, Jr. Order of United American 
Mechanics. Although an active and energetic 
republican, yet he is not an obtrusive politician. 
November 10, 1882, he united in marriage 
with Zenia Kingliorn, daughter of Alexander 
Kinghorn, of White township. They have 
two children : Viola H. and Jennet G. 



HON. HANNIBAL K. SLOAN. An emi- 
nent American author justly observes 
that " it is the peculiar felicity of our republi- 
can institutions that they throw no impediment 
in the career of merit but the competition of 
rival abilities." Among the many men of note 
in Indiana county, who illustrate the truth of 
this sentiment, is State Senator Hannibal K. 
Sloan, an able lawyer and a man of fine mili- 
tarv record and extended political influence. 
He is a son of James M. and Margaret (Kelly) 
Sloan, and was born in the borough of Indiana, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, September 4, 
1838. The Sloans in the United States trace 
their ancestry to England, when Charles I. .sat 
upon the throne of Great Britain. After the 
execution of that unhappy monarch, and some 
time during the period that Oliver Cromwell 
held within his grasp the supreme power of 
Europe's mighty island-empire, several mem- 



146 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



bers of the Sloau family sought for a home in 
Ireland. In the course of time two of their 
descendants — brothers — came to the new world, 
and one settled in the royal province of New 
Jersey, while the other, the great-great-grand- 
father of Hannibal K. Sloan, located in the 
land of Penn. From these two brothers, whose 
names live not in history nor survive in tradi- 
tion, have descended the numerous and thrifty 
Sloan families of the United States. The 
grandson of the founder of the Pennsylvania 
branch of the Sloan family was Lieutenant 
Walter Sloan (grandfather), who was born in 
Cumberland county, this State, in 1780. He 
came, in 1794, to Armstrong county, where he 
enlisted, in 1812, in Capt. James Alexander's 
company of infantry as first lieutenant. After 
the war of 1812 he kept a hotel at Kittanning 
for some length of time, and then engaged ex- 
tensively, for that day, in farming and in op- 
erating a flouring and saw-mill. After a long 
life of activity, purpose and usefulness, he died 
July 1, 1867, at the advanced age of eighty-six 
years. In 1811 he married Margaret Mateer, 
who was born in Cumberland county, and passed 
away October 3, 1820. They had four childran, 
one of whom was James M. Sloan (father). He 
was born at Kittanning, in 1813, and in 1835 
he came to Indiana, where he kept a hotel, 
operated a flouring-mill and managed a large 
farm. He died May 26, 1878, when he was 
in the sixty-fifth year of his age. He was a 
member of the Presbyterian church, an un- 
swerving democrat, and filled nearly all of the 
borough offices of Indiana. He was a useful 
and well-informed man, and possessed many 
virtues which were worthy of emulation. On 
August 31, 1837, he married Margaret Kelly, 
who was born in White township, in 1815, 
and died in 1884, at the age of seventy-two 
years. Mrs. Margaret Sloan was a daugh- 
ter of Major Meek Kelly (born in Frank- 
lin county, in 1770), a son of James Kelly, 
a pioneer settler of this county and a sol- 



' dier in the Revolutionary war. Major Meek 
i Kelly died in 1843, aged sixty years. He was 
a very prominent and influential man during 
his day, held many public offices, and served as 
a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate 
from 1834 to 1838. His wife was Jane Moor- 
head, daughter of Fergus Moorhead, the well- 
known old pioneer of Indian fame, who set- 
tled on the site of Indiana, in 1772. 

Hannibal K. Sloan received his education in 
the public schools of Indiana and Indiana acad- 
emy. He learned the trade of machinist, which 
he followed until he was nineteen years of age, 
when he commenced the study of law with 
Hon. H. W. Wier, wdio was chief justice of 
Idaho under Cleveland's administration. In 
1861 he left his legal studies and enlisted as a 
private in a company which afterwards became 
Co. B, of the famous 11th Pennsylvania Re- 
serves. He was made second lieutenant, then 
promoted to first lieutenant, and commissioned 
captain on December 13, 1862. He command- 
ed the company from that date until it was 
discharged at Pittsburgh, Pa., June 13, 1864. 
Captain Sloan participated and led his company 
in all the battles of the Army of the Potomac 
from Gaines' Mill to the Wilderness battles. 
Returning home, he resumed his legal studies 
and was admitted to the Indiana bar in Septem- 
ber, 1867. He opened an office and has continued 
in the successful practice of his profession ever 
since. In 1870 he was elected, as a democrat, 
to the House of Representatives of Pennsylva- 
nia from the republican county of Indiana. In 
1888 his ability to overcome party lines and 
rally voters of all shades of political opinion to 
his support, was again demonstrated by his 
election to the State Senate from the Thirty- 
seventh Senatorial District, which is composed 
of the counties of Indiana and Jefferson, and is 
strongly republican. He has held all of the 
offices of his borough, to which he has always 
been elected independent of political considera- 
tion. He is a member of Indiana Lodge, No. 



IXDIAXA COUNTY. 



147 



313, F. and A. M., Indiana Post, No. 28, G. 
A. R., Eucarapraeut No. 11, U. V. L., and 
the I. O. H. In 1869, he married Loretta 
F. Bonner, daughter of Manassas Bonner, of 
Westmoreland county, this State. They have 
six children : Bert, Maggie R., Kate, James B., 
Geneva and Hope I. 

Hannibal K. Sloan is a man of fine personal 
appearance, over six feet in height, straight as 
an arrow and martial-looking. He is promi- 
nent in Grand Army circles and is recognized as 
one of the strong land lawyers of the State, and 
a power in the politics of western Pennsylvania. 
A prominent paper of southwestern Pennsyl- 
vania thus records the expressed opinion of him 
in that section as follows: "Senator Sloan is a 
gentleman of solid sense, broad intelligence and 
much experience in parliamentary bodies. Both 
his public and private life are without stain, 
and he is recognized as one of the truest friends 
of the agricultural and laboring classes. He is 
aifable and unassuming, and meets men of high 
degree or humble station with equal cordiality 
and respect. No other name than his could be 
placed on the democratic standard of the State 
from western Pennsylvania that would draw to 
it a stronger independent republican and soldier 
support." 



ROBERT M.SMITH, a skilled photographer 
and one of the enterprising citizens of 
Indiana, is a son of Samuel T. and Mary (Mc- 
Gough) Smith, and was born in Young town- 
ship, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, August 27, 
1858. His great-grandfather. Judge James 
Smith, was a native of Ireland and came to this 
country with his wife and children in 1772. 
He settled in what is now Armstrong township, 
at a time when wolves and bears still abounded 
in that section. Here .Tudge Smith engaged in 
farming until 1806, when he was elected one of 
the first two associate judges of the county. 



Judge Smith was also a member of the first 
board of trusteesof Indianaacademy when it was 
incorporated. He died in 1849, aged ninety- 
three years. His son, William Smith (grand- 
father), was born in Pennsylvania and followed 
farming in Armstrong township. He filled the 
office of county commissioner during 1840 and 
1841. He was an old-line whig and married 
Mary Miller, by whom he had eight children. 
William Smith was a leading elder in tiie West 
Uniou United Presbyterian church. His son, 
Samuel T. Smith (father), was a native of 
Young township, Indiana county, and was an 
enterprising farmer. He was an elder in the 
West Union United Presbyterian church. He 
was an energetic man, and much respected in the 
township. He died in 1879, in the fifty-first 
year of his age. He married Mary McGough, 
who was born at Indiana, in 1836, and is 
a member of the U. P. church. She is a 
daughter of Thomas McGough, a native of 
Scotland, who taught school for many years at 
Saltsburg, where he died. 

Robert M. Smith was born on his father's 
farm and received his education in the public 
schools and the State Normal school at Indiana. 
Leaving school, he learned the art of photog- 
raphy with T. B. Clark and in 1888 opened 
his present gallery on the corner of First and 
Philadelphia streets. Strictly honorable in all 
his business dealings and desirous of pleasing 
his customers, he has met with good success. 
He deals in picture frames, albums, easels and 
many other needed articles. He is a member 
of the United Presbyterian church and stands 
well with all who know him. 



ZX. SNYDER, M.S., Ph.D. Of the leading 
• educators of this State, none have secured, 
so speedily and so universally, such esteemed 
recognition in the wide field of their profession 
asDr. Z. X. Snyder. He is a sound, practical 



148 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and advancetl educator of to-day and president of 
Indiana State Normal school, at Indiana, Penn- 
sylvania. He was born at Reagantown, East 
Huntingdon township, AYestmorelaud county, 
Pa., August 31, 1850, and is a son of Daniel and 
Catherine (Reagan) Snyder. His paternal 
great-grandfather, Snyder, was a native of 
Prussia, who settled in New Jersey and served as 
a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Some time 
after the Independence of the thirteen colonies 
had been acknowledged by Great Britain, he re- 
moved to Westmoreland county, where he pur- 
chased a flouring mill which stood on the site 
of the present borough of Scottdale. His chil- 
dren were: John, Nicholas, Peter, Gasper and 
Elizabeth. Peter Snyder (grandfather) was 
born in 1792, married Catherine Bothers and 
removed to Franklin township, Fayette county, 
whei'e he died December 25, 1857. Eight sons 
and two daughters were born to Peter and 
Catherine Snyder, and the fifth son, Daniel Sny- 
der (father), was born in September, 1824. In 
1848 Daniel Snyder removed to East Hunting- 
don township, Westmoreland county, where he 
purchased a farm and has been engaged in farm- 
ing ever since. He married Catherine Reagan, 
daughter of Alexander Reagan, whose father 
was Philip Reagan (name originally written 
MacReagan), a native of Westmoreland county 
who lived to be one hundred and six years of 
age. Philip Reagan (maternal great-grand- 
father) was a man of prominence and great cour- 
age. He was a conspicuous character in the 
Whiskey Insurrection — the first rebelliou 
against the government of the United States. 
In June, 1794, he was appointed as a revenue 
collector and was threatened with violence by 
the "Whiskey Boys." He converted his house 
into a block-house and withstood several night 
attacks. Finally one hundred and fifty insur- 
gents attacked his house and he was compelled, 
after a gallant defence, to surrender, but made 
his escape from them during the ensuing night. 
Z. X. Snyder was reared on his father's farm 



and attended the common schools until he was 
nineteen years of age, when he entered Mt. 
Pleasant institute, where he spent two years in 
fitting for college. In 1872 he entered Waynes- 
burg college, from which institution of learning 
he was graduated with the honors of his class 
in July, 1876. In a few months after gradua- 
tion he became principal of the Wicomisco 
graded school in Dauphin county. At the end 
of five years' faithful and succressful labor there 
he was called to the chair of higher mathematics 
and natural history in his alma mater. After 
one year of pleasant and profitable labor in 
Waynesburg college. Prof. Snyder resigned in 
order to go to Scottdale, Pa., where his interests 
in a hardware eslablishraent demanded his per- 
sonal attention, and while a citizen of that place 
he was elected and served as a member of the 
borough school board. In 1883 he was elected 
principal of the Greensburg public schools. For 
four years he labored earnestly and arduously 
in building up the Greensburg schools, and left 
them when in a very prosperous condition, in 
1887, to accept the superintendency of the schools 
of the city of Reading. He there succeeded the 
celebrated Dr. Thomas Balliett. He instituted 
valuable reforms in the Reading .schools, which 
made him known all over the country and in- 
ti'oduced into them those methods of culture and 
instruction which have made his name prominent 
in connection with graded school work in every 
State of the Union. In 1889 he resigned as 
superintendent of the Reading schools to accept 
the presidency of the Indiana State Normal 
school, and entered upon the duties of that im- 
portant and responsible position on September 1, 
1889. Under his administration the school has 
gained both in prestige and numerical strength. 
The school now requires a corps of seventeen 
teachers in winter and nineteen in summer, while 
the enrollment of students last year ran up to 
seven hundred and fifty-six. Calm, deliberate 
and methodical. Dr. Snyder has bronglit to the 
management of the Indiana Normal school 



JL 

c 

s 

# 







INDIANA COUNTY. 



151 



goveruiug qualities of a higii order and a quiet 
firmness that is felt in every department; whilst 
his close personal supervision is keeping it true 
to both the letter and the spirit of Normal edu- 
cation. Besides educational work, he has de- 
voted much time to the sciences: 1, a collec- 
tion of the birds of Pennsylvania ; 2, a collection 
of the insects, plants, minerals and many mam- 
mals, etc. 

"To fitly describe this model institution as 
we see it and as its hi.story has been given us 
would far exceed the limits of this article, and 
therefore but the merest outline must suffice. 
The school building is one of the most striking 
and attractive features of the town. It is situ- 
ated close to the town on a beautiful elevation 
which commands a most extensive and pictur- 
esque view. The building is constructed of 
brick, is four stories high above the basement, 
which is of stone, is 250 feet front and 180 feet 
back in three sections. The campus, or sur- 
rounding grounds, comprise twelve acres and 
contain a beautiful natural grove of stately oaks, 
maples and elms, while the ornamental trees and 
shrubbery are scattered over the lands in profu- 
sion, and flowers of every hue and tint, of count- 
less varieties, arranged in the most tasteful and 
artistic manner, adorn the terrace on which the 
building stands. The interior of the building 
is peculiarly adapted to its requirements. From 
the laboratory and highest class-room down to the 
kitchen everything is perfect. The various 
departments are all supplied with everything 
necessary to comfort or to the iutellet^tual, moral 
and physical development of the students — at 
least, everything that such an institution ran pos- 
sibly supply. The rooms are all high, spacious 
and well lighted, the walls and ceilings frescoed, 
the furniture new and elegant, the dormitories 
neat and clean, and their floors carpeted; baths, 
lavatories and closets are located on all the 
floors and on both sides of the building, the 
class-rooms and laboratory supplied with every 
known accessory to the teacher's profession, and 



the whole is subjected to the most careful ar- 
rangement and supervision. As might be ex- 
pected from the location of the building, its 
sunny exposures, pure air and perfect sanitary 
arrangements, the health record of the school is 
remarkable. But every facility and inducement 
to ample physical exercise is afforded; indeed, 
the rules of the school require it. The building 
is furnished with a fine gymnasium and several 
ball alleys, while out under the trees and on the 
open lawns there are four or five lawn tennis 
courts, several croquet, foot-ball and base-ball 
grounds, with other forms of amusement and 
recreation. 

"The school was first opened on the 17th day 
of May, 1875, and from that time to this has 
steadily increased in numbers and influence until 
it stands to-day in the very front rank of the 
normal schools of the State. Every year of the 
fifteen of its existence has witnessed a larger 
enrollment of students than the one preceding 
it. The last annual catalogue shows an enroll- 
ment of 756. The total attendance during the 
history of the school was 7,327, of whom 461 
took the full course and graduated. Of these, 137 
were male and 324 female students. Of these 
graduates, all but twenty-five became teachers, 
many of them for several years, while a majority 
of them are still so engaged. Sixteen of them 
became professors in normal schools and colleges, 
sixty-one principals of graded and high schools 
and three of them county superintendents. In 
other professions seven became ministers, eight 
went out as missionaries, five entered' editorial 
sanctums, eleven studied medicine and thirty- 
two became lawyers. Several of the last are 
among the rising young attorneys of Pittsburgh. 

" That Indiana is becoming a centre of educa- 
tional influence and normal-school training is 
not an accident. From its very inception and 
through all sacrifices the best citizens of the 
town and county have freely devoted their time 
and money to the institution. Among its best 
friends were John Sutton and Joseph R. Smith, 



152 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



widely-known and public-spirited men, who 
were part of its board of trustees from its first 
organization until their deaths. Hon. Silas M. 
Clark, of the Supreme Bench of the State, was 
also an original trustee, and is now president of 
the board." 

In 1874, Dr. Snyder united in marriage 
with Maggie Estella Smith, daughter of 
James B. Smith, of Westmoreland county. To 
their union have been born three children : 
Laura Calloway, Tyndal E., and Clay D., who 
died Januaiy 8, 1890, aged fifteen years. 

Dr. Snyder is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church and has ever well performed 
every duty of good citizenship. His present 
field of labor is one for which he is eminently 
fitted. It is a field adapted to his genius, his 
varied learning, his skill as an educator and his 
long experience as a successful disciplinarian ; 
butitisalsoafieldof labor which leaves but little 
repose for his well-prepared and vigorous mind. 
His ideal of education is lofty but not impracti- 
cable; he would impart to a school the character 
of a family and would educate so as to fit pupils for 
intelligent citizenship and usefulness in life as 
well as for business and professional success. 
He has studied closely the principles which 
underlie all true processes of education and has 
made all his educational methods follow the 
order of nature. He believes in the natural, 
progressive and symmetrical development of all 
the powers and the faculties of the pupil, and 
bends all his energies to the accomplishment of 
that result. His success has been highly grati- 
fying, and while a leader in the new education, 
the object of which is to give culture and de- 
velop the power of thought, yet he is never car- 
ried away by enthusiasm to the introduction or 
use of any new method that has not been care- 
fully tested and found to be promotive of true 
development. Dr. Snyder as a teacher in the 
common schools, as a college professor, as a 
principal of graded schools, as superintendent 
of city schools and as president for the last year 



of one of the largest and most advanced Normal 
schools in the United States, has had wide and 
successful experience in studying the needs of 
our common school system and especially the 
lack of properly qualified teachers. By correct 
normal training of teachers, he would seek to 
inaugurate the reforms so much needed in so 
many of the publ ic schools. While seeking for 
reforms in the common schools he is also active 
in introducing needed and valuable improve- 
ments in normal school work. He is a clo.se 
student, a clear thinker and a forcible writer and 
highly appreciated are his labors in behalf of 
the normal school system, which is a powerful 
agent in the upbuilding of our national life. 



D' 



,ANIEL STANARD was the first resident 
lawyer who located permanently at Indi- 
ana. He was a native of Vermont, and came 
here, a young lawyer, in 1807. He was over 
six feet in height, erect and of commanding 
presence. His fine appearance would arrest 
attention anywhere. Although his early educa- 
tion was limited, by study and application he 
became a man of more than ordinary intelligence 
on most subjects. 

" He was a .successful practitioner of the law 
up till 1836, when he retired from active prac- 
tice, and died March 4, 1867, at the age of 
eighty-five years." 



HON. THOMAS ST. CLAIR, M.D. Among 
the many sons of Indiana county whose 
talents, opinions and public services have 
made them eminent in civil affairs, none are 
better or more favorably known for ability and 
integrity than Ex-Senator Thomas St. Clair, 
one of the public men and leading physicians 
of western Pennsylvania. He is a son of 
James and Jennie (Slemmons) St. Clair, and 
was born in what is now White township. In- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



155 



diana county, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1824. Sen- 
ator St. Clair is of Scotch-Irish descent, and is 
a descendant of the St. Clair family of Scot- 
land, which was founded in the middle ages by 
Sir Walderne de St. Clair, a Norman knight, 
who married Margaret, daughter of Richard, 
Duke of Normandy. Their second sou, Wil- 
liam, settled in Scotland, and one of his de- 
scendants, William St. Clair, became prince of 
the Orkneys, under the King of Norway, and 
High Chancellor of Scotland under the Royal 
house of Bruce. In 1741 the St. Claii-s ex- 
changed their lofty title and island domains for 
the earldom of Caithness, which they still hold 
under the Anglicized name of Sinclair. Two 
of the descendants of one of these earls, through 
a younger son, were Gen. Arthur St. Clair, 
president of the Continental Congress in 1787, 
and commander-in-chief of the armies of the 
United States in 1791, and his cousin, James 
St. Clair, Sr., a Revolutionary soldier and 
grandfather of Ex-Senator Thomas St. Clair. 
James St. Clair, Sr., whose parents were natives 
of the north of Ireland, was born in 1741, in 
eastern Pennsylvania, where he owned a valu- 
able farm and mill, nine miles from York. He 
served throughout the Revolutionary war, mar- 
ried a Miss Miller and died in York county in 
1806, at the age of sixty-five years. One of 
his sous was James St. Clair (father), who was 
born in York (now Adams) county. May 1, 
1774, and died in Centre township, this county, 
April 8, 1855, aged eighty-one years. He 
came to Brush Valley township in 1809, and 
subsequently removed to what is now the north- 
ern part of White township, where he followed 
farming for many years. He was an old-line 
whig in politics, and married Jennie Slemmons, 
of Irish descent. They were the parents of 
ten children. Mrs. Jennie St. Clair was born 
in Lancaster, but reared in Washington county, 
was a member of the Presbyterian church, and 
passed away October 15, 1855, at seventy-one 
years of age. She was a daughter of William 



Slemmons (maternal grandfather), who re- 
moved, in 1790, from Lancaster to Washington 
county, where he fallowed farming until his 
death, which occurred in 1820, wiien he was in 
the sixtieth 3'ear of his age. He had received 
appointments from the governor of justice of 
the peace continuing for thirty years. His 
wife was a Miss Boggs, by whom he had seve- 
ral children. He was noted for Jiis great gen- 
erosity, open-handed liberality, scrupulous hon- 
esty and warm-hearted hospitality. 

Thomas St. Clair was reared on his father's 
farm until he was fifteen years of age. He re- 
ceived his literary education in the common 
schools and Indiana academy. In 1843, at 
nineteen years of age, he commenced the study 
of medicine with the late Dr. John W. Jenks, 
of Punxsutawney, but at the expiration of one 
year removed to Indiana, where he completed 
the required course of reading with Dr. James 
M. Stewart. In 1845 he entered Jefferson 
Medical college, and was graduated from that 
well-known institution in 1847. He then re- 
turned to Indiana, where he formed a partner- 
ship with Dr. Stewart, which lasted for two years. 
At the end of that time (1849) he opened an office 
for himself, and has practiced there as a physi- 
cian and surgeon continuously and successfully 
ever since. He was the first surgeon west of 
the Allegheny mountains, in Penn.sylvania, who 
ever successfully i-emoved an ovarian tumor. 
The first tumor of this kind which he removed 
weighed forty pounds, and since then he has 
performed this operation fourteen times, and in 
every case successfully. He has been a mem- 
ber and steward of the M. E. church for the 
last five years. He has served his borough as 
a member of its council, and was president of 
the Indiana County Agricultural society for 
three years. His political career commenced 
in 1864, when he was elected by the Republi- 
can party as State Senator from the Thirty- 
seventh Senatorial District of Pennsylvania, 
composed of the counties of Indiana and Arm- 



156 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



strong. In 1876 he was re-elected from 
the Thirty-seventh district, then composed of 
the counties of Indiana and Jefferson, and 
again served as a member of tlie State Senate 
from 1877 to 1880. During his entire service 
in that distinguished body he carefully guarded 
and faithfully advocated the interests of his 
constituents of all parties, and upon questions 
of State and national character always favored 
a conservative but yet firm and honorable 
course of action. 

Senator St. Clair was married on February 
24, 1848, to. Charlotte D. Patton, who was a 
daughter of John Patton, and who died in June, 
1868. On March 30, 1869, he married for his 
second wife, Sarah, daughter of Moses Walker, 
of Washington county. By his first marriage 
he had seven children : John P., who married 
Martha Daugherty, and is proprietor of a flour- 
ing-mill, at Homer City ; James H., of Indiana ; 
Dr. Charles M., who graduated at Jefferson 
Medical college in 1878, practiced with his 
father for ten years, married Sarah D., daugh- 
ter of Dr. James. M. Taylor, and is now exten- 
sively engaged in the flouring-mill business, at 
Latrobe, Pa. ; Charlotte D., married to J. Les- 
lie Hazlett; Jennie S., who died when young, 
in 1862; Mary L.', wife of Griffith Ellis; and 
Josephine. 

During the war he was connected with the 
surgeon-general's volunteer surgical corps, and 
attended the wounded after the Seven Days' 
fight and the battle of Gettysburg. He is a 
reform republican in politics, and, with the' 
proverbial independence of his Scotch- Irish 
blood, always has the courage of his convic- 
tions in voting for or against the nominees 
of the Republican party. In the gubernator- 
ial contest of 1890 he believed that the true 
interests of Pennsylvania demanded the de- 
feat of the " ring rule " and " bossism " of the 
Republican party, and took the stump in 
favor of " Pattisou and Reform," the same as 
he did so successfully in 1882. As the sworn 



and unrelenting enemy of all "cliques" and 
" rings," whose unscrupulous methods so often 
defeat the will of the people, Senator St. Clair 
commands a large political following in all par- 
ties, and wields a great influence over the agri- 
cultural and industrial classes. As a public 
speaker he is logical, earnest, eloquent and 
truthful. Thomas St. Clair has lived a consci- 
entious and blameless life, and is lacking in none 
of those generous and nobler traits which bind 
man to man by the golden ties of esteem and 
friendship. 



JAMES ST. CLAIR, one of the progressive 
men of Indiana, who by his assiduity, 
honesty and frugality has gained a good repu- 
tation in mercantile circles, is a son of Isaac 
and Sarah (Miller) St. Clair, and was born in 
White township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
October 14, 1844. He is of Scotch descent, 
and is the great-grandson of the old Revolu- 
tionary soldier, James St. Clair, Sr. James St. 
Clair (grandfather) was born in what is now 
Adams (then York) county, May 4, 1774, and 
died in the spring of 1855. He was a hale, 
hearty man, and full of energy when he moved, 
in 1816, into White township, where he took 
up a quarter section of government land. His 
wife was Jennie Slemmons,a native of Lancaster 
county. She died in the same year as her hus- 
band and when in the seventy-second year of 
her age. They left nine children. Their son, 
Isaac St. Clair (father), was born in " Little 
York," York county, in 1816, and came with 
his father into Indiana county when a child. 
He was a farmer in White township, and a 
member of the Presbyterian church. He was 
a life-long republican, casting his first presi- 
dential vote for Gen. W. H. Harrison and his 
last vote for Benjamin Harrison. He married 
Sarah Miller, a native of Ireland, who was 
brought to this country by her parents while an 
infant. She lives in Indiana, is a member of 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



157 



the Presbyterian churcli and is in the seventy- 
fourth year of her age. 

James St. Clair, named in memory of his 
grandfather, was reared on his father's fiirra, 
and received his education in tlie schools of his 
neighborhood. He remained on the farm until 
the oil fever of 1870, when he went out as an 
oil prospector. He returned in one year and 
served as a clerk for the Adams Express com- 
pany for three years. He has been a dealer in 
agricultural implements ever since 1875, and 
has prospered in that line of business. His 
well-stocked establishment is situated in a busi- 
ness part of the town. 

He married Amanda Jane, daughter of John 
and Eliza Anthony, of Indiana, in 1872, and 
has three children : Vernie, Helen and James E. 

He is a member of the Presbyterian church, 
and is a republican in politics. The St. Clairs 
are a long-lived race and the descendants of 
those who emigrated from Scotland to this 
country have all evinced their Scotch origin by 
their industry and thrift. 



WILLIAM M. STEWART, formerly a 
leading member of the Indiana county 
bar and now a well-known citizen and promi- 
nent business man of Philadelphia, is a son of 
Dr. James M. and Matilda E. (Elliott) Stewart, 
and was born at Frankstown, Huntington 
county, Pennsylvania, January 15, 1817. Dr. 
James M. Stewart was born in Huntingdon, 
where he was well educated and read medicine 
with Dr. Henderson. He attended the medical 
department of the University of Pennsylvania, 
from which he graduated. He came, in 1814, 
to Indiana, where he practiced medicine and 
surgery for one year, when his house and 
library burnal and he returned to his native 
county. After one year's practice in Hunting- 
don county, he came back to Indiana, where he 
was professionally engaged until his death, 
which occurred March 27, 18(39, when he was 
10 



in the seventy-eighth year of his age. His 
practice extended into all the surrounding coun- 
ties of Indiana and he was a man who utterly 
despised every form of irregular practice that 
had any tendency to imposition. He represent- 
ed this county in the I^egislature in 1831, but 
refused a re-election in order to give his entire 
time and attention to his profession. In 1849, 
Gov. Johnston appointed him asscwiate judge of 
Indiana county, which position he held for five 
years. Dr. Stewart was appointed, by Gov. 
Curtin, during the late war, as one of the board 
of surgeons for examining surgeons, and set with 
his associates, Dr. Trail Green, of Easton, Pa., 
and Dr. Smitii, of Philadelphia, for that pur- 
pose. He was highly complimented by his 
medical brethren for the efficient manner in 
which he discharged his duties. He was in 
favor of only passing young men who were 
fully competent. It is said that his examina- 
tions were the most exhaustive and caused great 
trepidation among the applicants for positions. 
His services were demanded by eminent persons 
at a great distance, one of whom was Judge 
Jeremiah Black. Dr. James M. Stewart was a 
son of Judge David Stewart, of Huntingdon 
county. Dr. Stewart was a republican in poli- 
tics and married Matilda Elliott, daughter of 
Judge Benjamin Elliott, a prominent citizen of 
Huntingdon county. Mrs. Stewart passed 
away in 1862. 

William M. Stewart was reared at Indiana 
and received his education at Jefferson college, 
from which he was graduated in September, 
1837. After graduation, he read law with 
Judge Reed, of Carlisle, Pa., who was the prin- 
cipal of a law school in that place, was 
examined by Judges (jallagher and Watts and 
Charles B. Penrose and was admitted to the 
Indiana county bar in 1839. He then opened 
an office, was very careful and successful in the 
management of his cases and soon rose to the 
front rank in his profession. In 1854, Judge 
Clark entcre<l his office as a law student and 



158 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



four yeai-s later became a member of the firm 
of Stewart & Clark, which continued in exist- 
ence until 1875. In 1873, Mr. Stewart re- 
moved to Philadelphia where he had engaged, in 
1869, in the banking business with B. K. 
Jamison, succeeding partner of P. F. Kelly & 
Co., under the firm-name of Jamison & Co. It 
is a private bank and is located on the corner 
of Fifth and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia. 

On July 13, 1847, he was married to Eliza- 
beth Clopper, daughter of Edward Clopper, of 
Greensburg, and a very kind and estimable 
woman and granddaughter of Hon. John 
Young, president judge of the Tenth Judicial 
District of Pennsylvania (see his sketch). They 
have four sons, of whom William M., Jr., the 
youngest, is an active member of the Philadel- 
phia bar. The eldest, James M., is civil engineer 
for the Oregon Pacific railroad, Oregon. 

During his legal career of over thirty years 
at the Indiana bar Mr. Stewart had a more ex- 
tensive practice than any other lawyer in the 
county. He is a republican in politics, was a 
candidate in 1862 for Congress against John L. 
Dawson, of Fayette county, and was defeated 
by a very small majority in his district, then 
democratic by a large majority. In that con- 
test Indiana county honored him with the 
largest majority which she ever gave a repub- 
lican candidate for any office. Mr. Stewart 
was a member of the whig convention which 
nominated Henry Clay in 1844 and was one of 
the delegates from Pennsylvania to the Chicago 
National republican convention of 1860, who 
voted for Abraham Lincoln when Cameron's 
name was withdrawn. He now gives his at- 
tention maiidy to financial matters. He was 
for a number of years president of the First 
National bank of Indiana, and is now president 
of Saltsburg bank, besides being a member of 
the banking firm of Jamison & Co., of Phila- 
delphia. He resides at No. 2008 Walnut 
street, and he and his wife are consistent mem- 
bers of St. Stephen's Protestant Episcopal 



church, of Philadelphia, of which he has been 
a vestryman for ten years. He is a man of 
good judgment, enterprising, although conserva- 
tive and cautious, and his counsels in financial 
matters, when fully followed, always lead to a 
successful and honorable disposition of any 
problem under consideration. 



JOHN T. STUCHUL, an active, progress. 
" ive and successful member of the Indiana 
county bar, is a son of Robert H. and Hannah 
D. (Thompson) Stuchul, and was born in South 
Mahoning township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, May 12, 1855. The Stuchul family is 
of German extraction and the American branch 
is descended from ancestors who emigrated from 
Holland to this country in an early day. John 
T. Stuchul's paternal great-grandfather was 
Christopher Stuchul (the name is written 
Stuchit/, al and ell by different families of the 
name). He was a farmer in Washington town- 
ship, where he settled when it was principally a 
wilderness. He was a sou of John Stuchul, 
who came to what is now White township about 
1785. Christopher Stuchul was a farmer. One 
of his sons was John Stuchul (grandfather), 
who was born in Washington township in 1796 
and died in 1852. He was a farmer, a member 
of the Associate Presbyterian or Seceder church 
and married Rebecca Mahan, who bore him 
seven sons and one daughter. Three of these 
sons — John, Christopher and William — served 
during the late war, in which Christopher died. 
Another son, Robert H. Stuchul (father), was 
born August 28, 1826, in Washington township, 
and moved with his father to Mahoning town- 
ship when about six years of age. He is a 
prosperous farmer and stock-raiser of South 
Mahoning township. He is a hard-working 
and thorough-going man, an earnest member 
of the United Presbyterian church and a republi- 
can who has always worked faithfully in the 
interest of his party. He married Hannah D. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



159 



Thompson, who was boru in South Mahoning 
township, August 7, 1835, and is a member of 
the United Presbyterian cimrch. Her father, 
James Thompson, marrieil to Eliza Wilson, was 
a native of this county and died in 1842. He 
was a farmer by oecupatiou and was a son of 
Robert Thompson, married to Hannah Simpson, 
who was a son of James Thompson, Sr., mar- 
ried to Mary Parks, who was of Scotch descent. 
They were all members of the Seceder church. 
James Thompson was a native of eastern Penn- 
sylvania and iu company with the Moorheads 
and other early settlers came into this county, 
where they located near the present county- 
seat. 

John T. Stuchul was reared on his father's 
farm in South Mahoning township, where he 
received his early education in the common 
schools. He pursued his academic studies in 
Dayton academy and Piumville select school, 
and studied the languages under Rev. D. H. 
Blair, a private tutor who was a classical scholar 
and a successful teacher. At eighteen years of 
age he commenced life for himself by engaging 
in school work, which he followed for seven 
years. He then (1880) left the profession of 
teaching, entered the office of Hon. A. W. 
Taylor, of Indiana, as a law student, and after 
completing the required course of reading was 
admitteil, in June, 1882, to the Indiana county 
bar. Immediately atler admission he opened a 
law-office and has been steadily engaged since 
in building up the present lucrative practice 
which he enjoys. 

October 28, 1886, he united in marriage with 
May Tucker, daughter of George Tucker, of 
South Mahoning towuship. To their union has 
been born one cliild, a daughter, named Martha 
Thompson Stuchul, born Nov. 30, 1887. 

In politics Mr. Stuchul is a republican. He 
has always bi^n interested iu the material ad- - 
vancement of the county as well as the pros- 
perity of his borough and served for five years 
as secretary of the Indiana couuty Agricultural 



society, which was organized Jauuary 3, 1855. 
i He is a member and elder of the United 
Presbyterian church and gives his attention 
principally to the practice of his profession. 
He is diligent and unceasing in working up his 
cases, careful in their presentation and leaves 
nothing undone to carry them to a successful 



rrilOMAS SUTTON. Although young iu 
J- years and unassuming in manner, Thomas 
Sutton lias attained to honorable standing and 
successful practice at the Indiana bar and is 
identified with several of the most important 
business enterprises of the county. He is a son 
of John and Mary Agnes ( Walker) Sutton and was 
born at Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
May 3, 1854. One hundred years ago Peter 
and Phebe Sutton, the great-grandparents of 
Thomas Sutton, left the strong Presbyterian 
settlement of Baskiu Ridge, New Jersey, and 
came to the vicinity of Newport on Black-Lick, 
this county. Some time between 1790 and 1806 
Peter Sutton became one of the pioneer settlers 
of' Indiana borough, and in the latter named 
year had a log hotel on the site of Wilson's 
mei'cantile house, on Philadelphia street. His 
son, Thomas Sutton (grandfather), married Re- 
becca Loughry and was engaged for many years 
in the mercantile business at Indiana. He was 
a prominent man iu the early history of the 
county. He was twice appointed as sheriff and 
served as such from 1809 to 1812 and from 
1815 to 1818. He died in 1833, aged forty-nine. 
One of his sons was John Sutton (fathei), who 
was born May 20, 1814, at Indiana, where he 
died June 9, 1877, aged sixty-three years. Iu 
1847 he married Mary Agnes Walker, a native 
of Cannonsburg, Pa. She is a member of the 
Presbyterian church, resides at Indiana and is 
now in the sixty-fourth year of her age. John 
Sutton was one of the most prominent and suc- 
cesssful business men and earnest and faithful 



160 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Christian workers that ever lived in Indiana 
county. For over forty years he was successful- 
ly engaged in the general mercantile business and 
in dealing in real estate. He was president, for 
several years before his death, of the First 
National Bank and was a partner in the firm of 
McCartney & Sutton, whicii operated the straw- 
board-mill dui-ing his life-time. He and Judge 
Harry White were prominent among the 
founders of the State Normal school at Indiana, 
as well as being the largest contributors towards 
its establishment and support. He was also 
president of the board of trustees of that school 
from its organization until his death. He was 
a democrat in politics, but during the war he 
voted the National republican ticket and the 
State democratic ticket. He was a member and 
elder of the Indiana Presbyterian church, in 
which he was an active and zealous worker. 
For over a quarter of a century he was the es- 
teemed and honored superintendent of the Pres- 
byterian Sunday-school, in whose interests he 
labored faithfully. Tlie part of his life most 
satisfactory to himself was that which was pass- 
ed in the service of the cluirch and the Sunday- 
school. He was a man of unbounded charity, 
and his memory will be long held in grateful 
remembrance by the many poor whom he kindly 
and cheerfully assisted. His neighbors knew 
him to be a man who lived to serve the cause 
of religion, advance the educational interests of 
his town and to be useful to his fellow-mdu. In 
his life he demonstrated how a man may grow 
in business and yet keep his heart pure and his 
life unspotted from the world. 

Thomas Sutton was reared at Indiana, where 
he received his early education in the public 
schools of that place. In 1870 he entered 
Princeton college, took the full three years' 
course and was graduated from that well-knowu 
institution of learning in the class of 1873. 
After graduation he returned home, read law 
with Judge John P. Blair and was admitted to 
the Indiana county bar atthespring term of 1876. 



In the fall of the centennial year he entered Col- 
umbia Law school, of New York city, to pursue 
a special coui-se of studies, but after remaining 
one year was called home on account of his 
father's last sickness. Sliortly after his father's 
death he entered upon the practice of his pro- 
fession, which he has followed ever since. He 
makes a specialty of land titles, collections and 
settling estates, in which line of practice he has 
been very successful. He takes a deep interest 
iu the material development and progress of the 
county. In 1878 he became a member of the 
Chill Car Wheel Manufacturing company, which 
changed its firm-name in 1885 to the present 
one of Sutton Bros. & Bell (see sketch of Hugh 
M.Bell). He and his brother, John W., own the 
strawboard-mill under the firm-name of John W. 
Sutton & Bro. In addition to his manufactur- 
ing interests he is owner ofone of the most beauti- 
ful residences of Indiana, has a large, well- 
improved farm in White township and possesses 
some very valuable property wiiich is centrally 
located in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. He 
is a member and secretary of the Indiana 
Chemical company, organized in 1887. Their 
works are on the Indiana Branch R. R., where 
they employ fifteen men and manufacture wood 
alcohol, acetate of lime and charcoal in large 
quantities. He is a stock-holder in the First 
National bank, of which he was president from 
1886 to 1887, director from 1881 to 1887, and 
served as attorney from 1884 to 1888. He is a 
republican in politics, has served as a member 
of the town council and was borough auditor. 

On October 22, 1878, he united in marriage 
with Ella P. Hildebrand, the handsome and ac- 
complished daughter of Edward P. Hildebrand, 
of Indiana. Their union has been blest with 
two children : Edward H. and John S. 

In religious matters Thomas Sutton follows 
in the footsteps of his father and is a member 
and active worker of the Presbyterian church 
and Sunday-school. He served as ruling elder 
in the church from 1879 to 1890. From 1878 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



161 



to 1882 he was treasurer of the Indiana Normal 
school, and since then has served as secretary of 
its board of trustees. He is a warm supporter 
of that institution and labors earnestly for its 
advancement. He is a well-read and successful 
lawyer. As a speaker he is concise and clear, 
and is distinguished for precision in statement 
and close connection in argument. 



REV. DANIEL W. SWIGART, the faith- 
ful pastor of the Indiana Baptist church, 
has served efficiently for twenty years in the 
ministry, and during that time has had charge 
of nine churches in his different fields of labor. 
He was born three miles west of Kittanning, 
Armstrong county, Penn.sylvania", June 28, 
1838, aud is a .son of Johu and Sarah (Bowser) 
Swigart. His paternal grandfather was of 
German extraction and a native of eastern 
Pennsylvania. He afterwards became a well- 
to-do farmer of Bedford county, in which he 
dietl. His son, John Swigart (father), removed 
in 1812 to near Kittanning, where he followed 
his trade of stone mason and brick-layer and 
helped to build the Eagle hotel and other of 
the first brick houses at Kittanning. He after- 
wards engaged in farming. He was a member 
of the Dunkard church and a life-loug demo- 
crat, having voted the Democratic ticket for 
fifty-four years. He died in 1878, aged seven- 
ty-six years. He married Sarah Bowser, who 
was born in 1800 and died in 1877. She was 
also a member of the Dunkard church and 
sleeps beside her husband in a cemetery five 
miles northwest of Kittanning. 

Daniel W. Swigart received his education in 
the common .schools of Armstrong county and 
Reidsburg academy of Clarion county, Pa., 
from which in.stitution he was graduate<l in 
1872. Sub.sequent to his graduation and also 
after his ordination, he took a three years' course 
in theology with a well qualified private tutor, 
the venerable Rev. William Shadrach, D.D., 



who made his home with him for three years. 
In 1870 he was ordained pastor of the Mt. 
Plea.sant Baptist church in Clarion county, Pa., 
of which he had been a licentiate for one year 
previous to his ordination. He remained as 
pastor of that churcii for seven years, also had 
charge of the Strattonville church and organ- 
ized, in 1876, the Clarion church, of which he 
^was pastor for two years. In 1879 he went to 
Greenville, Mercer county, this State, where he 
assumed charge of the West Salem church, 
whlcli he served acceptably for two years. At 
the end of that time he removed to Saltsburg, 
Indiana county, and served Saltsburg, Loyal- 
hanna and Keiley's station Baptist churches for 
four years. In 1885 he came to Indiana, where 
he became pastor of the Indiana ciiurch and 
retained charge of Loyalhanna and Keiley's 
station churches until 1886, when he assumed 
charge of the Blairsville church, whicli lie had 
organized in that year (1886). During 1887 
and 1888 he was assisted in his ministerial 
labors by Rev. Wm. Shadrach, D.D. By this 
valuable assistance they conjointly gave one- 
half time to the tiiree churches : Indiana, 
Blairsville and Saltsburg. Under his pastoral 
care the membership of the Indiana ciiurch has 
increased to one hundred and tliirty-five, and 
Blairsville, with only twelve members in 1886, 
now numbers fifty-five. 

On July 4, 1861, he enlisted in Co. D, 62d 
regiment Pa. Vols., was successively promoted 
to corporal, sergeant and first sergeant, partici- 
pated in twenty battles and skirmishes and was 
honorably disciiarged July 13th, 1864. He is 
a member and chaplain of both Indiana Post, 
No. 28, G. A. R., and encampment No. 11, 
U. V. L. 

In 1860 he married Margaret J. Starr, who 
was a daughter of Jacob Starr, of Armstrong 
county, and died in 1868, leaving five children : 
Ella J., John J., Emma M., Frank H. and 
ISIaggie I. On April 7th, 1870, Rev. Swigart 
united in marriage with Emily Stoughtou, 



162 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



daughter of Rev. Samuel Stoughton, of Butler 
county, this State. To this second union have 
been born five children : Eva M., Samuel S., 
Elvira, Emerson 0., and an unnamed son which 
died in infancy. 

He is an earnest, able and fearless minister in 
denouncing whaf is wrong both in public and 
private life, and in his circular-letter, written 
for the Indiana Baptist Association, in 1889, 
on the church and her relation to the world, 
he eloquently summed up his views on that 
subject in the following beautiful pei-oration : 

" We must have more of the Christ-like 
spirit in our homes, and true friendship in the 
common walks of life. As the church contin- 
ues to rise upon the plain of spiritual develop- 
ment and moral purity, in the same ratio the 
world will become Christianized and the sanc- 
tified knowledge of God will run to and fro and 
cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." 



DAVID BLAIR TAYLOR, one of the 
prominent, able and progressive members 
of the Indiana bar, and a man who commands 
the confidence of the people and the respect of 
the legal fraternity, is a son of Dr. James M. 
and Margaret (Blair) Taylor, and was born at 
Indiana, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Sep- 
tember 14, 1853. The Taylors are of Scotch- 
Irish descent and the American branch of the 
family was founded by John Taylor, whose 
ancestors emigrated from England to Scotland 
during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. 
John Taylor came from Scotland to near Phila- 
delphia, where he lived to see his hundredth 
birthday. He was a strict presbyterian, and 
his son, Alexander Taylor (great-grandfather), 
was born in 1756 and removed to Bedford 
county. Pa., where he remained some time and 
then (prior to 1790) purchased a farm four 
miles south of Indiana, on which he died 
March 8, 1815. He served in the Revolution- 
ary war, in which struggle one of his brothers 



was killed at the massacre of Paoli, and an- 
other, Lieut. Matthew Taylor, fell in the battle 
of Long Island. He was married twice. His 
first wife was Mary McKesson and the second 
Margaret McFadden. He had five children : 
Robt., Hon. John, William, Alexander, Jr., 
who founded the first democratic paper in the 
county, and Hon. James, who was sheriff of 
the county and served as a member of the Gen- 
eral Assembly. Hon. John Taylor (grand- 
father) was born in Indiana county in 1790 and 
died in October, 1846, aged fifty-six years. He 
was a man of fine personal appearance. He 
served as county treasurer, deputy-surveyor, 
prothonotary, member of the legislature, associ- 
ate judge and surveyor-general of Pennsylvania. 
He was a democrat until the formation of the 
Anti-masonic party, when he united with the 
whigs. He was a man of ability and great 
usefulness. In 1813 he married Mar}' Wilson, 
by whom he had four children : Hon. A. Wil- 
son, who was born March 22, 1815, graduated 
at Jefferson college, became a republican, served 
in the legislature in 1859 and 1860 and in 1872 
represented Indiana, Westmoreland and 
Fayette counties in the forty-third Congress ; 
Caroline (deceased); Dr. James M. and Wash- 
ington (dead). Dr. James Madison Taylor 
(father) was born and roared at Indiana. Leav- 
ing school, he read medicine and attended 
Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, 
from which celebrated institution he was 
graduated. A tier graduation he returned to 
Indiana, where he practiced for several years 
and then removed to Kittanning, Armstrong 
county, this State, where he was in active and 
successfid practice for about eighteen years. 
He returned to Indiana in 1875, has retired 
from active practice and is now in the seventy- 
second year of his age. He is a member of 
the United Presbyterian church, a republican 
in politics and has served his borough as 
.school director. Prominent as a physician and 
u.seful as a citizen, he commands the respect 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



163 



of all who know him. He married Margaret 
Blair, who is a member of the U. P. church. 

David Blair Taylor was reared for several 
years at Indiana. He attended Washington 
and Jefferson college, from which institution of 
learning he was graduated in the class of 1875. 
He then read law with his uncle, Hon. A. W. 
Taylor, of Indiana,, was admitted to the bar of 
Indiana county in 1878 and ever since then, 
excepting two years, has been in the active 
practice of his profession. In the spring of 
1890 he formed a law partnership with S. M. 
Jack, under the firra-name of Jack & Taylor. 
This firm is rapidly becoming one of the lead- 
ing and best known in the county aud is mak- 
ing a successful record in the civil and criminal 
courts. 

D. B. Taylor married Annie M., daughter of 
ex -Sheriff J. Daugherty. She died on Decem- 
ber 16, 1882, leaving one child, a son, named 
James. In 1887, Mr. Taylor united in mar- 
riage with Annie McFadden, daughter of Dr. 
James McFadden, who was formerly of Alle- 
gheny county, Pa. To this second union has 
been born one child, which is a son and named 
Blair. 

In politics David Blair Taylor is a republi- 
can and at present is serving his borough as 
school director. From 1882 till 1884 he was 
a resident of St. Paul, Minnesota, where he 
was assistant attorney of the C, St. P. & M. & 
O. R. R., whose chief attorney was John C. 
Spoouer, now United States Senator from Wis- 
consin. Since his admission to the bar Mr. 
Taylor has conducted the practice of the law 
with assiduity, faithfulness and constantly in- 
creasing success. In the study of his cases he 
examines closely every fact that can possibly af- 
fect his client either favorably or unfavorably, 
and before a jury he carefully lays down the 
law and the evidence upon which he makes his 
plea. In addition to being an excellent crimi- 
nal lawyer he is well-known as an able and 
safe counselor. 



STEPHEN J. TELFORD, a member of the 
well-known and prominent law firm of 
Watson & Telford and an able lawyer in suc- 
cessful practice for the last ten years at the Indiana 
county bar, was born in South Mahoning town- 
ship, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, December 
24, 1853, and is a son of Rev. John C and 
Martha (Oram) Telford. Rev. John C. Telford, 
D.D., was born at East Greenwich, Washington 
county, New York, August 7, 1821, and is a 
son of Stephen and Mary (Cree) Telford. He 
was graduated from Cambridge academy, in his 
native county, in 1843, and then entered the 
junior class of Jefferson college at Cannonsburg, 
Pa., from which institution he was graduated in 
the class of 1844. He then pursued his minis- 
terial studies at the Associate Theological school 
of Cannonsburg, from which he was graduated in 
1848. He came to South Mahoning town.ship 
in 1846, was licensed to preach on June 20, 1848, 
and was ordained as minister of Mahoning 
United Presbyterian church January 1, 1850. 
In the same year he was installed as pa.stor of 
Beracha and Lumber City churches, the former 
at Plumville and the latter forty miles distant 
in Clearfield county, which in a few years he 
resigned. From 1850 to 1867 he remained in 
charge of Mahoning and Beracha churches. In 
1867 he removed to West Lebanon and his 
charge embraced Olivet and West Union 
churches, which he served for ten years. Since 
then he has devoted his entire time to West Un- 
ion church. For forty years he has been one of 
the most effective ministers as well as hardest 
workers in the U. P. church and had the degree 
of Doctor of Divinity conferred on him in 1888 
for valued .services, by Westminster college. In 
1850 he married Martha Oram, who is a native of 
Cannon.sburg^and was born in 1828. They roared 
a family of two .sons and three daugliters. 
Doctor Telford is one of the prominent and 
foremost divines of his church in this State, 
which contains many men eminent for piety, 
learning and ability. 



164 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Stephen J. Telford was reared in his native 
township, where he received his early education 
in the common schools. He completed his ed- 
ucation at Westminster college and then spent 
one year at Allegheny Theological seminary. 
Leaving school, he engaged in teaching, which 
he followed for three years in the common 
schools and then was principal for two years of 
Purchase Line academy. From the field of 
teaching he turned his attention to the science of 
jurisprudence. He passed the preliminary ex- 
amination in 1878, pursued his legal studies 
with Hon. George W. Hood and was admitted 
to the Indiana county bar on March 15, 1880. 
He then located at Blairsville, where he practiced 
law until 1885. In that year he removed to 
Indiana and formed a law partnership with M. 
C. Watson (see his sketch), under the present 
firm-name of Watson & Telford. This firm is 
one of the leading and influential ones at the 
Indiana bar. In 1882, Mr. Telford united in 
marriage with Mabel White, daughter of Col. 
Richard White, of Indiana. 

Stephen J. Telford is a republican in politics 
and a member of the Indiana United Presbyter- 
ian church. As a lawyer he acquaints himself 
witl) every detail of his case and makes due 
preparation to defend its weak points as well as 
to advance its strong ones. He is faithful to 
everj' interest intrusted to his care, is straight- 
forward in business and true to all of his 
engagements. 



SYLVESTER C. THOMPSON, ex-deputy 
revenue collector of the Twenty-third dis- 
trict of Pennsylvania and a member of the relia- 
ble and successful firm of McGaughey & Thomp- 
son, real estate brokers of Indiana, is a son of 
Robert and Mary (Leasure) Thompson and was 
born in Rayne township, Indiana county, Penn- 
sylvania, Oct. 14, 1840. One hundred years 
ago his paternal grandfather, Hugh Thompson, 
left county Londonderry, Ireland, and came to 



Westmoreland county, but subsequently re- 
moved in 1793 to Rayne township, where he 
followed farming till his death, in 1829, at sixty- 
five years of age. His wife was Martha 
Thomson, of Scotch descent. Of his sons, 
one was Robert Thompson ( father ), who was 
born on the homestead farm December 13, 
1801, and departed this life on the same farm, 
January 10, 1879. He was an extensive 
farmer and stock-raiser, a stirring and energetic 
man and a member and elder of Gilgal church, 
which is the oldest Presbyterian church in the 
county. He was an old time Democrat, filled 
several township offices and married Mary Lea- 
sure, who was born February 29, 1804, and 
passed away January 23, 1870, at sixty-six 
years of age. She was a Presbyterian and a 
daughter of John Leasure, who was a sou of 
John Leasure, Sr., an early settler of Sewickly 
township, Westmoreland county, Pa. John 
Leasure was an Indian scout along Crooked run 
to protect the white settlers, and served as a sol- 
dier in the war of 1812. In 1796 he married 
Jane Culbertson, came to Armstrong township 
and in 1 809 removed to East Mahoning township, 
where he purchased several farms with the pro- 
ceeds of wolf scalps, for which he received as 
high as twenty-four dollars each. He was a 
great hunter, made his own traps and was 
known as the " Old Wolf Trapper." His wife 
died in 1838, at sixty-five years of age, and he 
followed to the tomb in 1844, when in the 
eighty-second year of his age. A part of his 
pine lands are selling to-day at from one hun- 
dred and fifty to two hundred dollars per acre. 
Sylvester C. Thompson received his education 
in the common schools and graduated from the 
Quaker City commercial school in 1866. After 
the late war broke out he left the farm, and in 
August, 1862, enlisted for nine months in Co. I, 
135th regiment. Pa. Vols. At the expiration of 
his time he returned home and in February, 1864, 
he re-enlisted in the Union Army. He became 
a member of Co. E, 4th Pa. Cavalry, partici- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



165 



pated in all the battles of his regiment, and was 
honorably discharged at I^ynchburg, Va., 
August 1, 1865. While in the service he was pro- 
moted to second sergeant. From 1865 to 1885 
he was engaged in farming, except six winters 
which he spent in teaching school. In 1885 Pre- 
sident Cleveland appointed him as surveyor of 
Western Pennsylvania and revenue collector for 
the Twenty-third District, com postil of the coun- 
ties of Armstrong, Beaver, Butler and Indiana, 
whicii positions he held until November 1, 
1889. In February, 1890, he Ijecarae a real 
estate broker. His office is in the Cunningham 
building, and he is among the leading real estate 
dealers of the county. He possesses good ad- 
vantages and can offer the best inducements to 
investors in town or country property. In ad- 
dition to the flourishing business which he is 
engaged in at Indiana, he lias to give a portion 
of his time to the personal management and 
supervision of the Thompson homestead farm 
of two hundred and twenty-five acres of choice 
land in Rayne township, whicii he owns. 
Some fifty acres of this land is heavily timbered. 
He is a pronounced democrat, was census enum- 
erator of Rayne township in 1880, and as 
deputy revenue collector was highly spoken of 
for both business ability and efficiency. He is 
a member of tlie Presbyterian church, Indiana 
Post, No. 28, Grand Army of the Republic and 
the Patrons of Husbandry. 

October 14, 1867, he married Mrs. Eva 
G. Allison, daughter of Abner Griffith, of East 
Mahoning township. Tiiey are the parents of 
two children : Guy C. and Ruecetta. Mrs. 
Thompson edits the Indiana News. She is a 
graduate of Steubenvilie seminary. In 1880 
she filled the position of assistant county superin- 
tendent of common schools and as a teacher was 
higliiy spoken of for both ability and efficiency, 
and is the leader of the Woman's Christian 
Temperance Union of her county. 



"DOBERT THOMPSON. Amongst the 
-^*' early settlers in the northern part of 
Indiana county was Robert Thompson, who 
was born in Londonderry, Ireland, in 1737, 
and came to America in 1778, with his wife, 
Mary, nee Cannon, and six children : Hugh, 
Martha, James, John, Margaretta and Eliza- 
beth. After a few years' residence in the vi- 
cinity of 'Old Salem' Presbyterian church, 
Westmoreland county, Pa., tiiey, in 1795, re- 
moved to what is now Rayne township, Indiana 
county, on Thompson's run, nearly two miles 
above where Kellysburg now is. Their son 
Hugh and his young wife, Martha, nee Thomp- 
son, had attempted to settle there alone in 1793, 
but Indian hostilities compelled them to return 
to their former abode south of the Conemaugh 
river. Their permanent settlement in 1795 
was made comparatively safe after General 
Wayne's defeat of tiie Indians in August, 
1794. Robert Thompson was known as a man 
of noble character and sterling worth, and his 
wife as a most estimable woman. We learn 
from an interesting book entitled, ' History of 
the Presbytery of Kittanuing,' that they, with 
their son Hugh, and sou-in-law, Hugh Cannon, 
were amongst the founders of Gilgal Presby- 
terian Congregation, about four miles from 
their home. We quote from page 196 of that 
book as follows : 

" ' Gilgal, a mother of churches, traces her origin 
to an improvement in 1797 by Robert Thompson, 
Hugh Thompson and Hugh Cannon, from West- 
moreland county, who were soon followed by other 
Presbyterians, etc' 

" To Mrs. Thompson belongs the honor of 
giving to that organization its name, Gilgal. 
In physical, mental and moral qualities, and by 
their wholesome influence, these people were of 
those living at that early period, who builded 
well and better than they knew in the great 
structures of state, church and social life that 
we now enjoy nearly one hundred years later. 
It is related of this old patriarch, Robert 



166 



BIOGRAPBIES OF 



Thompson, and his family, that on the evening 
of the day in which they arrived upon tlieir 
land in Rayne township, he, without even a 
cabin for shelter, conducted family worship, 
seated with older members of the family 
upon fallen timber in the woods, and the 
younger children in their arras. His farm was 
selected from the northern portion of this tract 
of land, and after his death, Oct. 13, 1809, and 
the death of his wife, Jan. 25, 1815, it was oc- 
cupied by his son, James, and his daughter, 
Margaretta, neither of whom ever married. 
James died Feb. 13, 1849, and Margaretta was 
burned to death Feb. 23, 1864. Of his other 
children, Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, who 
married Henry Van Horn in 1815, resided in 
East Mahoning township, where she died Feb. 
13, 1858. Her children were Mary C, Dorcas 
L., James T., Tabitha L., Robert T., Isaiah V. 
and Harry A. John, the youngest son, who 
married Mary McCluskey in 1810, settled and 
lived upon a farm west of his father until his 
death, Mar. 27, 1859. His family were Mary 
Jane, Matilda, Eliza A., Robert and Marga- 
retta. Martha, the eldest daughter, resided 
with her husband, Hugh Cannon, upon a farm 
which was the southern portion of the original 
tract settled upon in 1795. She died Sept. 5, 
1848, and was the mother of seven sons aud 
one daughter : William, Robert, John, Fergus, 
James, Joseph, Hugh M. and Mary T. Hugh, 
the eldest son, continued his residence ou the 
middle portion of the same tract (where he per- 
manently settled in 1795), until his death, 
June 13, 1829. Robert Thompson, his wife 
and above-named six sous and daughters, lived 
beyond 'three-score and ten,' except Hugh, 
who died in his 63d year, and their last resting- 
place is in the cemetery near Gilgal church, 
where they all worshiped. Hugh Thompson 
was an intelligent, large-hearted citizen, whose 
life was that of exemplary manhood. His wife 
was of Scotch descent, although born in Ire- 
land — the fifth child of James and Mary Thom- 



son, who, in 1793, emigrated from Westmore- 
land county. Pa., to Nicholas county, Kentucky. 
She was a ' born lady,' gentle, wise aud practi- 
cal; in personal bearing attractive and im- 
pressive. 

" The family of Hugh aud Martha Thomp- 
son were two daughtei's and seven sons: Mary, 
born Oct. 10, 1792, married John Fenton, died 
Oct. 5, 1829; Jane C, born July 26, 1794, 
married John B. Henderson, and died Ma)' 1, 
1837; Joseph, born Jan. 12, 1797, married 
Euphemia Moorhead, was at one time associ- 

, ate judge of this connty, and died Oct. 27, 

I 1882; James, born July 24, 1799, married 
Ann Ayers, died May 9, 1837, whilst in Phil- 
adelphia buying a stock of merchandise ; Rob- 
ert, born Dec. 13, 1801, married Mary Lea- 
sure, died Jan. 10, 1879; John, born June 1, 

' 1804, married Ellen J. Patton, was a well- 
known and prominent citizen of Ebensburg, 
Pa., where he died Dec. 5, 1879 ; William C, 
born April 2, 1807, married Harriet Furgeson, 
near Mansfield, Ohio, and afterwards moved to 
Steuben county, Indiana, where he died May 
31, 1890; Hugh A., born April 1, 1810, mar- 
ried Elizabeth Munholland, was for two terms 
prothonotary of Clarion county. Pa., afterwards 

I clerk in State department under ex-Governor 
Curtin, more recently cashier of First National 
bank, Indiana, Pa., and died April 23, 1886 ; 
Samuel H., born March 5, 1814, married Flora 
A. Stewart, April 12, 1838. 

" Major Samuel H. Thompson, the young- 
est in the above family, began business life as a 
merchant, but on account of the great financial 
crisis of that period he afterwards engaged in 
farming. The farm on which he first lived 
nearly twenty-four years was bought by John- 
ston Lightcap in 1861, and in 1862 he moved 
upon a larger farm above Kellysburg, on 

I Thompson's run, which he had purchased from 
Daniel Stanard, Esq. His death occurred 
there August 15, 1865, and the death of his 
wife May 11, 1869. His sons, T. St. Clair and 



mnUNA COUNTY. 



167 



Wm. Laird, now own and occupy the southern | 
portion of this farm. Major Thompson was a ; 
man of clear conception, strong moral courage, 
sound judgment and generous disposition. So- 
cially, he was agreeable, humorous and witty; 
firm in his opinions, yet tolerant and liberal ; 
always found on the moral and progressi%'e side 
of public issues, as well as fearless and consist- 
ent in the expression and practice of his con- 
victions. These characteristics, with his mental 
ability and readiness, enabled him to be equal 
to any occasi(>n in the discussion of all public 
questions, in which he was always well and 
thoroughly informed. In determining upon 
public men and measures he 'hewed close to 
the line,' and when quite a young man became 
an intense hater of the institution of human 
chattel slavery, despised the position of the 
North as errand-boy and lick-spittle for the 
South in that agitation, cut loose from the polit- 
ical associations of family and friends and took 
a forward part in the Anti-Slavery movement 
of that period, when the principal arguments 
used against such men by the dominant political 
parties were social ostracism, epithets, slander, 
rotten eggs, mob law, the destruction of their 
printing-presses and the occasional killing of 
an editor to make proceedings more effective. 
He was secretary of about the first Indiana 
county anti-slavery organization ; afterward its 
nominee for prothonotary when their strength 
was less than one hundred votes in the county, ' 
and was also connected with the underground 
railroad system. To use one of iiis own ex- 
pressions on the subject, he 'denied the right of 
any man to own, hold in bondage or dispose of 
human beings as chattels unless a bill of sale 
was first produced from Almighty God, properly 
executed and signed.' His son, Hugii S., re- 
members that when quite a small lad a squad 
of escaping slaves, two of them raotiiers with 
babes in their arms, called at his father's one 
morning for food and directions about the roads; 
some days later two grim-looking strangers on 



horseback, with large whips in their hands, 
passed where he was at play on the road-side 
and inquired 'if any black people had gone 
along there lately.' Not understanding the 
matter, and not knowing that the men were 
slave hunters, he very innocently told them all 
about it, right along. But it was the only and 
last 'pointer' he ever gave men and women- 
stealers, for upon telling his father of the affair 
at dinner that day he received some instructive 
reproof and an ex])lauatory admonition tliat en- 
lightened him considerably. 

"The subject of this part of our sketch was 
also qiute active in educational affairs, serving 
as director when the school system had its early 
trials, and was one of the original board of 
managers of the Marion select .school, which 
has been a successful institution during the last 
one-third of a century. At the time of his 
death he was one of this county's auditors, 
elected on the republican ticket. He will be 
remembered, too, as one of the founders of 
Smyrna United Presbyterian Congregation, 
near Georgeville, and one of its ruling elders 
for over twenty years. His family were eight 
sons and one daughter: Hugh S., J. Stewart, 
Archie S., J. Wilson, F. St. Clair, Reynolds E., 
Robt. Alexander, Elizabeth H., now living 
with her husband. Dr. G. W. Simpson in Santa 
Barbara, Cal., and Wra. Laird Reynolds died 
March 29, 1877. Four of these sons — all of 
the family old enough and physically able — 
were volunteer soldiers during the late war, 
Stewart, Archie, Wilson and St. Clair, the last- 
named being one of the youngest from this 
county, and with his regiment amougst the 
first to enter Richmond. Archie and WiKSON 
were in important and perilous positions in U. 
S. Signal Service, where they occasionally met 
with Gen. Grant and other army officers; and 
after being discharged in .\ugust, 1865, they ar- 
rived home only a few hours before their father's 
death, when the dying ]jatriot was only able 
to give utterance to one of his last expressions, 



168 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



in clear accents of thankfulness, 'My country 
has been saved. My boys are home.' 

"His wife was the daughter of John Stewart, 
an old time merchant. Many are yet living 
who remember this excellent woman's wisdom 
and kindness, the richness of her womanly 
worth, her remarkable correctness in judgment 
of human nature and the practical affairs of life, 
and the unsurpassed degree of her faith in God 
and His promises. She, with her husband and 
son Reynolds, lie in Oakland cemetery, Indiana, 
Pennsylvania." 



HON. JAMES TODD. Every county de- 
pends for much of its progress, as well as 
prosperity, upon its intelligent, patriotic and- 
energetic business men. Indiana county, ever 
since its organization in 1803, has had able and 
experienced business men to fill her offices of 
trust and responsibility. Among those of this 
class who was faithful to every trust reposed in 
him was Hon. James Todd, an honored citizen 
of Indiana and a prominent man in the political 
history of Indiana county. He was born in 
Belfast, Ireland, in 1788, and died at Indiana, 
this county, in 1872, at the ripe old age of 
eighty -four years. In 1789 he came to this 
country with his parents, and they made their 
home in Chambersburg, Franklin county, 
for some years. They afterwards removed to 
Westmoreland county, where he was reared on 
a farm, endured all the privations of frontier 
life and received the limited education of that 
day. 

In 1815 James Todd removed to this county, 
and was engaged in farming until 1844, when 
he came to Indiana, where he engaged in the 
mercantile business, which he followed success- 
fully as long as he lived. He was a whig and 
afterwards a republican, and took an active part 
in political matters. He served as county com- 
missioner in 1828, and as county treasurer in 
1833 and in 1834. In 1837 he was elected as a 



member of the Pennsylvania Constitutional con- 
vention of 1838, and served very creditably in 
that distinguished body. 

He married Elizabeth MahalTey, 1808, who 
died in 1842, aged fifty-five years, and two 
years later he married for his second wife Mrs. 
Lavina (Woodward) Johnson, who died in 1857, 
aged fifty-one years. He had ten children, four 
sons and six daughters, nine of whom grew to 
man and womanhood, and their descendants are 
widely scattered over different parts of the 
country. 

Hon. James Todd was a self-made man. He 
was kind to the poor and liberal to the churches 
and all worthy objects. He was a member and 
ruling elder of the Presbyterian church, as 
were both of his wives, and he now sleeps by 
their side in Oakland cemetery. One of his 
children is Mrs. M. T. Landis, widow of Dr. S. 
S. Landis, and now resident of Indiana. 



D HARRISON TOMB, one of the young 
• and successful members of the Indian* 
bar, and one of the present auditors of the 
county, is a son of David and Angeline (Kil- 
len) Tomb, and was born in East Wheatfield 
township, Indiana county, Pa., May 23, 1857. 
The Tomb family is of Scotch-Irish descent, 
and the founder of the American branch of the 
family was David Tomb, the grandfather of 
the subject of this sketch. He was born and 
reared in county Antrim, Ireland, which he 
left in 1792 to settle on Black Lick creek, where 
he and his brother John patented a tract of over 
two thousand acres of land. He was a fiirmer 
and resided near Armagh, the oldest town now 
in the county, and which was named for Ar- 
magh in Ireland. Indians were still plenty at 
that time, and one of their grave-yards was on 
Mr. Tomb's farm. He was an exemplary 
member of the United Presbyterian church, and 
died in 1837, aged seventy-four years. One of 
his sons was David Tomb (father), who was 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



169 



boi'ii in East Wheatfield township, in 1809, and 
dietl October 2i, 1889. He was au extensive 
farmer and live-stock dealer, was a stanch 
democrat, and served as justice of the peace ftir 
four terms. He had held various other of his 
township ofBcas, was an acknowledged leader of 
his party and stood high in the estimation of all 
who knew him. He was a good scholar, a man 
of sound judgment and well informed on the 
current events of his day. At the time of his 
death he ownetl four hundred acres of land, of 
which two hundred was well-improved and the 
other half well-timbered and heavily underlaid 
with coal. He married Angeline Killen, a na- 
tive of East Wheatfield township, and a daugh- 
ter of James Killen, of Scotch-Irish descent, 
and whose parents came, about 1790, from the 
north of Ireland. Mrs. Tomb was born in 1 825, 
is a member of the Presbyterian church and 
resides on the home-farm with her son, D. V. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Tomb were born three sons 
and one daughter. 

D. H. Tomb was the eldest sou and was reared 
on the home farm. He received his elementary 
and academic education in the common schools 
and the State Normal school at Indiana, Pa., 
from which institution he was graduated in the 
class of 1878. He then entered the sophomore 
class of Washington and Jefferson college and 
attended that well-known educational institution 
for two years. Leaving college, he engaged in 
teaching, and was principal for some time of 
the Woodvale public schools, of Johnstown, Pa. 
In 1885 he commenced reading law with W. L. 
Stewart, Esq., was admitted to the Indiana 
county bar in October, 1887, and since then has 
been actively and successfully engaged in the 
practice of his chosen profession. In 1888 he 
was elected, on the democratic ticket, an auditor 
of Indiana county, which gave a large republican 
majority at that election. In 1889 he ran for 
district attorney; but, while leading his ticket, 
«yas unable to overcome the increased republi- 
can majority of that year. 



November 5, 1888, Mr. Tomb united in mar- 
riage with Maggie B. Rankin, daughter of 
William and Nancy Rankin, of Montgomery 
township. Mr. and Mrs. Tomb have one child, 
a son — David Rankin. 

D. H. Tomb has always labored earnestly and 
effectively in the interests of the democratic 
party. He is a member of the Indiana Presby- 
terian church. Mr. Tomb is a courteous and 
honorable gentleman, well-read in his profes- 
sion and active in its practice. He always gives 
the closest attention to the business of his clients 
and is meeting with good success. 



REV. ADAM F. TONER, a polished, cour- 
teous and cultured gentleman of fine edu- 
cation and good taste, and the present earnest, 
progressive and successful pastor of St. Ber- 
nard's Catholic church of Indiana, was born in 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Octol)er 24, 1856, and 
is a son of Clement and Barbara (Orth) Toner. 
His parents were natives of Prussia, where they 
were reared in the faith of the Catholic church, 
with which they united at an early age. In 
1845 they came to the United States and located 
in Pittsburgh, this State, where they resided for 
many years. Clement Toner is a roller by 
trade, and after some years of economical and 
honest labor in Pittsburgh secured means suffi- 
cient to purchase the well-improved farm which 
he owns in Hampton township, Allegheny 
county, Pa. He was one of the originators ot 
St. Mary's Catholic church at Sharpsburg, 
Allegheny county, of which he was an influen- 
tial and liberally contributing member for 
many years. He is now in the seventieth year 
of his age, and has retired from the pursuits of 
active life. For the last two years he has 
resided with his son, the subject of this sketch. 
His wife, Barbara (Orth) Toner, pa.ssed away 
from this earth on August 31, 1888, when in 
the sixty-sixth year of her age, and her remains 



170 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



are entombed in the cemetery of St. Mary's 
Catholic church, of which she was an active 
and devout member for many years. 

Adam F. Toner was reared in Pittsburgh, 
where he received his elementary and academic 
education. In 1873 he went to St. Vincent's 
abbey and college, near Latrobe, Westmoreland 
county, where he took a seven years' classical 
course. He then took a full philosophica,l and 
theological course at St. Vincent's and the 
Grand seminary of Montreal, Canada. On 
August 21, 1885, he was ordained to the priest- 
hood by Rt. Rev. Richard Phelan, D.D., being 
the first to be ordained by the newly consecrated 
bishop, at St. Vincent's abbey, and was ap- 
pointed as assistant pastor of St. Peter's church 
at McKeesport, Allegheny county. After two 
years' faithful and successful service there he 
was assigned to his present field of labor at 
Indiana. On August 31, 1887, he assumed 
charge of St. Bernard's Catholic church of 
Indiana and has remained its pastor ever since. 
The first Catholic families at Indiana came 
about 1814, and in 1845 the first Catholic 
church of that place was erected. It was a 
frame structure, costing about six hundred 
dollars and the congregation was served by 
priests from St. Vincent's, in Westmoreland 
county. Among the ministers who acted as 
missionary laborers to Indiana, was the sainted 
Rt. Rev. Boniface Wimmer, the founder of St. 
Vincent's abbey and the order of St. Benedict 
in North America. The present brick church 
of St. Bernard's was begun in 1869, and was 
dedicated on May 26, 1871. It is of the order 
of Gothic architecture and is in the form of a 
cross. It is 57x94 feet in dimensions, will seat 
six hundred people and cost twenty-two thousand 
dollars. When Rev. Toner came to the charge 
it included about sixty families, but under his 
labors it has increased to eighty-five families. 

The church was badly out of repair, but with 
his characteristic energy and perseverance he 
began a series of much-needed and valuable 



improvements which has placed St. Bernard's 
among the most beautiful, attractive and finely- 
furnished churches of western Pennsylvania. 
He has heated the church, the parsonage and all 
other buildings on the premises with steam, and 
secured natural gas for fuel in the heating 
boilers of the buildings ; he has had water put in 
every room of each building, and has had water- 
plugs placed at all necessary points. He has 
drained the grounds, put in sewerage and contrib- 
uted in many other ways to the healthfulness, 
the beauty and conveniences of St. Bernard's. 
All these improvements have been paid for and 
the charge is in a flourishing condition. He has 
been largely instrumental in organizing a 
literary society and in founding an extensive 
library, which has a reading-room attached for 
the young folks. A room is also provided 
where they can indulge in healthful and inno- 
cent games. A very fine orchestra has been 
organized from the congregation, and is known 
as St. Bernard's orchestra. 

Rev. Toner is laboring earnestly and success- 
fully for the intellectual education and culture, 
the moral growth and the spiritual welfare of 
his people, and commands the respect of all 
who know him. 



TAMES M. TORRENCE, M.D., a veterwu 
^ soldier of the 105th Pa. Vols, and a phy- 
sician in active practice at Indiana, was born at 
Punxsutawney, Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, 
December 6, 1845, and is a son of Judge James 
and Mary (Caldwell) Torrence. Hugh Tor- 
rence (paternal grandfather) was a native of Ire- 
land and was of Scotch-Irish descent. He 
came from Ireland to Pennsylvania and was one 
of the early settlers near Manor Station, West- 
moreland county, where he resided until his 
death. He was a presbyterian in religious 
belief. William Caldwell (maternal grandfa- 
ther) was of Irish descent and resided at Indiana, 
where he reared a large family and where he 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



171 



died. Judge James Torrence (father) was bora 
in Westmoreland county, learned the trade of 
tanning in Allegiieny city, and followed that 
business for twenty years. He came to Punxsu- 
tawney when a young man, and successfully 
operated a large tannery in the centre of the 
town until 1866, when he retired from active 
business except dealing in real estate. In 1859 
he was elected associate judge of that county, 
on the republican ticket and served for three 
years. He began life without any capital, and 
by close attention to business is now worth sixty 
or seventy thousand dollars, besides owning 
some real estate in his town. He is an active 
republican and a member of the Presbyterian 
church. He married Mary Caldwell, who was 
a native of Indiana and a member of the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church. She died in 1858, 
aged thirty-nine years. 

James M. Torrence was reared principally in 
his native town until he was twelve years of age, 
when he entered the Messenger printing-office at 
Indiana and served au apprenticeship of two 
and one-half years. Before he was sixteen 
years of age he enlisted in Co. K, 105th reg.. 
Pa. Vols., served as a company clerk for eight 
months and then entered the ranks. In 1863 
he re-enlisted and served until the close of the 
war. He was in all the battles of his regiment, 
was present at Lee's surrender and was wound- 
ed at Chancellorsville in the left hand and in 
the side of the head (June 17, 1864) in front of 
Petersburg. After the war he attended the 
Iron City Business college and fitted for college 
at Glade Run and Dayton academies. He 
entered Mt. Union college, which he left (1869), 
when in the senior class, to read medicine with 
his brother-in-law. Dr. J. W. Hughes, of Blairs- 
ville. Completing his course of reading, he 
entered Jefferson Medical college, from which he 
was graduated in the class of 1873. In the 
same year he located at Indiaua, where he has 
continued in the successful practice of his pro- 
fession ever since. 



In 1880 he married Ida, daughter of E. P. 
Hildebrand, a native of Berlin, Pa., and a man 
of high standing, who was twice prothonotary 
of the county and died while serving as justice 
of the peace, July 29, 1889, aged sixty-seven 
years. Dr. and Mrs. Torrence have three chil- 
dren ; Helen, James Monroe and Arthur 
Hildebrand. 

In politics Dr. Torrence is a republican. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian church and 
the Indiana County Medical society, and well 
sustains the reputation which he has earned as 
a courteous gentleman and a skillful physician. 



EDWARD G. VOGEL. In modern progress 
the trade of the tailor has advanced to the 
plane of a fine art. Among the leading mer- 
chant tailors in this section of the State is 
Edward G. Vogel, who is a graduated fashion- 
able and artistic cutter and a member of the 
firm of Vogel Bros., which was established in 
1839. He is a son of Paul and Helen (Laurent) 
Vogel, and was born at Indiana, Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania, December 20, 1863. Paul Vogel 
is a native of the kingdom of Bavaria, now a 
powerful State of the great German empire. 
He came in 1847 to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he 
remained for two years and then removed to 
Indiana, which he has made his home ever 
since. He learned the trade of tailor in the 
" Fatherland," and was engaged in the merchant 
tailoring busine.ss until within the last two years. 
He was born in 1827 and is a son of John and 
Maria Vogel, of Bavaria. In 1849 he founded 
the present merchant tailoring establishment of 
Vogel Brothers. His partners were his brothers 
George and Wolfgang. George Vogel died 
February 8, 1876, and Wolfgang Vogel retired 
from the firm in 1884. Their places in the 
firm were occupied by his sons. Paul Vogel is 
a strict Catholic, a stanch democrat and married 
Helen Laurent, daughter of Joseph and Barbara 



172 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



Laurent, of Butler county, this State. They 
have nine children, eight of whom are living: 
Frances, Ed. G., Celia M., Theo. A., Joseph A., 
John W., Laurent J. and Stella A. Mrs. Vogel 
is a devoted member of the Catholic church. 

Edward G. Vogel was reared at Indiana, 
where he received his education in the public and 
catholic schools of that place. Leaving school, 
he learned the trade of tailor with his father, 
after which he went to Pittsburgh, where he 
worked with some of the best tailors of that 
city; and in order to perfect himself in his chosen 
trade, he then attended a celebrated cutting 
school in New York city, from which he grad- 
uated. After perfecting merchant tailoring in 
its higher and fiuer branches he returned and 
assumed charge of his father's establishment. 
Under his management it soon acquired an en- 
viable reputation and a large increase of custom. 
Vogel Bros, are located on North 6 th street, oppo- 
site the court-house, employ the best workmen in 
the county and carry a large assortment of 
cloths, suitings, vestings and piece goods which 
are from English, French, German and domes- 
tic looms. Their goods are in the latest designs 
and patterns and are of the choicest products to 
be secured in either foreign or domestic mar- 
kets. The perfect accuracy with which gar- 
ments are cut and fitted and the artistic skill of 
finish are features of the establishment, which 
is noted for fitting clothes, stylish goods and ex- 
cellent workmanship. Mr. Vogel is a perfect 
genius in the art of cutting, a man of sound \ 
judgment, good taste and unquestionable skill 
and personally supervises every detail of the j 
several departments of his flourishing business. 
He is a democrat and a member of the Catholic 
church, in whose faith he was reared and by 
whose teachings he has been guided in life. 

Edward G. Vogel was married, on October 
16, 1888, to Kate D. Doberneck, daughter of 
Frank and Mary Doberneck, of Indiana. Mr. 
and Mrs. Vogel have one child, a son, named 
Paul Vogel, Jr., who was born July 14, 1889. 



MC. WATSON. One of the most active 
• public men of Indiana county, and at 
pre-sent a successful leading lawyer of western 
Pennsylvania, and now, though engrossed with 
the cares and business of a large law practice, 
having as deep an interest as any ludianian in 
the material development of the county, is M. 
C. Watson. Honored with some and refusing 
other offices within the gift of the people, 
he has been assiduously devoting himself for 
the past five years to his profession and indi- 
vidual business interests. He is a son of James 
and Mary (Pattison) Watson, and was born on 
Watson's ridge, in the southern part of Indiana 
county, Penn.sylvania, September 28, 1846. 
Matthew Watson (grandfather) was born in 
county Tyrone, in 1763, came to the United 
States about 1793 and located in what is now 
the northern part of Westmoreland county, Pa. 
In 1800 he located on the farm now owned by 
Dr. Thomas Mnrry in Conemaugh township 
and the ridge upon which this farm is located 
was called " Watson's Ridge " ill honor of him. 
He was a fitting representative of the hardy, 
moral and liberty-loving race from which he 
was descended, and was one of the honored and 
worthy pioneer settlers of western Pennsylvania, 
who have given character for all time to come 
to the great region which they reclaimed from 
the savages and wild bea.sts of the forest. In 
1855, when venerable with the snows of age, 
but remarkably active for one who had 
passed the ninety- second milestone on life's 
rugged pathway, he w;is unfortunate enough to 
have his hip dislocated, and failing to rally from 
the shock he passed away into the unknown 
world. Ere he left the green shores of his 
native country he married an Irish maiden, 
who died in this country shortly after his 
arrival. For his second wife he wedded Mar- 
garet McClelland, who was of Scotch-Irish 
descent, and a daughter of James McClelland, 
I who came about 1783, with his young wife, 
' from Scotland to Conemaugh township, where 




1 




^/ 



z^^;^^^^^^ 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



175 



his children were born and where he frequently 
fled to a neighboring block-house on account of 
Indian invasions. To Matthew and Margaret 
Watson were born twelve children: John, 
Thomas, Matthew, Jr., Mary, William, Alex- 
ander, Robert, James, Jane, Isabella, Ann and 
Margaret. Of the sons, James Watson (father) 
was born December 16, 1816, and died January 
10, 1886, when in the sixty-ninth year of his 
age. He was an extensive farmer and active 
business man. He ran a dairy, dealt in stock 
and operated the Ridge flouring-mill, which 
was one of the first steam flouriug-mills in the 
southern part of the county. When Morgan 
and his bold raiders, in 1863, threatened the 
western part of the State, he enlisted in Co. H, 
54th regiment. Pa. Militia, was promoted to 
commissary sergeant and was present at Mor- 
gan's capture. He was a member of the U. P. 
church, a prominent citizen of his community 
and a man of keen discernment and scrupulous 
honesty. His wife was Mary Pattison, by 
whom he had two sons and one daughter : 
Alexander P., of Callinsburg, Clarion county, 
Pa., who enlisted in Co. I, 67th regiment, Pa. 
Vols., and served three years, of which time 
four months was spent as a prisoner of war in 
southern prisons ; Belle J., wife of Rev. Hugh 
Boyd ; and M. C. Mrs. Mary Watson was born 
in Armstrong township, united with the U. P. 
church at an early age, and died February 9. 
1886, aged seventy years. She was a daughter 
of Gen. Alexander Pattison, who was born in 
this county and married Martha Scott, a 
native of Scotland. General Pattison was a 
son of John Pattison, who emigrated from the 
north of Ireland to this county soon after the 
termination of the Revolutionary war. 

M. C. Watson was reared in the rural dis- 
tricts, where his father resided, and received his 
education in the famous old Elder's Ridge 
academy, from which institution he was grad- 
uated in the class of 1872. Having made 
choice of law as a profession, he went to the 
H 



University of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he 
entered the law department and spent one year. 
He then (1873) came back to Indiana, where he 
read law for one year with Judge Harry White 
and was admitted to the Indiana county bar on 
March 7, 1874. Upon his admission he became 
a partner of Judge White and remained as such 
until 1885. In 1877 he was elected district 
attorney ; his services were such in that office as to 
.secure his re-nomination and re-election in 1880. 
During nearly three-quartere of a century Mr. 
Watson has been the .second iracumbent who 
has served, and the first who has ever been 
elected for a second term as district attorney of 
Indiana county. In 1886 the Republican party 
of the county, unasked and unsought for on his 
part, gave him the nomination for Congress, 
which he courteously but firmly declined in 
order to give his time fully to his law practice. 
Two years later he was sent as a delegate to the 
National Republican Convention of Chicago, 
which nominated Harrison. In 1885 he formed 
his present law partnership with S. J. Telford, 
and they have a large practice in both the civil 
and criminal courts of this and adjoining coun- 
ties. He is interested in the material develop- 
ment of the county, in the northeastern part of 
which he has large interests in coal and lumber. 
He is also a stockholder and president of the 
Indiana county Telephone company, and the 
Indiana county Gas company. He is a member 
of the Presbyterian church, Indiana ; Lodge 
No. 313, F. & A. M., and a Royal Arch 
Mason of Zerubbabel Chapter, No. 162. 

On December 13, 1877, he married Juliet 
White, daughter of Colonel Richard White, 
grand-daughter of Judge Tlioraas White, and 
niece to General Harry White. Their 
union has been blessed with tliree sons and 
three daughters : Richard W., jNIark H., C. 
Helen, Mary G., J. Herman and Anna M. 
Mrs. Watson's father. Col. Ricliard White, 
served as major in a three months' regiment in 
1861, and then became colonel of the 55th Pa. 



176 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



Vols., which he commanded until the close of 
the war. He died in fourteen days after arriv- 
ing home in April, 1865, from exposure during 
the war. 

M. C. Watson is suave of manner and cour- 
teous in bearing. He is persuasive and eloquent 
in addressing a jury, and generally successful in 
winning his cases. His speeches made in im- 
portant cases are marked by great strength of 
argument and force of reasoning, as well as 
distinguished by eloquent flights and beauty of 
language. 



JAMES M. WATT, the capable cashier of 
the Indiana county Deposit Bank and the 
reliable treasurer of the Indiana Normal school, 
is a son of Judge Isaac M. and Jane (McKin- 
nan) Watt and was born at Indiana, Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, December 30, 1847. 
The Watt and McKinnan families are both of 
Scotch-Irish descent and were settled at an 
early day respectively in Allegheny and Hun- 
tingdon counties. Hon. Isaac M. Watt was 
born and reared in Allegheny county, where he 
learned the trade of saddler. In early life he 
removed to Indiana, where he was engaged in 
the saddlery and harness-making business until 
1865, wlien he removed to Homer City and fol- 
lowed the mercantile business till his death, in 
1874, when in the sixty-sixth year of his age. 
Judge Watt was a man of prominence and use- 
fulness in the county and was honored with 
many offices of honor and trust by his fellow- 
citizens of Indiana county. He was justice of 
the peace for many years, served as county 
treasurer from 1836 to 1838, was register and 
recorder from 1839 to 1842 and during 1847, 
and was elected jury commissioner in 1861. 
In 1851 he was elected associate judge of 
Indiana county, which position he ably filled for 
ten years. He was a stanch republican and a 
member of the Presbyterian church. In 1834 
he married Jane Watt, who was born in Hun- 



tingdon county in 1815 and is a daughter of 
John and Mary (McCahan) McKinnan, who 
both died when she was five years of age. She 
is now in the seventy-sixth year of her age and 
resides at Homer City. 

James M. Watt wa-s reared at Indiana, where 
he received his education in the schools of that 
town. In 1865, to fully qualify himself for 
some business pursuit in life, he entered Duff's 
Commercial college of Pittsburgh, trora which he 
graduated during that year. From 1865 to 
1867 he was a clerk in the drug house of Nes- 
bit & Lewis, of Indiana. In 1867 he went to 
Pittsburgh, where he served for three years as a 
prescription clerk in a wholesale and retail drug 
house. He then removed to Homer City and 
was engaged in the drug business for seven years. 
At the end of that time became (1877) to Indiana, 
was a clerk for the drug firm of Hetrick Bros, for 
one year and then entered the Indiana County 
Deposit bank as teller, which position he held 
until 1883, when he was made assistant cashiei*. 
One year later he was elected cashier and has 
served efficiently as such until the present time. 
This bank was organized December 4, 1869, 
with a capital stock of $100,000, which was in- 
creased in 1873 to $200,000, but was afterward 
reduce to the original amount. Its deposits av- 
erage $150,000 with a surplus of $50,000, and 
its present officers are: W. M. Stewart, Presi- 
dent; Judge Harry White, Vice-President; J. 
M. Watt, cashier and T. E. Hiklebrand, assist- 
ant cashier. Mr. Watt is a republican, served 
one year as burgess of Homer City and is a 
member and treasurer of the board of trade 
of Indiana. He is a member of Indiana 
Lodge, No. 313, F. & A. M., and Indiana Post, 
No. 28, G. A. R. He has been for .seven years 
treasurer of the Indiana Normal school. 

April 9, 1874, he married Nettie E.Jamison, 
a daughter of John A. Jamison, of Indiana. 
James M. Watt was one of the youthful soldiers 
of the late war. He enlisted when only four- 
teen years of age as a musician in Co. I, 135th 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



177 



regiment, Pa. Vols., and served nine months. 
He re-enlisted February 18, 1864, for three 
years and served in Co. F, 55th regiment, Pa. 
Vols., until the close of the war, when he was 
honorably discharged at Fortress Monroe on 
June 8, 1866. In the many business positions 
of trust and responsibility which he has held 
Mr. Watt lias always discharged his duties in 
such an efficient manner as to give entire satisfac- 
tion. He is an excellent financier and a man of 
good judgment and fine business ability. 



HON. THOMAS WHITE. Among the 
prominent public men and jurists of this 
State, no one has ever been more deservedly 
honored for intellectual power and a pure record 
of public and private life, than Thomas White, 
who was an eminent lawyer, an upright judge 
and a just man. He was a sou of Richard and 
Mary White, and was born in 1799 in Sussex 
county, in the south of England, and within 
sight of the hill of Senlac, where the last king 
of English blood fell dead at the foot of the 
royal standard — the consecrated gift of Rome 
and Hildebrand, and where the Norman con- 
queror William reared Battle Abbey with its 
massive walls to fulfill a vow and in honor of 
his great victory (called in history the battle of 
Hastings). Sussex county, whose coast is the 
resort of rank, fashion and opulence and whose 
hills and downs present a variety of pleasing 
and picturesque situations, is historic ground. 
On its soil Caesar first planted the imperial ban- 
ners of Rome when he invaded Britain ; subse- 
quently the Saxon invasion of England was 
made through its territory and there is no more 
classic ground in all England than Senlac hill, 
the last spur of the Sussex downs, once covered 
by the great Andrede weald, or wonderful native 
forests. After Norman William had won the 
kingdom there were several immigrations from 
Normandy, and in the mixed population of 



Saxon and Norman, elements which came to be 
occupants of the Seulac district there is no clue 
to the ancestry of Judge White, other than is 
afforded by the name (White), which is undoubt- 
edly Saxon, and some of his ancestors may have 
fought under King Harold when he fell in 
1066, in defense of his kingdom. 

Thomas White was brought, by his mother, 
Mrs. Mary White, in 1804, to Philadelphia, 
where he obtained his education in the public 
schools of that city and became well versed in 
the French and Spanish languages. He read 
law with William Rawle, was admitted to the 
bar and in 1821 opened an office at Indiana. On 
December 13, 1836, he was appointed, by Gov. 
Joseph Ritner, as president judge of the Tenth 
Judicial District, composed of the counties of 
Armstrong, Cambria, Indiana and Westmore- 
land. After he left the bench, in 1847, he re- 
sumed the practice of law and was engaged in 
many important cases in different county courts 
and the supreme court of Pennsylvania. 

Judge White took great interest in agriculture, 
raised some very fine sheep and blooded cattle 
and was president of the Indiana Agricultural 
Association from its origin until his death, in 
1866. 



ANDREW W. WILSON. One of Penn- 
sylvania's self-made and leading business 
men, and an intelligent, honored and respected 
citizen of Indiana, is the gentleman whose name 
appears at the head of this sketch. For strict 
integrity, business ability and personal worth, 
Andrew W. Wilson stands as high as any man 
in this section of the State. He was born in 
Brush Valley township, Indiana county, Penn- 
sylvania, July 12, 1826, and is a son of Samuel 
and Elizabeth (Wilkins) Wilson. His paternal 
grandfather, Joseph Wilson, was a native of 
county Antrim, Ireland, where he first saw the 
light in 1757. He left the land of his birth in 
1795 and came to this county, where he patent- 



178 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ed and improved a tract of land in Brush Val- 
ley township. He was one of the first settlers 
of Dills Valley (now Brush Valley), a weaver 
by trade and a very intelligent representative 
Scotch-Irishman. He lived far beyond the al- 
lotted span of life, saw three birthdays beyond 
the century mark and breathed his last when in 
the one hundred and third year of his ripe old 
age. Of the four sons who were born to him 
in the New World, one was Samuel Wilson, 
(father), who was engaged in farming and school- 
teaching till his death, in 1865, aged sixty-five 
years. He was a consistent member and useful 
elder of the United Presbyterian church. His 
first wife was Elizabeth Wilkins, who was born 
in the initial year of the present century ; was 
a member of the U. P. church and passed away 
at the early age of thirty-five years. She was 
a daughter of Andrew Wilkins, one of the first 
white children who was born on the territory of 
Indiana county. He was a farmer, and during 
the construction of the old Portage R. E.. he fed 
a large number of hands who were working on 
it, besides supplying many others with meat. 
He died near Portage, but his remains are in- 
terred at Johnstown, Cambria county, Pa. 

Andrew W. Wilson was reared on a farm 
until he was fourteen years of age, when he en- 
gaged in farming during the summer months at 
five dollars per month and his board. He ob- 
tained his education by working for his board 
while he attended school. From fourteen to 
seventeen years of age he was engaged in teach- 
ing school at from |7.50 to $18.00 per moiith. 
He then became a clerk in the dry-goods house 
of Sutton & Moore, of Indiana, which position 
he held for three years, when his employers made 
him manager of a store at Mechaniesburg, (the 
firm-name being A. W. Wilson & Co.,) which 
they stocked with twenty-five hundred dollars' 
worth of goods. Here for five years he laboi'ed 
persistently against many discouragements, and 
by hard work, practical economy and strict 
honesty laid the foundations of a permanent 



success that has crowned his efforts ever since in 
the commercial world. In the latter year the 
Pennsylvania R. R. located a branch road to 
Indiana, and Mr. Wilson was recalled to the home 
house, where he was admitted as an equal part- 
ner with John Sutton and intrusted with a 
large share of its management. The establish- 
ment of Sutton & Wilson was known for many 
miles as the leading house of the county. His 
business ability and experience were fully equal 
to the requirements of the situation. For thirty- 
eight years he has slowly but securely built up 
a business of extensive proportions. In that 
time one of his partners died and the other retired 
from business, and the firm to-day is A. W. 
Wilson & Son (Harry W. Wilson). The orig- 
nal store is a two-story brick building, 28x65, 
and was erected in 1858, on the site of the old 
Peter Sutton log hotel, built in 1806. It is now 
used as the grocery department of their present 
establishment, which occupies the site of the 
old Carpenter mansion on Philadelphia street. 
It is thirly-three feet front and one hundred 
and thirteen feet deep. It was erected in 1880 
and is three stories in height, built of Philadel- 
phia pressed-brick and the front tastefully trim- 
med with Freeport gray sandstone. The front 
is largely of fine plale-glass. This dry-goods 
house throughout is one of the finest in the 
State outside of a large city. It affords a large 
amount of floor space, plenty of light and every 
convenience for the accommodation and display 
of their immense stock that has no superior and 
few equals in any county-seat of the State. The 
entire establishment is divided into five depart- 
ments, which are under the charge of experi- 
enced and courteous managers. The first depart- 
ment, is used for staple and fancy dry goods and 
notions; the second is devoted to men's clothing 
and carpets; the third is filled with blankets and 
yarns; the fourth or basement story is stocked 
with oil-cloths and the different kinds of wares, 
and the fifth comprises the first-store building, 
which is filled with groceries and contains tlie 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



179 



packing and ware-rooms. Mr. Wilson's trade 
extends over a wide area of territory and he is 
well deserving of the liberal patronage accorded 
him. 

July 7, 1853, lie married Anna G. Dick, 
daughter of James Dick, of this county. The 
latter was a native of Belfast, Ireland. Their 
children are: Harry W., in business with liis 
father; Robert D., Ph.D , who is a professor 
of Hebrew in the Western Theological seminary; 
Rev. Samuel G., a missionary in Persia; John 
L., in business with his father; Prof. Andrew 
W., one of the proprietors of the Kiskirainetas 
school for boys; Ella M., a graduate of Vas.sar 
college and teacher of Greek at Kiskiminetas 
school; and Annie E., James D., Jennie P. and 
. Mary A., who are attending school. The four 
eldest sons are graduates of Princeton. 

Politically Mr. Wilson is a prohibitionist and 
has held several offices of trust and responsibil- 
ity. He is president of the board of trade, 
vice-president of the board of Normal school 
directors and a director ofthe Western Theolog- 
ical seminary. He has been for over twenty 
years au influential member and a leading elder 
of the Indiana Presbyterian church, of whose 
Sunday-school he has been superintendent for 
thirteen years. He has given freely of his time 
and means in the promotion of the religious, 
benevolent and educational interests of Indiana. 
Andrew W. Wilson ranks high in that class of 
men who build their own monuments of fortune 
and reputation and the gratification of whose 
highest ambition is attained in being useful to 
their fellow-men. 



LIEUTENANT ALEXANDER McCRACKEN, 
of the U. S. Navy, was born in Indiana, 
in 1850. He was a cabin boy on a gunboat 
commanded by Captain Wells, on the lower 
Mississippi, in 1863 and 1864. In 1865 he 
entered the naval school at Annapolis, Md. ; 



graduated in 1869 ; was appointed midshipman, 
and left Boston, August 1st, in the same year 
for the East, in the service of the government, 
visiting France, Italy, Egypt and other coun- 
tries. Subsequently he was in the coast survey 
on the Gulf of Mexico and lower Mississippi 
River. In 1877 he was sent to the coast of 
South America, and returned in November, 
1879. He is now (1880) one of the instructors 
in mathematics in the naval school at Annapo- 
lis. He was promoted regularly from mid- 
shipman to lieutenant, in January, 1879. 



JOHN R. WILSON, a prominent, active and 
successful lawyer and a well-known and 
able Democratic leader of Indiana county, is a 
sou of William and Letitia (McAdoo) Wilson, 
and was born in Centre township, Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, June 24, 1841. William 
Wilson was a son of John Wilson, of a well-to- 
do and respected Wilson family of Ireland, from 
which he emigrated in 1828 to Indiana county, 
where he settled in Centre township and was 
engaged in farming until 1883, when he died. 
He was a prosperous farmer and a well-respected 
citizen. From 1828 to 1854 he affiliated with 
the whigs, but in the latter year he joined the 
Democratic party and steadfastly held to its 
principles until his death. His wife was Leti- 
tia McAdoo, who was born in Ireland and came 
with her parents, James and Catherine McAdoo, 
to Washington county, this State. 

John R. Wilson was reared on his father's 
farm in Centre township. He received his edu- 
cation in the academies of the county, and while 
pursuing his academic course he followed teach- 
ins during the winter seasons in the common 
or district schools. Having after due considera- 
tion made choice of law as a life vocation, he 
began the study of this chosen profession in 
1866 with the Hon. H. W. Wier, of Indiana, and 
was admitted, in October 1 868, to practice law in 
the courts of Indiana county. After being ad- 



180 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



mitted to the bar he located at Cherry Tree, 
this county, where he practiced up to January, 
1870, when he removed to Indiana and has 
continued in the active practice of his profession 
there ever since. In 1873 he was appointed a 
commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United 
States for tiie western district of Pennsylvania 
and has held and satisfactorily discharged the 
duties of that ofifice up to the present time. He 
enjoys a large practice in Indiana. 

In 1876 he united in marriage with Mary 
E. Patton, a daughter of Hon. John D. Patton, 
of Indiana. Their union has been blessed with 
three children, two sons and one daughter: 
Max, Alice May and John D. 

In July, 1863, upon the invasion of Pennsyl- 
vania by the Army of Northern Virginia, Mr. 



Wilson enlisted for a three months' term of 
service in Co. C, 57th regiment, Pa. State troops; 
but the regiment was never called into active 
service. John R. Wilson is a democrat in poli- 
tics and takes a warm interest in the success of 
his party, in which he is a persistent worker and 
prominent leader. For the past five years he 
has not taken such an active part in politics as 
heretofore, yet when occasion requires he is al- 
ways found in the front rank of the political 
struggle, manfully battling for the principles 
and the cause of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian 
Democracy. Specially fitted and well quali- 
fied for political leadership, he is naturally 
looked to by his party in emergencies and has 
always served in such times with tact and 
ability. 




INDIANA COUNTY COURT-HOUSE. 



BLAIRSYILLE. 



Historical and Deiscriptive. — Blairsville, the 
metropolis of Indiana county and a pleasantly 
located town on the east bank of the Conemaugh 
river, in Burrell township, is destined at no dis- 
tant day in the future to attain to the propor- 
tions of a city and far exceed the expectations 
of its founders. It was laid out in July and 
August, 1818, was incorporated as a borough 
March 25, 1825, and in 1890 contained a popu- 
lation of 3,113. It is 189 miles northwest 
from Washington City, 161 west from Harris- 
burg and 14 miles southwest of the county-seat. 
It was named in honor of John Blair, who was 
president of an important turnpike company. 
James Baird, St., laid the warrant which in- 
cluded the larger part of the site of Blairsville 
and sold it to James Campbell, of Franklin 
county, who, in connection with Andrew Brown, 
of Black Lick township, laid out the town 
and offered the first lots for sale on November 
11, 1818. Hugh Richards and James Rankin, 
in competition for a free lot, erected the first 
two houses in March, 1819, and Richards won 
the prize by only two hours. Jonathan Doty 
opened a store in 1820, and Abner Willetts, in 
the succeeding year, became the first tavern- 
keeper. The first postmaster was George Mul- 
holland, Jr. The first market-house was built 
in 1829 and its successor was erected in 1857. 
The water-works was completed in 1873. 

Blairsville is situated in the second great 
coal basin of Indiana county, which is named 
after the town. 

"The Third or Blairsville basin is a simple 
synclinal fold extending, without structural 



complication of any kind, from the centre of 
Chestnut Ridge anticlinal on the northwest. It 
is the prolongation southwestward of the 
Third Great basin of Clearfield and Jefferson 
counties, where its boundary lines on the ea.st 
and west are the same as those above mentioned ; 
but continued still further southwestward across 
the Conemaugh into Westmorland county, these 
limits of the trough are maintained only as far 
as Sewickley creek. 

"The basin stretches diagonally nearly 
through the centre of Indiana county. Nar- 
rowing somewhat towards the northeast in con- 
sequence of the non-parallelism of the two en- 
closing anticlinals, its width is reduced from 
seven miles on the Conemaugh to scarcely more 
than four miles in the latitude of the county- 
seat; traced thence still further north, its width 
is subsequently increa.sed by the divergence of 
the same lines to about five miles, which is 
then maintained without variation frpm the 
headwaters of Two Lick and Little Mahoning 
to and across the Jefferson county line. 

"The point where the Pittsburgh coal bed 
touches the county five miles from the centre 
of the Chestnut Ridge anticlinal, and only a 
mile and a half from the Indiana anticlinal ; 
and the reason why the outspread of the bed 
westward from the synclinal is here reduced to 
such narrow limits, is not because of the topog- 
raphy of the county, but because the southeast 
dips from the Indiana anticlinal correspond in 
sharpness to the comparative shortness of the 
interval over which they are felt. It is diffi- 
cult to make persons unaccustometl to geologi. 

181 



182 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



cal thought appreciate the force and extent of 
such dips, and the causes sometimes produced 
by them. That the Pittsburgh coal bed should 
overshoot the summit of Chestnut Ridge at the 
Packsaddle by nearly a thousand feet, and that 
the great sandrock forming the romantic cliiFs 
at Oaks Point should underlie the streets of 
Blairsville by the same amount of interval— 
these and many more facts of a similar nature 
seem so simple as scarcely to require an ex- 
planation ; but for the lack of their proper ap- 
preciation by property holders much vain and 
fruitless search has been expended, especially 
along the flank of Chestnut Ridge, for what 
cannot possibly be found there. 

"The synclinal axis of the Third basin runs 
under the centre of the town of Blairsville, 
which, as before stated, is only a mile and a 
half distant on a direct line from the Indiana 
anticlinal." 

When the western division of the Pennsyl- 
vania canal was completed to Blairsville, in 
1828, it came rapidly into public notice and be- 
came an important point for shipping. Its 
prosperity was slightly checked by the abandon- 
ment of the canal and the opening of the Penn- 
sylvania railroad to Pittsburgh, but fully revived 
with the building of the West Pennsylvania 
railroad. It has retained its position as a lead- 
ing town of western Pennsylvania by the thrift 
and energy of its citizens. It contains several 
handsome churches, a fine graded public school, 
under the charge of Prof. G. W. Innes, and a 
large number of industrial establishments. 

The Enterprise describes Blairsville as fol- 
lows: " Surrounded by a rich farming country, 
the hills underlaid with coal, to be mined by 
drifting. Blue stone, lime-stone and fire clay 
in various places. Has adjoining it coke and 
coal works, and within the borough limits the 
West Penn Glass works; two brick works 
(one just outside), foundry and machine shop, 
two planing mills, woolen mill, two flour and 
feed mills, and the shops of the West Penn 



railroad. Has an excellent system of water 
works, natural gas, will soon have electric 
lights. The West Penn and Indiana Branch 
railroads pass through the town and intersect 
three miles distant with the Pennsylvania Cen- 
tral." 

The Blairsville Record, the second paper in 
the county, was established in 1827 by Murray 
& McFarland, and continued democratic under 
diiferent managements until 1844, when it was 
succeeded by the Citizen., which existed for 
about one year. In May, 1846, Richard B. 
McCabe and R. B. Woodward started the 
Apakwhian, v{\\\(ih advocated "free soil" doc- 
trines and existed until 1855. In 1858 the 
Blairsville Record was founded as a democratic 
paper and supported that party until 1864, 
when it was discontinued. About 1859 the 
True American, a republican sheet, was started, 
but its name was soon changed to that of the 
Blairsville Journal, which ceased to exist in 
1861. On April 27, 1865, the New Eraw^is 
started, and in 1866 the name was changed to 
the Blairsville Press, which went out of exist- 
ence in 1869. In 1880 the i^/a/rsnY/e Enter- 
prise was founded, and six years later passed 
into the hands of its present proprietor and 
editor, Joseph Moorhead, who has labored 
earnestly and successfully in his work and 
issues one of the best county papers in the 
State. 

The physicians of Blairsville for sixty years 
after its founding were : E. P. Emerson, Dr. Sim- 
mons, Dr.Craighead, Dr. Dufiield, R.J. Marshall, 
Dr. Gillespie, S. P. Brown, John Gilpin, Dr. 
Andrews, R. M. S. Jackson, Dr. Hammell, Dr. 
Gemmil, Bishop I. W. Wiley, Dr. McKim, Dr. 
Fundeuberg, M. L. Miller, Dr. Campbell, Dr. 
Anawalt, T. M. Lauey, T. J. Cantwell, F. M. 
McConnoughey, J. W. Hughes, S. R. Rutlege 
and L. S. Claggett. Among its present success- 
ful physicians are Dr. I. P. Klingensmith and 
Dr. J. B. Carson. 

The Blairsville Ladies' seminary was estab- 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



183 



lished in 1851 by Rev. George Hill, D.D., 
with forty pupils. Nearly 2,000 young ladies 
have attended this school, and its attendance 
grows larger every year. lu 1868 the Blairs- 
ville academy was founded with normal, clas- 
sical and business departments. 

The first church at Blairsville was the Pres- 
byterian, which was organized in 1822, and 
whose present pastor is Rev. George Hill, D.D. 
The other churches of" the borough, with the 
years of their organization and the names of 
their present pastors, are as follows: United 
Presbyterian, 18 — , Rev. W. H. Mc^Iastcr; 
Baptist, 1824, Rev. D. W. Swigart; Methodi.st 
Episcopal, 1824, Rev. T. H. Woodring; S. S. 
Simon & Jude's Catholic church, 1829, Rev. 
Francis Brady, and A. M. E. Zion, 18 — , Rev. 
Nelson Davis. 

The W. C. T. U. holds two meetings every 
month. 

The present secret society organizations of 
Blairsville are: Acacia Lodge, No. .355, Free 
and Accepted Masons; Blairsville Lodge, No. 
436, Independent Order of Odd Fellows: Pil- 
grim Lotlge, No. 06, American Order of United 
Workmen; Finley Patch Post, No. 137, Grand 
Army of the Republic; Active Lodge, No. 
1601, Knights of Honor; Mechanics' Lodge, 
No. 166, Knights of Honor; Keystone Coun- 
cil, No. 1, of Pennsylvania, Order of Chosen ! 
Friends; S. S. Simon and Jude's Beneficial So- j 
ciety, No. 351, I. C. B. U. ; St. Joseph's Branch, ' 
No. 117, E. B. A.; Local Branch, No. 22, [ 
Order of the Iron Hall; Local Branch, No. [ 
505, Sisterhood of the Iron Hall; Blairsville 
Lodge, No. 13, Order of Touti; Blairsville , 
Council, No. 831, Royal Arcanum; Blairsville ! 
Assembly, No. 82, Royal Society of Good 
Fellows; Bethel Castle, No. 189, Knights of 
the Golden Eagle; A.s.sembly No. 238, Knights 
of Labor; Blairsville Council, No. 216, Junior 
Orderof United American Mechanics; Blairsville 
Conclave, Independent Order of Heptasophs; 
Blairsville Lodge, No. 9, Order of Solon; West 



Penn Lodge, No. 392, B. of L. F. ; Blairsville 
Lodge, No. 108, B. of L. E.; Graff Lodge, 
No. 39, Order of Pente; Blairsville Assembly, 
No. 5, American Fraternal Circle; Washington 
Camp, No. 535, P. O. S. of A., and Blairsville 
Lodge, No. 140, Sexennial League. 

The burgesses of Blairsville from 1825 to 
1875 have been: John Cunningham, 1825 
Aaron Deviuny, 1827; William G. Davis 
1828; R. B. McCabe, 1829; George Grier 
1830; J. N. Nesbit, 1831; John McCrea^ 
1832; Daniel H. Barr, 1833; Thomas Boyle 
1834; John Bruce, 1836; Wm. T. Smith 
1837; Samuel Steel, 1838; Moses Culbertson 
1839; Stewart Davis, 1841; A. R. Chapman 
1842; James C. Day, 1844; R. Bartley, 1846 
R. H. Woodward, 1847; A. Alters, 1848 
John Graff, 1849; Daniel H. Barr, 1850 
Robert Bartley, 1851; W. T. Smith, 1852 
Edward Dully, 1853; Archibald Davis, 1856 
C. C. Davis, 1857; John P. Ford, 1858 
Edward Dully, 1859; J. L Chapman, 1869 
John G. Long, 1871 ; W. G. Triece, 1872. 

Blairsville's population at each census from 

1830 to 1890 has been: 18.30, ; 1840, 990; 

1850, 1,137; 1860, 1,009; 1870, 1,054; 1880, 
1,162; 1890, 3,113. In 1827 the population 
was reported, from an actual count, at 500. 

Blairsville is noted for its important and 
rapidly increasing manufacturing industries. 

The West Penn glass works, as they are 
called, lie on the southern borders of the bor- 
ough, along the West Pennsylvania railroad. 
They are built entirely of brick. The plant 
consists of warehouse, packing room, leer 
building, blacksmith shop and factory proper. 
The factory is two stories high and is known 
among the glass trade as the best arranged and 
ventilated in the State. It is always cool, 
although a sixteen-pot furnace is going at white 
heat continually. The product of the factory 
is a car-load of bottles per day. The members 
of the first firm — John T. Birney and Charles 
E. Barr — were killed in the wreck of a portion 



184 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



of the works in the high winds of about a year j 
ago. The factory building was iu course of 
constructiou and it was feared the storm would 
blow in the south gable. The managers were 
overseeing the work of strengthening the wall 
when it came down with a crash, burying them 
beneath the ruins. By a strange fate none but 
the managers of the company were killed. The 
work was taken up by other hands, however, 
and about 200 men and boys are now employed 
in the factory, and they are all residents of 
Blairsville or neighboring boroughs. It was 
through the persistent efforts of R. W. Wehrle 
that the means were raised to procure the ground 
which was asked for by the company as a con- 
dition of establishing their works at Blairs- 
ville. 

The Sloan heirs and the West Penn glass 
company are laying out a number of building 
lots on the ground between the works and the 
town, all of which are in the borough limits. 

Two very important factors in the develop- 
ment of the neighborhood have been the Blairs- 
ville coke-works and the Blairsville brick- 
works. They are close together on the Indiana 
railroad, just on the outskirts of Blairsville. 
Ed. J. Graff is manager of the brick-works 
and Jacob Graff of the coke-works. The 
brick works employ twenty- five men and are 
operated by a forty-five horse-power engine. 
The clay is near at hand, and an inclined 
railway brings it to the presses. The capacity 
of the works is 20,000 bricks per day. The 
coke-works are turning out a large quantity of 
coke from twenty-six ovens. The coal is mined 
from adjacent hills. Another extensive brick- 
works is that of Isaac Wynn & Son. It is 
situated near the West Penn railroad in the 
southern section of the town. Their capacity 
is also about 20,000 bricks per day. They have 
recently put in machinery of an improved 

type- 

The hills around the town are rich in deposits 
of blue stone, which recently has been develop- 



ed very extensively. There is none better than 
the Blairsville blue stone for Belgian blocks 
and fine building purposes. Wilson's Feldman 
quarries on the Bolivar branch between Blairs- 
ville and Bolivar employ 185 men — including 
laborers and blockmakers. They turn out from 
3,500 to 6,000 blocks per day and five car-loads 
of ballast. Stark Brothers' stone quarry lies 
just above that of Wilson's. They employ 100 
men and have large railroad contracts to keep 
their hands busy continually. 

The production of coal for shipment to the 
very best eastern market is another industry in 
which Blairsville is developing considerable im- 
portance. The Robert Smith coal mines are 
about three-fourths of a mile up the Indiana 
railroad. They employ about fifteen diggers 
and put out a large quantity of excellent coal. 
The J. McKinney Turner mines are adjacent, 
and their output is about the same. The 
Thomas Maher coal works, just across the hol- 
low, employ twenty men and fill four cars 
daily. 

Blairsville rightly lays a claim to the big 
Isabella furnace, although it is across the bor- 
ders of Westmoi'eland county. The 300 em- 
ployes of tlie company buy all their supplies in 
Blairsville, and are no small contributors to its 
commercial prosperity. The Isabella coke-works 
include 240 oven.s, capable of producing twenty- 
two cars of coke per day. They are located at 
Cokeville. 

The immense blue stone quarries of Booth & 
F'linn at the Intersection, although also in West- 
moreland county, throw the trade of their many 
employes to Blairsville, and she claims them as 
her own. The quarries of Evan Jones, the 
Pittsljurgh contractor, are on the other side of the 
Intersection, and they also turn many a dollar 
into the tills of the Blairsville merchants. 

Turning from the development of raw ma- 
terials to their application in the arts and trades, 
we come first to the foundry and machine shops 
of C. L. Tittle. They occupy two large build- 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



185 



ings on Brown street. Kis principal line of 
work is metal supplies for coke ovens and coal 
mines. 

Blairsville has two large planing mills. 
That of Kennedy & Fair occupies a triangular 
space just back of the passenger depot and bor- 
dering upon the West Penn tracks. It is a 
complete mill, occupying two large buildings 
and employing fifty men. The planing mill of 
Harbi.son & Ferguson, Browustown, is also an 
extensive establishment, and a busy one. The 
woolen mill of John Moorhouse is another in- 
dustry giving employment to a large number 
ol persons. 

One of the oldest and most important indus- 
tries of Blairsville is found in the repair shops 
of the West Penn railway. They give employ- 
ment to 225 men. Their work is generally in 
repairs, but occasionally they turn out a new 
sar. The yards surrounding the shops are a 
mile long, and as wide as the limits of obtain- 
able space permit. There are six tracks lead- 
ing to the round-house, and the bridge just 
above town is being widened so as to allow that 
number to cross there and thus extend the yards. 
An appropriation of $35,000 has recently been 
made for new shops on the West Pennsylvania 
railroad, and Blairsville has very good pros- 
pects of getting them. We are indebted for 
many facts concerning Blairsville to the Enter- 
prise and Gazette. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



AUGUSTUS M. BALLARD, an enterpris- 
ing citizen of Blairsville, and junior mem- 
ber of the well-known firm of Wilcox & 
Ballard, is a son of Jesse and Lucy (Brown) 
Ballard, and was born in Pontiac, Michigan, 
May 12, 1853. His father, Jesse Ballard, 
was born in Seneca couuty, New York, Feb- 
ruary 20, 1822, learned the trade of carpenter. 



and in 1838 moved to Pontiac, Michigan, 
where he established himself as a contractor 
and builder, and where he still lives — one of 
the substantial citizens of that city. He is a 
prominent member of the Congregational 
church, and an enthusiastic sujjporter of the 
Democratic party. He married Lucy Brown, 
wlio was born in Canada, in 1826, and is a 
member of the Baptist chnrcli of Pontiac. 

Augustus M. Ballard was reared in Pontiac, 
and after receiving his education in the public 
schools of that city, learned the trade of carpen- 
ter and joiner, under his father, for whom he 
worked for four years. He then accepted a 
position as a clerk with one of the well-known 
mercantile firms of Pontiac, with whom he 
continued some three years. After leaving 
their employ he entered the office of the P. O. 
& N. R. R., at Poutiac, as a clerk, which posi- 
tion he held until 1888, when he came to 
Blairsville, and in December, 1889, went into 
partnership with George F. Wilcox, for the 
purpose of dealing in groceries and queens- 
ware, under the firm-uame of Wilcox & Bal- 
lard. They are both endowed with energy and 
perseverance and from their present rapidly 
increasing trade have every prospect of future 
patronage and success. 

On April 27, 1885, he married Mary Dono- 
hue, daughter of William Donohue, of Arm- 
strong county. Their union has been blest 
with three children, one son and two daughters : 
Jesse, named in memory of his grandfather; 
Alice and Edith. 

A. M. Ballard is an energetic member of the 
Patriotic Order of Sous of America, and of the 
Junior Order of American Mechanics. In 
politics, he has been all his life an active 
worker in the cause of democracy. He is well 
qualified for mercantile life; full of energy 
and ambition, he has made his own way in life, 
overcoming many obstacles in his pathway to 
success that would have defeated a less 
determined man. With a keen sense of right- 



186 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



dealing, aud full of pluck and perseverance, 
the firm of Wilcox & Ballard is fast advancing 
to the front rank among the mercantile firms of 
Blairsville. 



JONAH B. BAUGHMAN, one of the suc- 
cessful men and a prominent and leading 
carriage inanufacturer of Blairsville, is a 
son of Seth and Christina (Smith) Baughman, 
and was born at Youugstovvn, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1848. Seth 
Baughmau was born and reared in Westmore- 
land county, where he lived until his death, in 
1849. He was a cabinet-maker by trade and 
was successfully engaged in the cabinet-making 
business at Youngstown for many years. His 
chairs, which he manufactured in large quanti- 
ties, had quite a reputation and sold readily. 
He was a consistent member of the Reformed 
church, and died in 1849, when the subject of 
this sketch was an infant. He married 
Christina Smith, who was born in Westmore- 
land county, in 1814, and died in 1854, five 
years after her husband's death. She Avas a 
regular attendant and consistent member of the 
Reformed church. 

Jonah B. Baughman was brought to Blairs- 
ville by his mother when he was three years of 
age and has made his home there ever since. 
He attended the public schools and afterwards 
entered a carriage factory to learn the carriage 
manufacturing business. After serving an ap- 
prenticeship of several years, he engaged as a 
workman with a carriage firm in whose employ 
he remained until 1873. In that year he en- 
gaged in business for himself and established 
his present carriage manufactory, on Campbell 
street, at Blairsville. It is a large two-story 
frame building, carefully fitted up with work 
and paint shops and storage and salesrooms. 
He manufactures elegant carriages, fine buggies 
and neat and serviceable vehicles of all kinds 
which are to be found in a first-class carriage 



manufactory. He has a complete repairing de- 
partment attached to his establishment and 
gives personal supervision to all work which is 
repaired. Mr. Baughman is a practical car- 
riage-maker, employs constantly three ex- 
perienced workmen and personally inspects all 
of his work in its various stages of construc- 
tion. 

In 1872 he married Salome Wonder, daugh- 
ter of Steven Wonder, of Bedford county. To 
their union have been born eight children, two 
sons and si.x daughters : Clara B., Ida B., Mary 
K., Sarah J., Maggie M., Je.sse C, William 
and Alice C. 

He is a republican and has server] several 
terras as a member of the town council. He is 
an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and one of the thrifty and substantial 
citizens of Blairsville. He owns his factory 
aud three dwelling-houses besides, some other 
property. Bereft, at the early age of six years, 
of both father and mother, he has, unaided, 
attained to the possession of a good business, 
and by commendable industry has secured a re- 
spectable competency. 



EDWARD H. BERLIN, a leading and popu- 
lar photographer of Blairsville, is a .sou of 
William and Martha (Jamison) Berlin, and 
was born at Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, January 19, 1859. Sol- 
omon Berlin was a native of Pittsburgh, and 
died in 1859, in the seventy-fourth year of his 
age. His son, William Berlin (father), was 
born in Pittsburgh, in 1819, and was a marble 
cutter by trade. He opened a marble-yard at 
Mt. Pleasant and remained at that place until 
1867, when he removed to Ludwick borough, 
adjoining Greensburg, the county-seat of West- 
moreland county, where he conducted a marble- 
yard and shop until his death, which occurred 
in 1878. He was an industrious man, a repub- 
lican in politics and a member of the Presby- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



187 



terian church. He married Martha Jamison, a 
daughter of Robert Jamison, a native of 
Unity township, Westmoreland county, who 
served in the war of 1812, and who died 
December 26, 188G, at the advanced age 
of ninety-six years. The Jamison family 
is of Irish descent. Mrs. Martha Berlin was a 
member of the Presbyterian church, and died 
May 2, 1885, aged sixty-eight years. 

Edward H. Berlin was reared principally at 
Ludwick, where he attended the public schools 
of that borough. He learned the trade of 
cigar-maker at Greensburg and worked at cigar- 
making for several years. He then learned 
photography with a well-known photographer, 
M. E. Low, of Greensburg, with whom he re- 
mained for three years. In 1885 he established 
himself at Blairsville, where he has acquired a 
good reputation as a photographer and has 
secured a large patronage. His fine gallery is 
eligibly located and is handsomely furnished 
with an unusually beautiful display of his work 
as an artistic photographer and a fine line of 
art goods including engravings, photographs, 
picture frames, easels and other goods of both a 
useful and decorative nature. 

On September 2, 1885, he married Mary A. 
Keighley, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth 
Keighley, of Westmoreland county. They have 
three children: Mary J., Paul E. and Ruth. 

He is secretary of the Blairsville Conclave, 
I. O. Heptasophs, No. 178, and a member of 
Blairsville Lodge;, No. 436, Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, and a democrat politically. Ed- j 
ward H. Berlin has rapidly grown in favor i 
with the public as a photographic artist and as 
a man who aims to give excellent work at 
reasonable prices. 



In 1840 he married Sarah Johnston, daugh- 
ter of William Johnston, a prosperous farmer 
of Armagh, this county. They moved from 
Fairfield, Westmoreland county, to Cleveland, 
Ohio, in 1844, where, in July, 1854, when 
cholera made its appearance, Mr. and Mrs. 
Black fell victims to the dread disease. The 
eldest daughter is Mrs. Mary L. Birkmau, 
widow of Major R. M. Birkman, of Indiana. 



ROBERT BLACK, who was a highly re- 
spected citizen and industrious and com- 
petent contractor and carpenter, was born in 
Indiana county, in 1815. 



JOHN B. CARSON, M.D., a young and ris- 
^ ing physician of Blairsville, and a great- 
grandson of Capt. Matthew Jack, a Revolu- 
tionary hero and a prominent actor at the burn- 
ing of Hannastown, is a son of Dr. Thomas and 
Jennie S. (Jack) Carson, and was born at 
Elderton, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
April 18, 1866. The Carson family is of Irish 
descent, and James Carson (great-grandfather) 
emigrated from Ireland to America iu 1817. 
He married Catherine Allison, who lived to be 
over ninety years of age. They had four chil- 
dren : John, William, Susan, wife of James 
Dalzell ; and James. The eldest son, John 
Carson (grandfather), was born in county Fer- 
managh, Ireland, in 1815, and emigrated from 
Ireland to America, in 1826, with his uncle, 
William Carson, and located on the Peter Shep- 
ler farm in Washington county. In 1846 he 
removed to Armstrong county, and iu 1864 
came to White township. He is a Methodist 
and a democrat. In 1840 he married Hannah 
Henderson, daughter ot William and Margaret 
(Paul) Heuder.son, of Westmoreland county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Carson have seven children, of 
whom two, John and Thomas, are physicians. 
Dr. Thomas Carson (father) was born iu Deer 
creek township, Allegheny county, was edu- 
cated at Elder's Ridge academy, read medicine 
with Dr. James K. Park, of Cochran's Mill, 
Pa., and in 1865 was graduated from Jefferson 
Medical college. He located at Elderton, Arm- 
strong county, iu 1865, and remained there until 



188 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



1874, when he went to Hutton station, Pa. In 
1875 he came to Saltsburg, where he has re- 
mained ever since and has an extensive practice. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, the 
A. O. U. W., the Royal Arcanum and the 
Knights of Honor. He married Jennie S. 
Jack, daughter of Samuel Jack, of Westmore- 
land county, whose father, Capt. Matthew Jack, 
was a son of Samuel Jack, and served as a 
captain in the Eighth Pennsylvania regiment 
of the Continental Line, after M'hich he returned 
to Westmoreland county and distinguished him- 
self by his daring and bravery at the burning 
of Hannastowu, in July, 1782. 

John B. Carson was reared at Saltsburg and 
received his literary education in the public 
schools, Saltsburg academy and Indiana Normal 
school. He read medicine with his father for 
four years and attended Jefferson Medical col- 
lege, Philadelphia, from which institution he 
was graduated in the class of 1889. After 
graduation he practiced for a few months at 
Niles, Ohio, aud then came to Blairsville, where 
he has remained ever since. He is building 
up a remarkably good practice for a young phy- 



sician. 



JOHN M. CONNER, an industrious and re- 
^ liable citizen of Blairsville and a member 
of the well-known contracting firm of Kennedy 
& Fair, was born on the site of Altoona, Blair 
county, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1851, and is a 
son of John and Charity (Myers) Conner. The 
Conners, as the name would indicate, are of 
Irish descent. John Conner was born near 
Cherry Tree, this county, and after leaving 
school engaged inVailroading, which he followed 
with but little interruption till his death. He 
married Charity Myers, who was born and 
reared in Blair county. They reared a family 
of two sons and one daughter. 

John M. Conner lost his parents when he 
was quite young, and was reared in Bedford 



county, where he attended the common schools 
for some time and since then has acquired 
much information by reading and observation. 
He learned the trade of carpenter, and came, in 
1872, to Black Lick, where he followed carpen- 
tering up to 1886, when he came to Blaii-sville. 
In April, 1890, he became a member of the 
present carpentering and contracting firm of 
Kennedy & Fair, whose members are Capt. J. 
P. Kennedy, W. A. Fair, D. M. Fair and John 
M. Conner. They are the successors of the late 
firm of Fair & Kennedy, and deal in all kinds 
of rough and worked lumber. Their large 
pianing-mill aud lumber-yards are near the 
depot and their trade is extensive and increas- 
ing. (For a more complete account of their 
business enterprise, see sketch of Capt. J. P. 
Kennedy.) 

On September 27, 1876, John M. Conner 
married Harriet Fair, daughter of James H. 
Fair, of Black Lick. To their union have been 
born four children, one son and three daughters : 
James, Eva, Cora and Dora. 

In politics, Mr. Conner is a republican. He 
is a member of the Blairsville Presbyterian 
church ; Assembly Lodge, No. 82, Royal So- 
ciety of Good Fellows, aud Blairsville Lodge, 
No. 9, Order of Solon. Industrious and enter- 
prising, he commenced life without capital, but 
has worked his way up to a useful position in 
business and has acquired a competency. 



GEORGE W. CREDE, Jr., a prosperous 
merchant of Blairsville, is a son of George 
W. and Catherine (Stolz) Crede, and was 
born in Allegheny city, Pennsylvania, January 
28, 1852. His father, George W. Crede, is a 
native of Allegheny city, and in early life was 
engaged as a boatman on the Pennsylvania 
canal. He then removed to Pittsburgh, where 
he drove the first team which the Adams Ex- 
pre.ss company employed in that city. He re- 
mained with the above-named company until 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



189 



1885. He is a republican and a member of the 
Reformed church. He married Catiieriue Stolz, 
daughter of John Henry Stolz, of Allegheny 
city, who was a native of Hesse, Germany. He 
was one of the thousand Hessians captured by 
Washington at Trenton, after he made his 
famous passage through the floating ice in the 
Delaware river on Christmas night, 1776. John 
Henry Stolz was hired, with others of his 
countrymen, by his ruler, to George III., of 
England, and, without his consent, was sent to 
America to fight against the Colonies. He was 
not avei-se to being captured and never asked to 
be exchanged. After being held as a prisoner 
for a short time he was released and came to 
Allegheny county, where he resided until his 
death. 

George W. Crede, Jr., was reared in Alle- 
gheny. After being graduated from the high 
schools of that city, he attended the Iron City 
Business college, from which he was graduated 
at the end of his term. He then accepted a 
position as assistant clerk on a government boat 
running between Pittsburgh and the head-waters 
of the Missouri river, continuing on different 
boats for some two years. During these trips 
the lives of all on board were frequently en- 
dangered by attacks of the Indians. In 1871 
he became a book-keeper in the cork factory of 
Armstrong Brothers & Co., of Pittsburgh, and 
held that position for .seven years. In the 
spring of 1877 he opened a general mercantile 
establishment at Blairsville, which he has con- 
ducted successfully ever since. He has a choice 
selection of dry goods, notions, carpets, etc. 
His store is on the corner of Walnut and 
Market streets and he has secured a liberal pat- 
ronage. 

In 1873 he married Lizzie Speiss, daughter 
of Louis Speiss, of Blairsville. 

He is a republican in politics, and a member 
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the 
Junior Order of United American Mechanics, 
and the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America. 



In 1868 he joined Heath's Zouaves, of Alle- 
gheny city, which organization became Com- 
pany A, 14th regiment, and afterwards was 
made Company D, 18th regiment National 
Guard of Pennsylvania. He served in these 
companies until 1877. In June, 1888, he was 
appointed inspector of rifle practice, which posi- 
tion he held until May 31, 1890, when he 
resigned. George W^. Crede attends the United 
Presbyterian church and is a useful citizen as 
well as an active business man. He is, in 
point of service, the oldest member of the Na- 
tional Guard of Pennsylvania in Allegheny 
county. 



JOHN H. DEVERS, senior member of the 
firm of Devers & Miller, of Blairsville, 
has been for thirty-five years one of the leading, 
successful and popular traveling salesmen of 
western Pennsylvania. He was born about 
two miles from Ligonier, in Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, February 7, 1833, and 
is a son of Hugh and Isabella (McConaughey) 
Devers. His paternal grandfather, Henry De- 
vers, was a native of France and came to the 
Ligonier Valley, in Westmoreland county, 
where he purchased and ran a grist-mill until 
his death, which occurred in 1836. His mater- 
nal grandfather, James McConaughey, whose 
father came from Scotland, was a presbyterian 
in religion, a whig in politics and a farmer by 
occupation, and came, when well up in years, 
from Westmoreland to Indiana county, where 
he died, in 1886, aged eighty-two years. Hugh 
Devers (father) was born and reared near Lig- 
onier, in Westmoreland county, where he learned 
the trade of hatter, which he followed for a 
few years. He then came to what is now 
Homer City, this county, where he engaged ia 
the general mercantile business and was the first 
merchant in the county to buy eggs and produce. 
He also started the first huckster team in the 
county and hauled his produce to Pittsburgh. 



190 



BiOORAPHlES OF 



He was for nearly forty years the leading mer- 
chant of Homer City. He died while on a visit 
to Missouri, on October 6, 1859, at sixty-nine 
years of age. He was a methodist, a democrat 
and a man who had been very successful in all 
of his business enterprises. He married Isa- 
bella McConaughy, who was a member of the 
Methodist church, and died in 1879, when in 
the sixty-ninth year of her age. They were 
the parents of four children ; Margaret, Isabella, 
James and John H. 

John H. Devers was reared principally at 
Homer City, where he received his education 
in the public schools of that place. He assisted 
his father in the store until he was seventeen 
years of age, when he went to Saltsburg, where 
he was a clerk for some time, and then bought 
the store of his employer, although he had but 
a very small amount of money. After three 
vears of successful experience as a merchant he 
disposed of his store and became a traveling 
salesman for the wholesale dry-goods and notion 
house of Young, Smith, Field & Co. His field 
of territory was western Pennsylvania, which 
he held for twenty-six years and only resigned 
in 1886 to accept a similar position with Mills 
& Gibbs, one of the largest importing firms of 
white goods, linens, notions, etc., of the United 
States. He has traveled ever since for this firm 
in western Pennsylvania. In 1885 he became a 
member of the clothing firm of Devers, Hill & 
Neal, which did business at Blairsviiie until their 
house was burned, December 28, 1887. In 
1888 Mr. Devers rebuilt, at Blairsviiie, one of 
the finest mercantile rooms in the county, and 
in April, 1889, embarked, -with J. J. Miller as 
a partner, in his present clothing and gents' 
furnishing goods business. They carry a hand- 
some stock of goods and have a fine patronage. 

On July 24, 1862, Mr. Devers married 
Elizabeth M. Ogden, a daughter of John Og- 
den, of Westmoreland county, Pa. To them 
has been born one child, a son, Edward H., 
born November 1, 1872. 



John H. Devers is a republican, a member of 
the M. E. church, and removed from Homer 
City to Blairsviiie, July 1, 1890. When he 
started on the road as a salesman, over thirty 
years ago, his laudable ambition was to reach 
the topmost round of his business, a position 
which he soon attained and which he has easily 
held ever since. 



WILLIAM DUNCAN, one of Blairsville's 
prosperous merchants, is a son of James 
and Sarah (Clark) Duncan, and was born in 
Cambria county, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1838. 
The Duncan family is of Scotch descent, and in 
the latter part of the eighteenth century the 
paternal grandfather, William Duncan, emi- 
grated from Scotland to America, in company 
with two of his brothers, and settled in Dauphin 
county. From these tiiree brothers have sprung 
a numerous progeny. James Duncan (father) 
was born in 1800, in Dauphin county, but re- 
moved in early manhood to Cambria county and 
for several years drove a six-horse team and 
hauled goods on the old pike, between Phila- 
delphia and Pittsburgli. Leaving the pike, he 
engaged in farming, lumbering and milling 
until his death. He was a whig and an attend- 
ant of the Presbyterian church, to whose sup- 
port he contributed liberally. He inherited 
those sterling qualities of his race, for industry 
and thrift, and at the time of his death, which 
occurred in 1859, he had succeeded in gaining 
considerable material wealth. He was kind to 
the poor and enjoyed the respect of all who 
knew him. He married Sarah Clark, who was 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal cliurch, 
and lived to the advanced age of eighty-two 
years, dying in 1889. Her remaius are interred 
beside her husband in Belsano cemetery. Black 
Lick township, Cambria county. Her father, 
Thomas Clark (maternal grandfather), was a 
native of Ireland, and located in Indiana county, 
whei-e he purchased two or three farms, but soon 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



191 



removed to Cambria county and built the first 
saw-mill that was erected on Black Lick creek. 
He delighted in hunting deer, bears and 
panthers and was known as the greatest hunter 
in Cambria county and died in 1850, at an ad- 
vanced age. 

William Duncan was reared in Cambria 
county and attended the public schools. He 
assisted his father in the lumber and flour busi- 
ness until 1883, when he went to Johnstown 
and for three years was engaged in taking 
contracts for the Cambria Iron company. In 
188G he came to Blairsville and opened his 
present mercantile establishment on the corner 
of Diamond and Liberty streets. He deals in 
dress goods, notions, carpets and tinware and 
also handles watches and jewelry. His stock 
of goods is well selected and adapted to the 
wants of his many patrons. 

On December 9, 1862, he married Emily 
Emerson, daughter of the late Dr. E. P. Emer- 
son, who was one of the pioneers of Blairsville. 
In 1821, Dr. Emerson built the first hotel in 
that place, on the lot now occupied by Ray's 
ware-house. He was a native of Ireland, where 
he was graduated from a well-known medical 
college, and came to America to seek a wider 
field for the practice of his chosen profession. 
To him belongs the distinction of having been 
the first physician of Blairsville. Mr. and Mrs. 
Duncan are the parents of three children : Sadie 
M., William B. and Thomas E. 

William Duncan is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church and a stanch republican. 
He owns the block in which his store is situated 
and has an interest in a large lumbering and 
flouring-mill business in Cambria county. He 
is affable, genial, enterprising and well re- 
spected. 



PAUL GRAFF. In Western Pennsylvania 
as nowhere else in this country are con- 
centrated those industrial forces and facilities 
12 



so necesary to an enlarged and enduring success 
in manufacturing, and one of Indiana county's 
useful citizens, who has always been active in 
developing the mineral resources of his own 
county, is Paul Graff, president of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Blairsville and a member of the 
well-known firm of John Graff's Sons. He is 
a son of John and Lucy S. (Hacke) Graff, and 
was born at Blairsville, Indiana county, Penn- 
sylvania, on Independence Day, 1838. His 
paternal grandparents, John, Sr., and Barbara 
(Baum) Graff, were among the early settlers -of 
Westmoreland county. John Graff, Sr., was 
born at Newid, Germany, April 15, 1763, and 
his grandfather resided at Grafnauer, which 
meant nobility and castle or nobleman Graff's 
castle. John Graff, Sr., came to Westmoreland 
county in 1783 and died December 31, 1818. 
He was a deeply religious man and married 
Barbara Baum, who was born in Path Valley, 
Huntingdon county, and died in 1846, aged 
seventy years. She was remarkably strong, as 
were all the members of her family, which was 
, appropriately named Baum — a word in German 
I meaning tree. She was once captured by In- 
i dians, but former kindness bestowed by her upon 
an old warrior of the marauding party which 
had taken her, caused him to secure her release. 
John Graff, Sr., and his wife Barbara were the 
parents of twelve children : Henry, Mary Lose, 
! Sarah Barnes, William, Margaret Colcasure, 
; Joseph, Elizabeth Armstrong, Peter, Jacob, 
, Matthew, Paul and John. One of the sons, 
] John Graff (father), was born August 3, 1800, 
near Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland county, re- 
ceived a fair education, conducted a store at 
I Pleasant Unity for three years and in 1837 re- 
moved to Blairsville, where he purchased a half 
interest in a warehouse and store owned by his 
brothers Peter and Henry. Two other houses 
were subsequently erected, and in 1847 he as- 
sumed charge of the three houses and their mer- 
cantile business. He admitted his three sons, 
Jacob, Paul and Charles, into partnership with 



192 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



him and established the present general mer- 
cantile house of John Graif's Sons. He was 
a decided opponent of human servitude and was 
run by the Liberty party of the county as a 
candidate for the Legislature and afterwards for 
Congress. He was a zealous and eflBcient 
member of the M. E. church, to which became 
from the Reformed church. He advocated the 
free school law of 1834, served under it as a 
school director, and was successively a wliig, 
free soiler and republican in politics. He died 
in 1885, and was at that time the senior, as re- 
garded age and durability of commercial life, of 
all the merchants then doing business in the 
county. As a man, his aim was to do good and 
his character was above suspicion. In 1824 he 
married Lucy Sophia Hacke, who was a daughter 
of Nicholas Hacke, of Baltimore, Md., and died 
March 4, 1876, aged seventy-one years. Their 
children were Henry, Caroline Shields, dead ; 
Alexander, Jacob, who married Sallie Davis ; 
Paul and Charles, who married Margaret 
Loughry. 

Paul Graff was reared at Blairsville. He re- 
ceived his education in the common schools and 
Plainfield academy, near Carlisle, Pa. He was 
carefully trained to business under the watchful 
care of his father, and in order to fully qualify 
himself for commercial life, he took the com- 
plete course of Duff's Business college, of Pitts- 
burgh. Leaving school, he became a partner 
with his father and brothers, Jacob and Charles, 
in the mercantile business and since his father's 
death has continued in partnership with his 
brothers, under the firm-name of John Graff's 
Sons. They have one of the largest and best 
stocked general mercantile establishments in the 
county. Mr. Graff is a member of the Royal 
Arcanum, Knights of Honor, Chosen Friends, 
Bankers' Association, Heptasophs and Mer- 
chants' and Salesmen's Association. 

In 1860 he married Elizabeth A. Mowry, 
daughter of Henry and Charlotte Mowry, of 
Blairsville. Mr. and Mrs. Graff are the parents 



of five children : George R., who is employed 
in the freight department of the W. P. R. R. ; 
Frank M., a graduate of Lafayette college and 
in business with his father ; Wilber P., in the 
senior class of Lafayette college ; Laura M., 
now in her senior year at Blairsville seminary; 
and Walter R., at .school. 

Paul Graff is a very strong and active re- 
publican and has been president of Blairsville 
school board for three terms. He is a trustee 
and has been class leader of the Blairsville 
M. E. church for the last twenty-one years, as 
well as superintendent of its Sunday-school for 
nearlv the same length of time. He is also 
treasurer of the board of stewards and was a 
member of the building committee which 
erected the present fine church structure which 
was dedicated in December, 1889. To his 
church he has always been a generous and 
willing contributor and also has always en- 
countered, all moral and religious enterprises. 
He is president of the First National bank of 
Blairsville, treasurer of the Blairsville Brick 
company and a stock-holder in the Cheswick 
Land company. While active in mercantile 
and financial enterprises, Paul Graff has also 
been one of the foremost men to push forward 
the material development of his section of the 
county. He was largely instrumental in the 
organization of the Blairsville coke-works and 
the Cheswick Land company. For over thirty 
years he has been in close contact and compe- 
tition with business men all over the southern 
part of the county, yet nothing unfair or dis- 
honorable has ever been charged against him, 
and his word is as good as his bond. As a 
citizen Mr. Graff is public-spirited and patri- 
otic, concerned for the welfare of both his home 
and his country. He is not ambitious for 
political honors, though he never shrinks from 
any official duty and never refuses to serve his 
fellow-citizens in a public capacity whenever 
they call upon him to do so. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



193 



JAMES M. HARVEY. The position occu- 
pied by any town is due to the energy, 
enterprise and judgment of its business men. 
The leading and representative grocer and boot 
and shoe dealer of Blairsville is James M. 
Harvey, a very energetic and remarkably suc- 
cessful young business man. He was born in 
Derry township, Westmoreland county, Penn- 
sylvania, November 18, 1854, and is a son of 
John C. and Margaret (Keelan) Harvey. John 
C. Harvey was born, reared and educated in 
Ireland. He came, about 1840, to Pennsyl- 
vania, where he settled in Derry township, 
Westmoreland county. He became a stage- 
driver on the old pike between Philadelphia 
and Pittsburgh. When the railroads superseded 
the pikes as routes of travel, he turned his time 
and attention to farming in Derry township, 
Westmoreland county, and Burrell township, 
Indiana county. He was a member of the 
Catholic church and always supported the 
democratic ticket after coming to the United 
States. He was a thorough-going and honest 
man and died April 12, 1878, aged fifty-five 
years. He married Margaret Keelan, daughter 
of Patrick and Mary Keelan, and born in 
Derry township, September 15, 1826. She is 
a member of the Catholic church and resides 
now at Blairsville with her children : James M., 
Rebecca, Maggie and Mary. 

James M. Harvey was reared on his father's 
farm and received his education in the Catholic 
schools of Blairsville, which were then, as they 
are now, under the charge of experienced and 
competent instructors. Leaving school at four- 
teen years of age, he entered the general store 
of Nicholas Maher, of Blairsville, as a clerk, 
and remained with Mr. Maher for thirteen 
years. During that period of time he was suc- 
cessively promoted to book-keeper, and general 
manager of the store. In 1882 he left Mr. 
Maher and opened a small grocery store. Con- 
ducting his business on strictly legitimate 
principles, he soon acquired a patronage which 



enabled him to increase his stock of goods. In 
a short time after this his grocery trade had .so 
increased as to justify him in embarking in that 
line of business on an e.vteusive .scale, and he 
removed to his present large and well-arranged 
grocery bouse on the southeast corner of Market 
and Spring streets. In April, 1889, he formed 
a partnership with D. M. Kier and D. A. Fen- 
Ion, under the firm-name of Kier & Co., and 
established a large boot and shoe house on 
Market street, which is rapidly growing in 
favor with the public. Mr. Harvey now owns 
the fine brick business block in which his stores 
are situated, besides other property at Blairsville. 
Aside from his own various business enterprises 
he cheerfully gives his time toward whatever 
advances the material interests of his town, and 
is now serving as a director of the Coneraaugh 
Building and Loan association, of Blairsville. 

On the basis of correct business principles 
Mr. Harvey has built up a large trade and his 
grocery house, which ranks as one of the largest 
grocery estabi ishments in this part of the State, 
is admirably arranged and equipped with every 
facility and convenience for the transaction of 
business. He employs from twelve to fourteen 
salesmen and carries a complete assortment of 
choice imported and domestic staple and fancy 
groceries, crockery, lamps and special family 
supplies. He is a democrat in politics and a 
member of the Catholic church. James M. 
Harvey is the only democratic member of the 
present town council of Blairsville, and has 
been honored, in recognition of his business 
ability and integrity of character, by his party, 
with the nomination for treasurer of Indiana 
county. Mr. Harvey is a conspicuous example 
of what may be accomplished in Indiana county 
by energy, industry, economy and perseverance. 
Starting in life with no means, he has raised 
himself, by continued success, from a poor boy 
to the position of a wealthy and popular bu.si- 
ness man and an honorable and influential 
citizen. 



194 



BIOORAPEIES OF 



ISAAC HICKS, a well-qualified business man 
and a member of the enterprising firm of 
Kiuter & Hicks, is a son of Isaac and Susan 
W. (Dobson) Hicks, and was born at Blairs- 
ville, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Jan- 
uary 26, 1848. His grandfather, Hicks, was 
a native of Centre county, but early in life, 
moved to Rayne township, this county, where 
he engaged in farming. His son, Isaac Hicks, 
Sr. (father), was born on his father's farm, in 
Centre township, in Centre county, in 1808, and 
came to Indiana county when a mere boy. 
During the latter years of his life he was a 
coal merchant of Blairsville. He was a faith- 
ful member of the United Presbyterian church, 
and an uncompromising democrat. He was 
highly esteemnd by the community in which 
he lived, and for several years was borough con- 
stable. He died January, 1887, when he was 
seventy-eight years of age. He married Susan 
W. Dobson, daughter of John Dobson, of Cen- 
tre township, Indiana county, by whom he had 
ten children: William, Cynthia, Priscilla, 
John, Elsie J., wife of John F. Steck; Isaac, 
Peniua, wife of Charles Martin ; Edward A. 
E., Charles M., and Susan I., wife of Robert 
Drewbell. Mrs. Hicks makes her home at 
Blairsville; is in the seventy-ninth year of her 
age, and an esteemed member of the United 
Presbyterian church. 

Isaac Hicks was reared at Blairsville, and at- 
tended the public schools of that borough. In 
1862 he enlisted in Co. K, 193d regiment. Pa. 
Vols., for a four mouths' service in the Union 
army. After he was honorably discharged, in 
Pittsburgh, he engaged in farming in Burrell 
township, which he followed for one year. He 
then opened an office at Blairsville, where for 
twenty-three years he dealt in coal. 

In June, 1888, he went into partnership with 
J. Austin Kinter, under the firm-name of 
Kinter & Hicks, since which time they have 
dealt in groceries, flour and feed and by careful 
attention to their business have succeeded in 



building up a good trade, and are now eligibly 
located in a fine and commodious building at 
No. 125, on Walnut street. 

On June 19, 1867,- he married Harriet 
Young, daughter of James Young, of Washing- 
ton township, who was killed in the battle of 
the Wilderness during the late civil war. They 
have had no children, but have adopted a little 
girl whom they are rearing as their own. 

Isaac Hicks is a straightforward republican, 
and attends the United Presbyterian church. 
He is numbered among the substantial citizens 
of Blairsville and as one of its self-made men 
belongs to that class of progressive and public- 
spirited men whose honor, enterprise and social 
qualities give character to any community in 
which they reside. 



REV. GEORGE HILL, D.D. A pleasant 
and long-to-be-remembered occasion is 
the semi-centennial of Dr. George Hill's pas- 
torate of the Blairsville Presbyterian church, 
which was held from the 8th to the 11th of 
June, 1890. This great gathering was in honor 
and respect of one who has given a half a cen- 
tury of his best life-work and thought for the 
intellectual, moral and religious advancement of 
his people. Rev. George Hill, D.D., is a son 
of Hon. Johti and Jane (Moorhead) Hill, and 
was born September 18, 1815, in that part of 
the Ligonier Valley which is in Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania. 

The first settlers of western Pennsylvania 
were of presbyterian faith and were gathered 
into churches by such able men as Finley, 
Power, McMillan and Smith, who were gradu- 
ates of Princeton college and fine classical schol- 
ars. Among the men who were educated for 
the presbyterian ministry under the immediate 
successors of these distinguished ministers, was 
Rev. George Hill (grandfather). He was born 
in York county March 13, 1764, and at nine- 
teen years of age removed with his father to 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



195 



Fayette county, where he was licensed to preach 
December 22, 1791. On November 13, 1792, 
he was installed as pastor of Fairfield, Donegal 
and Wheatfield congregations. On April 11, 
1798, he resigned the charge of Wheatfield and 
acceptetl a call to Ligonier. In these charges 
he labored until his death, on June 9, 1822. 
He was a man of remarkable vigor of constitu- 
tion and wonderful will to work. He was very 
sensitive and exceedingly modest. When duty 
required, however, that he should take decided 
ground and appear in the defense of the truth 
he showed himself to be equal to the crisis, and 
displayed much firmness of character, as well 
as acuteness of intellect. He married Elizabeth 
McClelland, of Fayette county. One of liis 
sons was Hon. John Hill (father), who wa.s born 
March 20, 1790, and died August 22, 1856. 
He was a member of the Fairfield Presbyterian 
church, but would never accept an eldership. 
He was a strong democrat, frequently repre- 
sented Westmoreland county in the legislature 
and .served as a member of the State senate for 
several terms. He commanded a company of i 
troops under Gen. Harrison in the war of 1812. 
He married Jane Moorhead, of Derry townsiiip, [ 
Westmoreland county, who was boi'n June 30, ' 
1795, and died December 18, 1854. She was 
a presbyterian and sleeps in Fairfield cemetery 
where her husband and his father and grand- 
father are likewise sleeping. 

Rev. George Hill was graduated from -Teffer- 
son college, Cannousburg, Pa., in 1837, and 
from the Western Theological seminary, of 
Pittsburgh, in 1840. He was invited to preach 
at Blairsviile and Salem, and did so, as health 
permitted, until 1841, when he was ordained 
and installed by the presbytery of Blairsviile, 
as co-pastor with Rev. Thomas Davis, who died 
May 28, 1848. In October, Mr. Hill was re- 
leased from Salem and gave all his time to 
Blairsviile until 1882, when Rev. J. W. Cris- 
well was called as co-pastor. In recognition of 
his faithful services in the ministry, Washington 



and Jefferson college, in 1869, conferred upon 
him the degree of D.D. On Sunday, June 8, 
1890, the Blairsviile Presbyterian church began 
the celebration of the semi-centennial of the 
pastorate of Dr. Hill with them, and the appro- 
priate and impressive exercises of the occasion 
will long be remembered by the great crowds 
who were present from Sunday to Wednesday. 
During this half-century of the pastorate of Dr. 
Hill, which commenced May 31, 1840, eleven 
hundred and eighty-two members have been 
added to the church. 

•On September 21, 1841, he married Har- 
riet Lewis, who was a daughter of Rev. David 
Lewis, pastor of Ebenezer Presbyterian church, 
and died November 3, 1852, leaving four chil- 
dren, of whom two are living: Harriet, who is 
a teacher ; and Sarah, wife of I. W. Mitchell, a 
merchant of Washington, Pa. Ou March 23, 
1854, Dr. Hill married for his second wife, Abi- 
gail Hawes, of Boston, Mass., and has by his 
second marriage three children : Abigail Grace, 
wife of Rev. A. C. Brown, of Peoria, 111 ; 
Rev. George H., pastor of Beechwoods Presby- 
terian church, Jefferson county ; and Helen. 

He has always been a republican until lately, 
when he voted with the prohibitionists. In 
1850 he founded Blairsviile Female seminary, 
which is doing such excellent service for Chris- 
tian education. In 1883 he was elected presi- 
dent of the board of directors of the Western 
Theological seminarv, of which he had served 
as a director since 1847, and first vice-president 
since 1870. In J 861 he was elected moderator 
of the presbyterian synod of Pittsburgh. Dr. 
Hill is an earnest, humble Christian, who de- 
spises shams ; sometimes despondent on account 
of ill health, but usually cheerful and very so- 
ciable. He is thoroughly orthodox. His mind 
is vigorous and well-informed ; his thought 
clear and his utterance forcible. He is a faith- 
ful pastor, and an instructive, interesting and 
eloquent preacher, and fearless in the expression 
of his views. He has few superiors as a pres- 



196 



BIOQBAPHIES OF 



byter and is no mean antagonist in debate. He 
and his estimable wife have a pleasant and 
comfortable home on Walnut street, where they 
make all who visit them full welcome and happy. 



GEORGE W. INNES, one of Indiana coun- 
ty's most prominent and efficient teachers 
and principal of the Blairsville schools for the 
last eighteen years, was born at St. Thomas, 
Canada, .July 27, 1837, and is a son of Alex- 
ander and Eliza J. (Wilson) Innes. Alexander 
Innes was a native of Sutherlandshire, Scot- 
land, and came to the United States when 
young, but remained in this country only a few 
years until he removed to Canada, where he 
died in 1847, aged thirty-five years. He was a 
carpenter by trade and a member of the Free 
Presbyterian church of Scotland. He was an 
honest, industrious man, and while in the 
United States married Eliza J. Wilson, who 
came "with her mother and brother from county 
Monaghan, Ireland, to near Leechburg, Arm- 
strong county, this State. She was reared in 
the Associate Presbyterian church, but after- 
wards united with the United Presbyterian 
church, of which she was an earnest and con- 
sistent member until her death at Blairsville, 
October 18, 1889, when in the seventy-fifth 
year of her age. 

At ten years of age, George W. Innes came 
with his mother to Pittsburgh, where they re- 
mained three or four years and then removed to 
Indiana county. He received his elementary 
education in the Canadian schools and the 
graded schools of Pittsburgh, while he com- 
pleted his academic studies and took a classical 
course under a private tutor of fine education 
and literary ability. In 1857 he entered the 
profession of teaching when but a youth and 
commenced his successful career as a teacher in 
the common schools of Indiana county. Hav- 
ing completed his educational course and been 
successful in the district .schools as a teacher. 



his services were sought by directors of graded 
schools and trustees of academies. He be- 
came principal of Perrysville academy, Jeffer- 
son county, which position he held for two 
years. He next took charge of Washington 
academy, in Clearfield county, which he con- 
ducted for three years. In 1870 he was 
elected principal of Apollo public schools, in 
Armstrong county. His methods of instruction 
and discipline gave such good satisfiiction that 
he was elected annually as principal for five 
years and then declined another election to 
accept the principalship of the Blairsville 
schools. There his educational work .soon grew 
in favor with the public, and Blairsville has 
enjoyed for fourteen years the beneficial results 
of his ripe educational labors and valuable 
experience. 

Prof. George W. Innes is a republican in 
politics, an elder in the United Presbyterian 
church and a pleasant and courteous gentleman. 
As an educator he ranks deservediv his;h and is 
abreast of the age; as a teacher he has few 
superiors in the State and as a scholar is 
thorough and well conversant with all the ideas 
of modern education. 



pAPTAIN JOHN P. KENNEDY, a prom- 
^ inent contractor of Blairsville and captain 
of Co. D, 5th regiment of the National Guard 
of Pennsylvania, is a son of Samuel and 
Amelia (Paige) Kennedy, and was born in 
Johnstown, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, 
Augu.st 29, 1853. Early in the present century 
two brothers, William and David Kennedy, 
emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania, where 
their descendants are numerous to-day. Wil- 
liam Kennedy located in Indiana county, where 
his son, Samuel Kennedy (father), was born in 
1819. From about 1840 until 1877, Samuel 
Kennedy was an employe of the Cambria Iron 
Co., in Johnstown. He then removed to 
Harvey county, Kansas, where he has been en- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



197 



gaged ever since in farming. He is an elder in 
the United Presbyterian ciiurch and a republi- 
can in politics. He married Amelia Paige, 
who was brought by her parents from England 
to Brush Valley township when only a few 
months old. She was a member of the Asso- 
ciate Reformed church, died in 1855, at the 
early age of twenty-eight years, and her remains 
were interred in the Johnstown, Pa., cemetery. 
Her father, Edmund Paige, was an episcopalian, 
but finding no church of his denomination in 
Brush Valley township, he united with the Luth- 
eran church. He was a farmer and died in 1865, 
when he was in the seventy-fourth year of his 
age. 

John P. Kennedy was only two years old 
when his mother died, and he was then taken 
and reared by his uncle, John D. Paige. He at- 
tended the public schools of Cherry Hill town- 
ship, and theu learned the trade of carpenter, 
which he followed until 1878, when he went to 
Greenville, and embarked in the furniture and 
undertaking business. In 1880 his store was 
burned, but he rebuilt it and continued in that 
business for five years. In 1883 he removed 
to Blairsville, where, the following year, he 
formed a partnership with D. M. Fair, a lum- 
ber merchant and contractor of that place, under 
the firm-name of Fair & Kennedy. Since 
then Mr. Kennedy has been continuously and 
successfully engaged in contracting and dealing 
in lumber, but his firm has been changed three 
times. June 15, 1889, Mr. Fair retired from 
the partnership, and NYilliam Young and W. 
A. Fair entered it. During the next six i 
months the firm was known as Kennedy, 
Young & Fair, but in November, 1889, the ' 
partnership was dissolved and a new one formed 
between J. P. Kennedy and W. A. Fair, who 
continued the business under the title of 
Kennedy & Fair. In April, 1890, D. M. Fair j 
and J. M. Conner were taken into the firm, but 
the name remained unchanged. Since April, 
1890, the business of the firm has increased so 



rapidly that they have had to enlarge their 
buildings to twice their original capacity, and 
put into operation their present large planing- 
mill. 

On December 25th, 1876, Mr. Kennedy mar- 
ried Hannah E., daughter of Thomas and Jane 
McKesson, of Cherry Hill township. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Kennedy have been born three chil- 
dren: Edmund A., Claire McBeth and John 
D. Paige. 

Capt. Kennedy is an elder in the United 
Presbyterian church and of late years has sup- 
ported the Prohibition party. In 1875 he be- 
came a member of Co. D, 13th regiment, 
National Guard of Pennsylvania, and was 
successively promoted from a private until 
he became second lieutenant. His company 
was transferred in 1879 to the 10th regi- 
ment, and participated in the quelling of 
the Pittsburgh riots in 1877. In July, 1881, 
the company was mustered out of ser- 
vice. In 1887, by permission of Adj. -Gen. 
Hastings, Lieut. Kennedy and others organized 
a C(jmpany at Blairsville, which, in January, 
1888, became Co. D, 5th regiment. National 
Guard of Pennsylvania. When this company 
was mustered into .service, Lieut. Kennedy was 
unanimously elected as captain, which position 
he has held ever since with credit to himself 
and benefit to the company. 



JOHN M. KINKAID, a popular clothier and 
'-' superintendent of the business of the 
Saltsburg Natural Gas company at Blairsville, 
is a son of Rev. Samuel P. and Hannah J. 
(McFariand) Kinkaid and was born at Karns 
City, Butler county, Pennsylvania, July 13, 
1864. The Kinkaid family is of Scotch-Irish 
descent. Rev. Samuel P. Kinkaid was a pres- 
byterian minister and served several churches 
of that denomination. In 1866 he was kicked 
by a horse and died from the injuries thus re- 
ceived in the same year. He was conscientious 



198 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and straightforward as a man and was highly ! 
esteemed as a minister, who always did his fall 
duty. He married Hannah J. McFarland, 
daughter of William McFarland, of Indiana 
county. Eight years after the death of her 
husband she moved to Indiana, where she now 
resides. She is a member of the Presbyterian 
church. 

John M. Kinkaid was principally reared at 
Indiana and received his education in the public 
schools and the State Normal school at Indiana. 
His first practical experience in business life 
was obtained as a clerk with the general mercan- 
tile firm of A. W. Wilson & Sons, of Indiana, 
in whose employ he remained six years. In 
1885 he opened his present clothing and gents' 
furnishing goods establishment. He has a neat 
and well-arranged salesroom and keeps a large 
and finely selected stock of goods. He has 
built up a good trade and always given satis- 
faction to the public in the quality and prices 
of his goods. He is also employed by the 
Pittsburg owners of the Saltsburg Natural 
Gas company to act as the superintendent of 
their business at Blairsville. He is a republican 
in politics and a member of Blairsville Conclave, 
No. 178, Independent Order of Heptasophs. 
Mr. Kinkaid is energetic and enterprising and 
has good assurance of future success. 



T AUSTIN KINTER, a member of the 
^ • successful firm of Kinter & Hicks, and 
the descendant of a family noted for its long- 
evity, is a son of Peter and Sallie (Smith) Kin- 
ter, and was born in Rayue township, Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, July 30, 18-18. The 
Kinter family is of Irish descent. Philip 
Kinter (great-great-grandfather) emigrated from 
Ireland to Huntingdon county, Pa. He married 
Barbara King, and one of their sons, John 
Kinter (great-grandfather), was a soldier in the 
Revolution. In 1808 he removed to what is 
now Grant township, Indiana county, settling 



near Kinterhill, the highest point in the town- 
ship, which was named after him. He married 
Isabella Fiudley and died when he was eighty- 
two years old. His wife lived to be ninety- 
one years of age. They had ten children, one 
of whom, Henry, served in the United States 
army during the war of 1812. Archibald 
Kinter (grandfather) was born in this State, lived 
to be eighty-eight years old, and followed the 
occupation of farming until his death. Peter 
Kinter (father) was born in Washington town- 
ship, where he has lived all his life and been 
engaged in farming. He and his wife are mem- 
bers of the United Presbyterian church. He is a 
prominent republican and has been elected and 
served one term of three years as jury com- 
missioner of the county. On the 21st day of 
November, 1833, he married Sallie Smith, a 
native of this county, who died September 12, 
1884. 

J. Austin Kinter was reared on his father's 
farm and after attending the public schools of 
Washington township and the academy at 
Homer City, he worked for several years on a 
farm during the summer and taught school in 
the winter. On the 23d of August, 18ti4, at the 
age of sixteen, he enlisted in Co. F, 206th reg., 
Pa. Vols., for a term of one year. He was 
mustered out of service June 26, 1865. His 
regiment (206th) had the honor of being the 
first regiment to enter Richmond after its evacu- 
ation by the Confederates, and to fling to the 
breeze, over its historic walls, the stars and 
stripes of the Union. He was one of the 
youngest soldiers who enlisted from Indiana 
county. After his return from the army, he 
filled the office of justice of the peace at 
Jacksonville for two years, and when removing 
from the town he resigned and then became a 
clerk with different merchants of Blairsville 
until 1888, when he went into partnership 
with Isaac Hicks. 

The firm of Kinter & Hicks have built up a 
substantial trade, and deal in groceries, flour 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



201 



and feed. This spring they were compelled to 
build a larger storeroom to accommodate their 
growing trade. 

On July 31, 1873, he married Miranda 
Wolfe, daughter of George Wolfe, of Centre 
township. They have five children : Mertie, 
Metta, Claire, Willis and George. 

J. A. Kinter is an elder in the United 
Presbyterian church, and in political matters 
always supports the republican ticket. He is 
one of the enterprising, prosperous citizens of 
Blairsville and is always interested in the ad- 
vancement of his town. 



ISRAEL PUTMAN KLINGENSMITH, 
-»- M.D., F.S.S, a promising and leading 
physician and surgeon of Blairsville, was born 
near Jeanette, in Hempfield (now Penn) town- 
ship, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
April 18th, 1850, and is a son of Isaac and 
Christina (Wegley) Klingensmith. Among the 
early settlers of Westmoreland county was a 
body of Germans from the eastern part of the 
State, noted for their sturdy character and thrift. 
Of these was John Klingensmith, the great- 
grandfather of Doctor Klingensmith. In poli- 
tics the Klingensmiths were chiefly democrats 
and by hereditary association attached to the 
Lutheran church. His son Abraham was born 
in 1798, was a farmer and owned near Jeannette, 
the farm long known as the Old Salt Works or 
Klingensmith farm. He married Elizabeth Ei- 
cher(born Oct. 18th, 1802-died Oct. Uth, 1875) 
and died 1864. The eldest of his five children 
was Isaac Klingensmith (father of the doctor), 
who was born April 15, 1821, in Penn township, 
Westmoreland county, where he still resides. 
He is an extensive farmer and gives some at- 
tention to stock-raising; a member and elder of 
the Evangelical Lutheran church ; and a re- 
spected citizen of tlie community where he has 
spent seventy years. On April 1st, 1849, he 
married Christina Wegley (born in Hempfield 



township Sept. 27th, 1822), and who, like her 
husband, is a member of the Lutheran church. 
To them were born Israel Putmanaud a daugh- 
ter, still unmarried. ]Mrs. Klingensmith is a 
daughter of Jacob Wegley (maternal grand- 
father, born Jan. 17th, 1795), who married Eliza- 
beth Heasley, June 24th, 1819, and died Sept. 
6th, 1870. Pie was a son of Abraham and 
Christina (Briney) Wegley and a grandson of 
John and Christina (Johnston) Wegley, natives 
of Northampton county, who removed to West- 
moreland county in 1773. The Wegleys have 
generally been lutherans in faith, farmers by 
occupation, and democrats in politics. 

Israel P. Klingensmith received his education 
in the public schools and academies of his na- 
tive county and at Capital university, Colum- 
bus, Ohio. 

After reading medicine with Dr. J. W. B. 
Kamerer, of Greensburg, Pa., and with the 
celebrated surgeon. Prof Samuel W. Gross, of 
Philadelphia, he entered Jefferson Medical col- 
lege, Philadelphia, and was graduated March 
nth, 1875. 

Upon graduation he was entrusted, for two 
months, with the practice of Dr. J. S. Miller, 
of New Derry, and in July located at Derry 
Station, a prosperous town of Westmoreland 
county on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Here 
he soon built up an extensive and paying prac- 
tice. As was natural to a pupil of Dr. Gross, 
he gave special attention to surgery, and his 
skill in this department soon became widely 
known. A wider field offering at Blairsville, 
he removed in 1883 to that town. Here by his 
rare professional skill and attainments, and the 
conscientious discharge of his duties as a physi- 
cian and surgeon, he has built up a large and 
lucrative practice and, as formerly at Derry, 
special demand has been made upon his surgi- 
cal skill. Since 1876 he has been surgeon for 
the Pennsylvania railroad. 

The medical society of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania sent Dr. Klingensmith in 1878 as a dele- 



202 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



gate to the West Virginia Medical Society, in 
session at Weston, W. Va. Wliile at Derry he 
was made president of the Westmoreland County 
Medical society, and is now a member and 
Ex-President of the Indiana County Medical 
society. He is also a member of the medical 
society of the State of Pennsylvania, the 
American Medical association, the British 
Medical association ; a corresponding member 
of the New York academy of Anthropology, 
and the Medico-Legal society of New York; a 
Fellow of the Society of Science, Letters and 
Art of London, and a member of the National 
Association of railway surgeons. 

Dr. Klingeusniith has published, largely in 
connection with his membership in these socie- 
ties, as follows: — 

" Treatment of Typhoid Fever," Medical 
Record, Aug. 25th, 1883, Vol. 24, page 204. 
Read before the Westmoreland County Medical 
society. May 1st, 1883. 

" Calomel in Diphtheria," Medical Record, 
July 12th, 1884, Vol. 26, page 36. 

"Incontinence of Urine," Archives of Pcedi- 
atrics, Sept. 1884, Vol. 1, page 657. 

" Hay Asthma," read in section of Laryng- 
ology, Ninth International Medical congress, 
held at Washington, D. C, Sept. 5-9, 1887. 
Transactions, Vol. 4, page 11. 

"A New Antiseptic Pocket Surgical Case," 
Medical Record, June 27th, 1890, Vol. 37, 
page 737. 

It may be here noted in furtherance of his 
literary and professional work, the doctor has 
acquired a large and valuable library, and on 
the side of general literature, rich in an exten- 
sive collection of English poetry. This library, 
which is especially full and complete in surgi- 
cal literature, is supplemented by an equally 
extensive and complete surgical armamenta- 
rium. 

On September 13th, 1883, shortly prior to 
his removal to Blairsville, Dr. Kliugensmith 
married Mary Caroline Brunot. Their union 



has been blest with three children : Hilary 
Brunot, Mary Christina and William Isaac. 

Mrs. Kliugensmith is a daughter of Hilary 
J. Brunot, a leading citizen of Greensburg, Pa., 
a descendant of the old and highly honorable 
Brunot family of France, and whose grand- 
father, the celebrated Dr. Felix Brunot, was a 
foster-brother of Gen. Lafayette. 

Dr. Klingensmith is a vesti-yman of St. 
Peter's church, Blairsville, and in politics a 
democrat. He is courteous and sociable, public- 
spirited and endowed with strong will-power. 
His sociable disposition early led the doctor to 
become a member of the Masonic Fraternity. 
He passed rapidly through the four bodies lo- 
cated at Greensburg: namely, Westmoreland 
Lodge, No. 518, F. A. M.', Urania R. A. 
Chapter, No. 192; Olivet Council Royal and Se- 
lect Masters No. 13, and Kedron Commandery, 
No. 18, Knights Templar. In addition he has 
attained the thirty-second degree of the Ancient 
and Accepted Scottish Rite, and is a Noble of 
Syria Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of 
the Mystic Shrine, both of Pittsburg. As he 
ascended, the interests of the doctor widened, 
and he was made a member of Philadelphia 
Conclave, No. 8, Kniglits of the Red Cross of 
Rome and Constantine, and becoming a member 
of the Royal Masonic Rite he was made Deputy 
Grand Representative for Pennsylvania. About 
the same time he was complimented with Hon- 
orary membership (33°, 90°, 95°) in the Sover- 
eign Sanctuary of Canada. After a period of 
five years the doctor was elected, in 1888, Very 
Illurtrious Junior Grand Master of Ceremonies, 
Royal Masonic Rite U. S. A., embracing Orders 
and Degrees as follows: — The Ancient and 
Honorable Order of Royal Ark Mariners; The 
Royal Oriental Order of Sikha and Sat B'Hai ; 
The Ancient and Primitive, Oriental and Egyp- 
tian Reformed Rites, 4° to 33° ; Rite of Miz- 
raim, 4° to 90° ; The Supreme Riteof Memphis 
and the Egyptian Masonic Rite of Memphis, 4° 
to 96°. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



203 



With this interest in the principles of good- 
fellowship characteristic of Masonry, and further- 
ed in this interest by his position as a surgeon 
and physician, the Doctor is also a member of 
many of the fraternal and benevolent associa- 
tions and organizations which promote good 
will and co-operation in these United States. 



SAMUEL S. LOAVRY, D D.S., a popular 
young dentist of Blairsville, is a son of 
Dr. Mortimer B. and Lizzie (Davis) Lowry, and 
was born at Brookville, Jefferson county, Penn- 
sylvania, December 25, 1861. The Lowry 
family is of Scotch-Irish descent, and one of its 
members, Dr. Samuel Lowry (grandfather), was 
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, 
Philadelphia, and was for many years a prac- 
ticing physician of Strattonville, Clarion county, 
Pennsylvania. His son, Dr. Mortimer B. 
Lowry (father), was born at Strattonville, Pa., 
in 1841, and has been a successful dentist for 
thirty years, twenty-five of which he has spent 
at Brookville, where he has a large patronage. 
He married Lizzie Davis, daughter of Chester 
Davis, of Blairsville. He is an esteemed mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church and a 
republican in politics. His wife died in 1888, 
in the forty-seventh year of her age. Her 
father, Chester Davis (maternal grandfather)^ is 
also of Scotch-Irish descent, and is ensraged in 
the furniture business at Blairsville. 

Samuel S. Lowry was reared at Brookville, 
and attended the public schools of that place. 
From early boyhood he showed a taste and ap- 
titude for dentistry and leaving school he studied 
that profession with his father for six years and 
then became a student in a leading dental col- 
lege from which he was graduated in the class 
of 1889. In the fall of the same year he located 
at Blairsville for the practice of dentistry. His 
work has been of a character to recommend him 
to the public as a skilled and honest dentist and 



his patrons are rapidly increasing in number. 
His dental parlors are well furnished and 
equipped with the late appliances of his profes- 
sion. He makes a specialty of operative den- 
tistry, and his six years' experience in his father's 
office well qualified him for the success which 
he has achieved at the very beginning of his 
career. In politics Dr. Lowry is a republican, 
but does not allow political matters to take much 
of his attention from his business. Dr. Lowry 
is a courteous gentleman and well read upon 
dentistry and all subjects relating to or in any 
wav connected with it. 



"DICHARD BUTLER McCABE first 
-Ll* saw the light in the county of Cumber- 
land, now Perry, Pa., on the 5th of August, 
1792. His grandfather, Owen McCabe (in the 
colonial records erroneously called McKibe), 
was a native of county Tyrone, Ireland, and 
came to this country at an early age. His first 
home was in Lancaster county, where he inter- 
married with Catherine Sears, and subsequently 
moved, with his wife and eldest son, James, the 
father of Richard, to Sherman's Valley; these 
two were the first men who settled in the 
valley. Their settlement was named Tyrone 
township, in memory of the childhood's home 
of the elder McCabe. Tyrone iron works and 
Tyrone City, on the Central railroad, also derive 
their name from the same hardy pioneer. 

" When the war of Independence broke out 
the brave old pioneer, with two hardy and 
stalwart sons, Robert and William, in company 
with Nicholas Hughes, Richard's maternal 
grandfather, and two equally gallant sons, 
shouldered arms and went to Bunker Hill. 

"From the family of our subject's mother 
descended the founders of many distinguished 
families of the south and west. James McCabe, 
the father of Richard, was regarded by his co- 
temporaries as a man of the purest integrity, 



•204 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



scrupulously conscientious in all his dealings, 
brave, kind and generous. Before Forbes ap- 
proached Fort Diiquesne, or Armstrong burnt 
Kittanning, a company was formed at or near 
Carlisle, the first that ever, in Pennsylvania, 
pursued the Indians as far as the Allegheny 
mountains. James McCabe was a lieutenant in 
that company. 

" He accompanied General Arnold upon his 
famous expedition up the Kennebec, and across 
into Canada, and being by the heroic Mont- 
gomery when he fell at Quebec, was the first to 
raise him from the ground. He fought gal- 
lantly in many battles, and after the revolution 
returned home broken in health by the terrible 
exposure to which he had been subjected. 

"In 1795 Lieut. McCabe died, leaving the 
subject of this sketch to the care and control of 
the widowed mother. He learned the trade of 
carpenter, but soon went to Philadelphia, and 
some time afterwards became a clerk in a Pitts- 
burg store. Leaving the Iron City, he acted 
for several years as a manager of iron-works. 
He read law at Richmond, Va., and Harris- 
burg, was admitted to the bar, and commenced 
to practice at Huntingdon. Subsequently he 
came to Blairsville (1830), where he resided 
until his death, January 10, 1860. 

"His antiquarian researches were extensive, 
and to him we are indebted for the preservation 
of much of the early history of western Penn- 
sylvania. His 'Brady' and other sketches are 
found in nearly every history of the State. At 
the close of his life he was engaged upon a 
'Biography of the Priest of the Allegheny 
mountains' — the Russian prince Gallitzin, 
which promised to be a most charming and in- 
teresting work." 

In 1820 he married Sarah A., daughter of 
John Holland. To their union were born eleven 
children. 

During the time he resided at Blairsville he 
was elected and served one term as prothono- 
tary of Indiana county. 



JOSEPH MOORHEAD. The Blairsville 
" Enterprise, since it came into the hands of 
Joseph Moorhead, has had a strong hold upon 
the public by its honest independence in all 
things and in being a thoroughly pure news- 
paper in which there is no objectionable read- 
ing. Joseph Moorhead is a son of Hon. Samuel 
and Martha (Bell) INIoorhead, and was born in 
Burrell township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, August 16, 1829. The Moorhead and 
Bell families trace their trans-Atlantic ancestry 
back to the north of Ireland. Samuel Moor- 
head, paternal grandfather of Joseph Moorhead, 
was born in 1769, in Cumberland county. He 
learned the trade of tanner and then removed to 
the northern part of Westmoreland county 
where there was no tannery and consequently sold 
his leather as fast as he could manufacture it 
for many years. He purchased eight or ten 
farms, became very wealthy and died in 1853, 
aged eighty-four years. His son, Hon. Samuel 
Moorhead (father), was born in Burrell town- 
ship, this county, where he was engaged largely 
during his life-time in farming. He was a 
presbyterian and a democrat, built the dam be- 
low Blairsville on the old Pennsylvania canal 
and died in 1848, aged fifty-seven years. He 
was a man of keen perception and remarkably 
good judgment. In 1830, Gov. George Wolf 
appointed him associate judge of the courts of 
Indiana couuty, which position he held very 
creditably for six years. Judge Moorhead 
married Martha Bell, who was a member of 
the Presbyterian church. She was a daughter 
of John Bell (maternal grandfather), who re- 
moved, in early life, from Cumberland to West- 
moreland county. 

Joseph Moorhead was reared on his father's 
farm and received his education in the common 
schools. He was engaged in farming until 
1863, when, in July of that year, he enlisted in 
Co. A, 101st regiment, Pa. Vols. He served 
until April, 1865, when he was honorably dis- 
charged at Camp Reynolds, Allegheny county. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



205 



and returned home to resume charge of his farm. 
In 1886 he removed to Blairsville and became 
editor and proprietor of the Blairsville Enter- 
prise, which had been started in 1880. It is a 
quarto of eight columns to th^ page, filled with 
carefully selected reading matter and containing, 
in condensed form, all the important county 
news and local happenings. Among other com- 
mendable features of the paper, it gives a com- 
plete and accurate church and society directory 
of Blairsville. It is republican in politics and 
has attained a circulation of seven hundred 
copies. 

In 1852, Mr. Moorhead married for his first 
wife Rebecca Armel, daughter of Isaac Armel, 
of Burrell township. She died in 1870, leaving 
three children : Richard E., George R. and 
Jessie M. Mr. Moorhead was re-married in 
1871, to Rebecca Hosack, daughter of Alexan- 
der Ho.sack, of Burrell township. To this 
second union have been born five children, three 
sons and two daughters : John W. , Harry S., 
Joseph P., Alice C. and Myrtilla B. 

Joseph Moorhead is a republican and an elder 
of the Blairsville Presbyterian church. He is 
a member of Blairsville Lodge, No. 9, Order of 
Solon, and Findley Patch Post, No. 137, Grand 
Army of the Republic. On July 24, 1890, he 
was appointed, by President Harrison, post- 
master of Blairsville, for a term of four years. 
Mr. Moorhead has aimed in journalism to give 
the public a clean and pure paper, devoted to 
the true interests of Blairsville and Indiana 
countv and success has crowned his eflfbrts. 



SAMUEL HOWARD SHEPLEY, A.M., 
whose death occurred November 18, 1874, 
was born at Quincy, Mass., March 6, 1810. 
He fitted for college at an academy in New 
Hampshire, and was graduated from Bowdoin 
college, Maine, in the class of 1833. After 
graduation he was principal of an academy for 
two years and then entered Andover Theologi- 



cal seminary to study for the Christian min- 
istry, but completed his course at Bangor The- 
ological seminary. He was licensed to preach 
in June, 1838, and in October was ordained 
pastor of the Congregational church of New 
Gloucester, Maine. In 1848 he returned to 
teaching, and iu 1852 became principal of the 
Blairsville Female seminary, which position he 
filled most acceptably for thirteen years. 

The following tribute is paid to his memory 
by Rev. George Hill, D.D. : "His last years 
were spent without any direct pastoral or edu- 
cational charge, but he was not idle. He 
preached, as opportunity offered, in vacant 
churches and in the pulpits of his brethren in 
the ministry, many of whom are indebted to 
him for valuable help in time of need. He 
loved the prayer-meeting and especially the 
monthly concert, and contributed by his pres- 
ence and his words of cheer to make them in- 
teresting and attractive to others. He was 
always deeply interested in revivals of religion, 
and his very last public address, made at the 
October meeting of Presbytery, was on this 
subject, when it, at his suggestion, was before 
that body for conference and prayer. He was 
even then suffering great pain from the disea.se 
which terminated his life. After a sleepless 
night he returned home, in the early morning, 
to lie down upon the bed from which, six weeks 
later, good men carried him to his burial. These 
weeks, particularly the last two, were weeks of 
severe suffering, amounting much of the time to 
extreme agony. But no word of complaint or 
impatience, not even a groan escaped his lips. 
He often expressed the desire to fly away and 
be at rest; but he was willing to wait, and did 
patiently wait all the days of his appointed 
time until his change came." 



ANTES SNYDER. One regarded as an 
authority upon railroad engineering in the 
western part of the State is Antes Snyder, of 



206 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Blairsville, engineer of right of way, Pennsyl- 
vania Kailroad Division, and a grandson of 
Governor Simon Snyder, after whom Snyder 
county, Pennsylvania, was named. He was 
born at Selinsgrove, Snyder county, Pennsyl- 
vania, December 9, 1836, and is a son of George 
A. and Ann Ellen (Duncan) Snyder. Governor 
Snyder's father, Anthony Snyder, was a me- 
chanic, who came, in 1758, from Germany to 
this State, where he died in 1774. Governor 
Snyder was born in Lancaster county, Novem- 
ber 5, 1759, and died near Selinsgrove, Pa., 
November 9, 1819. He learned the trade of tan- 
ner, and in 1784 removed to Selinsgrove, where 
he became a large land-owner, a prosperous 
business man and a popular and influential 
democratic leader. He served as a member of 
the Pennsylvania legislature, was speaker of the 
house for six terms and originated the "hun- 
dred-dollar act," which embodied the arbitra- 
tioH principles and provided for the trial of 
causes where the amount in question was less 
than $100. In 1808, 1811 and 1814 he was 
elected on the democratic ticket as governor of ; 
Pennsylvania by majorities ranging between 
twenty thousand and fifty thousand. He was a 
man who had the courage of his convictions, 
and made an excellent governor. In 1817 he 
was elected as a member of the State senate, 
and two years later died on November 9, 1819, 
aged sixty years. He married, and one of his 
sons was George A. Snyder (father), who was 
born in the latter part of the last century and 
removed to Williamsport, Pa., where he resided 
until his death. He was a lawyer by profession, 
a unitarian in religion and married Ann Ellen 
Duncan, who was a native of Lycoming county. 
Antes Snyder was reared at Selinsgrove and 
Pottstown and received his early education in 
the public schools of the former and the private 
schools of the latter place. Leaving school, he 
studied civil and topographical engineering with 
his uncle, Capt. Pollston, who was a graduate 
of West Point Military academy and a civil 



engineer on the Reading railroad. After com- 
pleting his studies with his uncle he was en- 
gaged in the engineering department of the Read- 
ing railroad and remained on that road as an en- 
gineer until 1857.* He then went to Farrands- 
ville, Clinton county, where he assumed charge 
of a rolling mill and coal mines, which were well 
understood to be the individual property at that 
time of Christina, queen of Spain. In 1859 
he left Farrandsville and went to New Jersey, 
where he had charge of the construction of the 
railroad from Millville to Cape May. In 1863 
he came to Blairsville and completed the con- 
struction of the Western Pennsylvania railroad 
from Blairsville to Allegheny city, which had 
been undertaken by the Northwestern railroad 
company, which had failed when the road was 
nearly graded. After the completion of the 
last-named road he removed (1869) to Freeport, 
Armstrong county, and was in charge of the 
construction of the Butler Branch of the West- 
ern Pennsylvania R. R. In 1871 he left the 
service of the Pennsylvania Railroad company 
and was engaged for two years in the lumber 
business, first at Freeport and then in Pitts- 
burg. In 1873 he again accepted service with 
the Pennsylvania Railroad Comjiany, and has 
remained in their employ ever since. He was 
-stationed by the company at Springdale, Alle- 
gheny county, from 1873 to 1876, and in Johns- 
town, Cambria county, from 1876 to 1879. 
Since the last-named year he has resided at 
Blairsville and been in charge of the office of 
engineer of the right of way. 

In 1866 he united in marriage with Emma 
F. Evans, daughter of Robert Evans, of Blairs- 
ville, but formerly of Lancaster county. They 
have four children: Fannie E., Ellen D., An- 
tes L. and Emma. 

Antes Snyder is a republican in politics. He 
is a warden and vestryman of St. Peter's Prot- 
estant Episcopal church, and owns a pleasant 
and comfortable home at Blairsville, where he 
is highly respected as a gentleman and a citizen. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



207 



SAMUEL D. STIFFEY, a well-established I 
and active dealer in stoves and tinware at 
Blairsville, is a son of Daniel and Mary 
(Altnian) Stiffey, and was born in Black Lick 
township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, May 
20, 1842. His father, Daniel Stitfey, was born 
in Prussia, in 1790, and early in life emigrated 
from that country to eastern Pennsylvania, 
where he remained for several years. He 
eventually established himself in Black Lick 
township, where he followed his trade of reed- 
maker and at the same time was engaged in i 
farming. He was a consistent member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church until his death, 
which occurred in 1844, when he was fifty-nine 
years of age. He married Mary Altman, who 
was a member of the old family of Altmans in 
Black Lick township, who had taken up a tract 
of land in 1796, known as the " Deserted Vil- [ 
lage," from the fact that on it had been an 
Indian camping-ground for many yeare. In 
the house in which she was born, she was after- j 
ward married and also died. She was a hum- 
ble and consistent member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church and was a daughter of Philip 
Altman, a farmer, who was born December 28, 
1763, aud died May 29, 1813. 

Samuel D. Stiffey was reared on his father's 
farm, attended the common schools of Black 
Lick township and at the age of eighteen years 
went to Blairsville, where he learned the trade 
of tinner, serving an apj^renticeship of three 
years. During the second year of the late war 
(August 15, 1862) he enlisted in a regiment of 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served until May 
24, 1863, when his regiment was mustered out 
of service. He was in several engagements on 
the Rappahannock and fought under General 
Hooker, at Chancellorsville. After his return 
from the army he worked at his trade until 
1865, when he and his brother, William Stitfey, 
formed a partnership, bearing the firm title of 
W. A. Stiffey & Bro. , and became dealers in 
stoves, tinware, etc. He retired from this 



partnership in October, 1865. His brother 
continued the business until his death, in Feb- 
ruary, 1886, when Samuel D. Stiffey purchased 
the store and stock of goods of the administra- 
tors of his brother's estate, and has continually 
added to his stock until now his establishment 
is one of the largest of its kind in his section 
of the county. He is located on Market street, 
and always furnishes promptly anything called 
for in his line of business. 

In 1870 he married Martha Green, daughter 
of Isaac and Elizabeth Green. Mr. and Mre. 
Stiffey have two sons and one daughter: Annie 
L., Frank and Harry E. 

He is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which he has been a member for 
many years. He is a temperance advocate and 
an able and active supporter of the prohibition 
party. He has served as assistant burgess of 
his borough, and has held the office of overseer 
of the poor for the last ten years. Mr. Stiffey 
is a member of Chosen Friends, Order of the 
Iron Hall, and Royal Society of Good Fellows. 
Thoroughgoing and prompt in business, Mr. 
Stiffey has continually increased his patronage 
and ranks among the honorable and substantial 
citizens of the county. 



ROBERT G. STITT, of the enterprising liv- 
ery firm of Stitt & Bender, is a .sou of John 
A. and Nancy B. (Wickson) Stitt, and was born 
in Derry township, Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, December 30, 1852. The Stitt 
family is of Irish descent. John A. Stitt 
(father) was born in 1826. In his youth he 
was a canal boatman, and ran a boat on the old 
Pennsylvania canal until the latter was sold to 
the Pennsylvania railroad company. He then 
entered the employ of the railroad company, in 
which he remained until 1888, when he retired 
from active life. He resides at Blairsville, 
where he has made his home since 1865. He 
married Nancy B. ^Vickson. He is a republi- 



208 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



can, and attends the Methodist Episcopal 1 
church, of which his wife is a member. 

Robert G. Stitt was reared at Blairsville and 
received a common-school education. During 
the early part of his life, he worked in the 
employ of the Pennsylvania railroad company, 
first as a fireman and then as an engineer on 
freight and passenger trains running on their 
road between Altoona and Pittsburgh. From 
1884 to the spring of 1889 he kept a butcher 
shop at Blairsville. lu August, 1889, ho went 
into partnei-ship with F. B. Bender, and en- 
gaged in the livery business, under the firm- 
name of Stitt & Bender. They have a large 
stock of fine buggies and first-class driving and 
riding horses, and, although they have been in 
their present business but one year, yet they have 
already secured, by fair dealing and courteous 
attention to the public, a large patronage. 

In 1876, Robert G. Stitt married Sarah Mor- 
ford, daughter of Stephen Morford, of Derry 
township, Westmoreland county. Their union 
has been blest with two children: Ella S., and 
Walter B. 

He is a strict adherent to the principles and 
tenets of the Republican party. In his former 
positions on the passenger trains of the Penn- 
sylvania railroad, Robert G. Stitt gained con- 
siderable knowledge of human nature, which 
has been of great benefit to him in his later 
business ventures. Courteous in manner, al- 
ways to be relied upon in whatever he promises, 
he has gained the confidence and esteem of all 
those with whom he has come in contact. 



LIEUTENANT WILLIAM LINTLER 
TURNER, a reliable business man of 
Blairsville and a commissioned officer in the 5th 
regiment of the National Guard of Pennsyl- 
vania, is a son of James M. and Matilda (Lint- 
ler) Turnei", and was born in Butler township, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, October 23, 
1857. His grandfather, James Turner, was a 



native of eastern Pennsylvania, but removed to 
Centre township, Indiana county, early in life. 
He was a fuller by trade, but when he removed 
to Indiana county, he bought a farm which he 
tilled during the remainder of his life. He 
was an honest, upright man, who commanded 
the respect of his neighbors. He married and 
reared a family. One of his sons, James M. 
Turner (father), was born near Jacksonville, 
Centre township, and received his education in 
the public schools of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 
1858 he returned to Indiana county, to what is 
known as " Campbell's Mills," in Burrell town- 
ship, and opened a general mercantile store 
which he sold in 1868, and then formed a part- 
nership with a Mr. Smith. They opened an 
office in Burrell township, on the Indiana branch 
of the Pennsylvania Central railroad, where 
they have since dealt largely in coal, under the 
firm-name of Smith & Turner. They have an 
extensive patronage, and not only furnish coal 
to local dealers, but also, as wholesale dealers, 
ship it in large quantities to distant points. 
Mr. Turner is an elder in the Blairsville Pres- 
byterian church, of which he has been for many 
years an active member. He is a pronounced 
temperance man and an ardent supporter of the 
Prohibition party. He married Matilda Lint- 
ler, who was born in Burrell township, and 
died in 1880. 

William L. Turner was reared on his father's 
farm and attended the Blairsville academy, 
where he made a specialty of the study of civil 
engineering, which he followed for the first four 
years after he left the academy. Since 1884, 
he has been engaged with his father in the coal 
business, at Blairsville. He is a member of 
Co. D, 5th regiment, Pennsylvania National 
Guard, and on February 7, 1888, was appoint- 
ed second sergeant of the company to which he 
belongs, and in July of the same year was pro- 
moted to the office of first sergeant. On May 
10, 1889, he was elected first lieutenant of his 
company and has served as such ever since. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



209 



Co. D is composed of citizens of Blairsville, 
and is well spoken of Lieutenant Turner is 
courteous and obliging and gives strict attention 
to liis business, which demands the larger part 
of his time. 



RICHARD W. WEHRLE, one of the lead- 
ing jewelers of the progressive borough of 
Blairsville, is a son of Blossous and Cornelia 
(Tintiioff) Wehrle, and was born at Indiana, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1853. 
His father, Blossous Wehrle, was born in 
Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1809, and learned 
the trade of jeweler in his native country, from 
which he emigrated, in 1828, to the United 
States. He located at Indiana, where he was 
engaged in the jewelry business until his death, 
in 1887. Like most of the citizens who have 
learned their trades in the Fatherland, he was a 
complete master of his trade in all of its de- 
tails. Endowed with energy and industry and 
being known as a fine workman, he was success- 
ful in his particular line of business. He was 
a devout 'member of the Catholic church, a sup- 
porter of the Democratic party, and was held in 
high estimation by his friends and neighbors. 
He married Cornelia Tinthoff, daughter of 
William Tinthoff, of Indiana. She was also a 
consistent member of the Catholic church, and 
died in that faith in 1882. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wehrle sleep in the Catholic cemetery at In- 
diana. 

Ricliard W. Wehrle was reared at Indiana, 
attended the public schools of that borough, 
and then served an apprenticeship in the jewelry 
business with his father and the firm of S. M. 
Tinthoff, at Brookville, Jefferson county. He 
opened a jewelry store in 1873, at Blairsville, 
which he has carried on successfully ever since. 
A skilled workman, a pleasant, genial, courteous 
gentleman, and withal possessing a keen sense 
of business honor, he has secured the esteem of 
the community, and with that a lucrative trade. 
13 



In 1889 he purcha.sed two stone quarries, 
both of whioh are situated in Indiana county, 
and from these he is .shipping blue stone and 
Belgium-block paving stone to Pittsl)urgh. In 
connection with the sale of stone, he is also 
dealing in coal. 

He is a strong democrat and a member of 
the Presbyterian church of Blairsville, and 
Lodge No. 355, Free & Accepted Masons. 
His jewelry establishment is located on ]V[ain 
street, and he has a large and choice stock of 
watches, clocks and silverware. He gives 
special attention and direct supervision to re- 
pairs of all kinds of work in his line of busi- 
ness. He is a first-class workman and has 
many friends within the circle of his acquaint- 
ance. 



REV. ISAAC WILLIAM WILEY, M. D., 
D.D., LL.D., one of the early mission- 
aries to China and a bishop of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, was born at Lewistown, 
Pennsylvania, March 29, 1825. At fourteen 
years of age he entered an academy to fit him- 
self for college, hoping to be a minister. Al- 
though liceused at eighteen, yet his health failed 
him and he did not enter the ministry, but after- 
wards read medicine and was graduated from 
the medical department of the University of 
New York. In 1846 he came to Blairsville, 
where he practiced with fair success until 1850, 
when he offered himself to the Philadelphia 
conference as a minister, but there was no room 
for him. Dr. Durbin then prevailed upon him 
to go to China as a medical missionary. He 
remained in China until 1853, when his wife 
died and he came back to the United States. 
From 1854 to 1858 he filled a pastorate in New 
Jersey and then for fifteen years was principal 
of a seminary and editor of the Ladies' Reposi- 
tory, of Cincinnati. In 1872 he was elected as 
a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal churcii. 
Twelve years later, while on an episcopal tour 



210 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



he visited the missions which he had founded in 
Foochow, China, and died there in November, 
1884, in the house in which he had resided as a 
missionary in 1852. 

In the field of religious literature he was 
known as a clear writer. He published two 
books and edited several works of importance 
and value. As a pastor Dr. Wiley was useful 
and respected, as a teacher he was successful 
and popular and as an editor his taste was ex- 
cellent and his style chaste. As a bishop he 
was prudent, deliberate and clear, and seldom 
made an error either in the interpretation of 
constitutional or parliamentary law or the 
selection of men for particular posts in the M. 
E. church. 



LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GEO. WIL- 
KINSON. Among the older business 
men of Blairsville, highly esteemed by all who 
know him, and well performing the duties of 
good citizenship, is Lieutenant- Colonel George 
Wilkinson, one of the few remaining officers oT 
the old Uniformed Militia of Pennsylvania. 
He was born on his father's farm in what is 
now the suburbs of Scranton, Lackawanna 
county, Pennsylvania, May 7, 1815, and is a 
son of Mott and Phoebe (Freeman) Wilkinson. 
Mott Wilkinson was born in Hartford, Con- 
necticut, in 1760, and .served in the Revolution 
under his uncle, Capt. Daniel Lawrence. At 
the close of that war he remained to nurse his 
uncle, who was sick, and when the latter had 
recovered they left their quarters in the old 
Dravo prison to follow the trail of their com- 
pany on its homeward march through the woods 
by marks on the trees. They had five pounds 
of biscuit, and after these were consumed they 
lived for nine days on mountain tea and berries. 
Finally this scant food supply gave out and 
they cooked to a crisp and ate the bottoms of 
their buckskin pantaloons. At this juncture, 
when about to perish, one of their comrades 



came back to them with a few pounds of horse 
beef, which enabled them to reach home. 
Shortly after this Mott Wilkinson removed to 
the site of Scranton, Pa., where he purchased 
land and cleared out a farm, which is now in- 
cluded in the suburbs of that city. In 1820 he 
came to Black Lick township, this county, 
where he followed farming for eight years and 
then removed to Bairdstown, in Derry town- 
ship, Westmoreland county, at which place he 
died on December 4, 1856, when lacking but 
four years of being a centenarian. He was of 
English descent, was a whig and afterwards a 
republican, and with all of his family belonged 
to the M. E. church. He married Phoebe 
Freeman, a native of Connecticut, who died 
May 7, 1855, aged sixty-five years. They had 
eight children; Lucy Turner, Elisha, James, 
Phoebe Geer, Dennison, John, Deborah Goff 
and Col. George. 

George Wilkinson was reared on his father's 
Indiana county farm and at Blairsville. He re- 
ceived his education in the subscription schools 
of his day and learned the trade of stone-mason 
and bricklayer, which he followed for three 
years. He then began contracting, in which 
business be was actively engaged until a few 
years ago. 

Mr. Wilkinson superintended the building of 
the masonry work on the West Penn Branch 
R. R. from the intersection to Blairsville, and, 
with his brother Dennison, built all of the sub- 
stantial brick houses of Blairsville, which were 
erected prior to 1876. In 1872 he assumed 
charge of his present hotel, the well-known 
Union House. 

At an early age Mr. Wilkinson became in- 
terested in military matters, and on August 12, 
1849, was commissioned by Gov. Johnson as 
captain of the "Blairsville Blues." Nine years 
later Gov. Packer commissioned him captain of 
the " Wa-shington Blues," and on June 6, 1859, 
issued a commission to him as lieutenant-col- 
onel of the First regiment Uniformed Militia 




^/^Mf^^^^--^^^-'^^ 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



213 



of Pennsylvania. In 1861 he was sworn into 
tlie Union service with the rank of lieutenant- 
colonel, and was placed in command of a force 
stationed at Alexandria, Va., in charge of a \ 
camp for wounded soldiers and escaping southern 
negroes. After three months' service in this 
position, and seeing no opportunity of being | 
transferred to the front, he resigned and re- ! 
turned home. I 

In 1835 he married Mary Ann Geer, | 
daughter of James Geer, of Indiana county. 
In 1813 Mrs. Wilkinson died, leaving one son, 
Albert, who is also dead. In 1844 Mr. Wil- 
kinson re- married, his second wife being Nancy 
J. Brown, a daughter of Samuel Brown, of In- 
diana county, and who has borne him five 
children, of whom four are living: Gilmore, 
Charles, Freeman and Elizabeth, svife of Delos 
Hetrick, who is a druggist at Indiana. 

Col. Wilkinson is a charter member of Pal- 
ladium Lodge, No. 346, Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, which was organized thirty years 
ago. He is an earnest methodist and contrib- 
uted more to bnild the present Methodist Epis- 
copal church of Blairsville than any other man 
in the county. 

In 1855 he removed with his family to La- 
crosse, Wis., but, not liking the country, after 
a six weeks' residence returned to Blairsville. 
He went by boat, and when on the Mississippi 
river, opposite Keokuk, Iowa, a terrific storm 
came up and they would have been destroyed if 
Col. Wilkinson had not (when every other man 
refused) swam to the Iowa shore with a line by 
which the boat was brought to land. His hotel, 
the Union House, was erected in 1855 and en- 
larged in 1876. It now has twenty-two rooms 
and is thorough iu all of its appointments and 
arrangements for accommodating the traveling- 
public. Mr. Wilkinson started in life with 
nothing but his trade and good health and is 
now the largest tax-payer of Blairsville, be- 
sides owning a valuable farm adjoining the 
borough. 



MARTIN M. WILSON. It is as a business 
man of phenomenal success that Martin 
M. Wilson is now best known, after having 
successively won a reputation in telegraphy and 
in the wider field of railway management. He 
was born at Blairsville, Indiana county, Penn- 
sylvania, February 4, 1854, and is a son of 
John H. and Eliza J. (Morford) Wilson. The 
Wilson family, as the name clearly indicates, is 
of Scotch origin and James Wilson, the grand- 
father of Martin M. Wilson, was born near 
Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia). He 
came to Blairsville, where he followed contract- 
ing until the breaking out of the Mexican war. 
He then entered the United States service as the 
commander of a wagon train. He was with 
the Army of the Center, under Gen. Scott, from 
Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, in which vi- 
cinity he died with yellow fever. One of his 
sons was John H. Wilson (father), who was 
born at Blairsville, Indiana county, Pennsylva- 
nia, January 20, 1834, and died at his home at 
Blairsville, ou July 6, 1862, aged twenty-eight 
years. He learned the trade of carpenter, and 
was actively engaged, during his life-time, as a 
carpenter and bridge-builder. He was a repub- 
lican iu politics and latterly a consistent mem- 
ber of the Blairsville Methodi.st Episcopal 
church. He was a stirring and energetic man, 
who had many friends within the circle of his 
acquaintance. He married Eliza Jane Morford, 
who is a daughter of Stephen and Amy (Davis) 
Morford and was born in August, 1835, at 
Blairsville, where she now resides and is a 
member of the M. E. church. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wilson were the parents of two children: 
Martin M., and John E., a carpenter and bridge- 
builder. 

Martin M. Wilson was reared at Blairsville 
and received his education in the public schools 
of that place. He then learned telegraphy and 
was engaged as a telegraph operator in Alle- 
gheny city, on the Pa. R. R., before he was six- 
teen years of age. So assiduously did he apply 



214 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



himself to the duties of his position that he 
soon became a safe and expert operator. In 
the midst of making a very creditable record as 
a telegraph operator, he was transferred to 
clerical work and for twenty years was em- 
ployed as chief clerk and assistant agent in 
various offices along the line of the Pennsylva- 
nia railroad, and also as chief clerk and pay- 
master for the entire division from January, 
1879, to January, 1890. On January 1, 1890, 
he resigned his position with the Pennsylvania 
Railroad company in order to give needed at- 
tention to his own individual business enter- 
prises, some of which were assuming propor- 
tions of considerable magnitude. Among the 
many enterprises in which he has been inter- 
ested for several years is the Cheswick Land 
company, of which he is secretary, the Wood 
Alcohol company, in which he is a director, and 
the Bagdad coal company, of which he is secre- 
tary. But the largest and one of the most 
important enterprises in which he has invested 
is the Feldmann Quarry company, which owns 
four hundred acres of land, of which one hun- 
dred is underlaid with the Ligonier granite blue 
stone. Mr. Wilson is general manager of this 
company and steadily employs a force of one 
hundred and fifty men in quarrying this rock 
and shipping it to different points throughout 
the United States. It is well adapted for a 
building stone and when properly dressed re- 
sists well the action of the weather and presents 
a handsome appearance. This quarry is located 
on the Bolivar Branch of the Pennsylvania 
railroad, and from it he ships, on an average, 
three thousand blocks of stone per day, which 
is mainly used for paving. 

On September 3, 1879, Mr. Wilson married 
Anna Maher, daughter of William Maher, a 
banker of Blairsville. To this union have 
been born three children, one son and two 
daughters : Ralph M., Mary Ida and Louisa E. 

M. M. Wilson is a member of the Blairsville 
town council, Blairsville Council, No. 831, 



Royal Arcanum, and Blairsville Assembly, No. 
82, Royal Society of Good Fellows. He is a 
republican in political opinion. He is a natural 
and persistent hard worker and has always 
been remarkably successful. Mr. Wilson is a 
notable example of an enterprising, wide-awake, 
self-made man. Whatever he is and whatever 
he has accomplished is due to his own energy 
and effort. It has been chiefly through his 
agency that several of the companies, with 
which he has been connected for several years, 
have entered upon their present careers of in- 
creasing prosperity and wealth. 



ISAAC WYNN, a prosperous business man 
of Blairsville, and one of the leading 
brick manufacturers of the county, is a son of 
Jonathan and Mary (Bitner) Wynn, and ^vas 
born at Blairsville, ludiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 2, 1837. His father, Jona- 
than Wynn, was born March 1, 1804, in Som- 
erset county, and came, when a youug man, to 
Blairsville, where he followed brickmaking in 
the summer and shoemaking in the winter. 
He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church, and a republican in polities. He was 
au upright and energetic man, and at the time 
of his death, in 1851, was in the very matured 
prime of manhood. He married Elizabeth 
Bitner, February 5, 1829, who was a daughter 
of John Bitner, and was born September 9, 
1807, in Westmoreland county, in the beauti- 
ful, historic and far-fomed "Ligonier Valley." 
She was a consistent member of the Lutheran 
church, and passed away February 4, 1867, 
when in the sixtieth year of her age. 

Isaac Wynn received his education in the 
public schools of Blairsville. When but a boy 
he commenced working in his father's brick- 
yard, and has continued in the brickmaking 
business ever since. In 1860 he bought the 
old homestead of his brothers and their heirs, 
together with the brick-yard, which furnishes 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



215 



an excelleut quality of clay for red paving and 
building brick, and for which he finds a ready 
sale. In the spring of 1890 he took his only 
son, Henry T., in partnership with him, under 
the firm-name of I. Wynn & Son. They have 
enlarged the brick-yard to its present capacity, 
and are able to manufacture many thousand 
bricks per day. They employ fifteen men, and 
have a constant demand for their brick both at | 
home and abroad. 

On December 21, 1869, he married Fannie 
Triece, daughter of Henry Triece, and their ' 
marriage has been blest with eight children, 
one son and seven daughters : Henry T., Net- 
tie, Lillie Belle, Susan, Blanche, Ida, Mary, 
Hannah and Annie lyaurie, who died January 
2, 1887. 

Isaac Wynn is a republican, but is not a 
bigot or extremist in political matters. He is 
a member of Keystone Lodge, No. 1, Chosen 
Friends. His brick works are well fitted with 
all modern machinery and everything necessary 
for the manufacture of first-class brick, and 
Mr. Wynn, being a practical brickmaker him- 
self, is enabled to give his business an intelli- 
gent, close and thorough supervision. He has 
a pleasant and comfortable home at Blairsville, 
where he always welcomes and hospitably en 
tertains his many friends. 



for several years. He then removed to New 
Jersey, but returned to Blairsville in 1849 and 
remained there until his death, in 1856. 

In 1812 he married Rebecca Wallace, who 
was a daughter of Peter Wallace, of " Wallace 
Fort," and died in 1867, aged eighty-one years. 

Major Knott served tor several years as a 
major in the Pennsylvania Militia. Major 
Knott was superintendent for nine years of the 
Morris canal in New Jersey, where he served 
as postmaster of Newark city for four years. 
In 1849 he returned to Blairsville, of which he 
was appointed postmaster and served as such 
until his death, in 1856. 



MAJOR WILSON KNOTT was a son of 
Joseph and Isabella (Wilson) Knott, and 
was born in Derry township, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1789. Mrs. Knott 
was a daughter of Col. James and Isabella 
(Barr) Wilson, who were pioneer settlers of 
western Penn.sylvania. 

He was reared on a farm, and soon after 
attaining his majority became captain of a 
company which he commanded during the war 
of 1812. After nearly two years' service in 
that war he returned 'to his native county, and 
iu 1830 came to Blairsville, where he resided 



" p EV. J. A. STILLINGER, V.G., was 
^*> born in Baltimore, Md., April 19, 
1801. His father was born in York county, 
Pennsylvania, his grandfather in or near 
Philadelphia, and his great-grandfather in 
Cologne, Prussia. The latter came to Pennsyl- 
vania during the proprietary of William Peun. 
He assisted in forming the congregation and 
building the little chapel of St. Joseph's on 
Fourth street, Philadelphia. His mother was 
born in Baltimore, her father beiusr born in 
France, and her mother in York county, Penn- 
sylvania. He resided with his grandfather and 
grandmother, and was about three years old 
when they took him to themselves. In 1816 
he was employed in a German printing office 
iu Chambersburg, where he learned to read 
German by .setting type. In 1817 he engaged 
in the printing office of Robert G. Harper, in 
Chambersburg, and remained three and a half 
years. In November, 1820, he entered the 
college of St. Mary's, Emmettsburg, Md., 
where he remained ten years. In November, 
1830, he was ordained a priest, and his fii"st 
mission was to the Mountain congregation and 
Liberty, remaining till November following, 
when he was appointed to the Church of Sts. 
Simon and Jude, of Blairsville. He also at- 



216 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



tended to the Church of St. Vincent and all 
Westmoreland county for many years. In 1834, 
Fayette, Greene and Washington counties were 
added to his charge. In 1842 the bishop sent 
him to visit all the Catholic settlements as far 
north as the New York line. There were only 
three officiating priests in western Pennsylvania 
at that time. 

" After a vigorous ministry of forty-three 
years, this devoted disciple of the church was 



found dead, after celebrating the morning Mass, 
September 19, 1843, in the sacristy of the 
church. A fit monument to his many years of 
service is the wonderful growth of the church 
in western Pennsylvania, and to him, as a faith- 
ful missionary, much of the substantial growth 
of the period from 1840 to 1873, is due. His 
many virtues will never be forgotten by the 
people, not only of Blairsville, but of the county 
and the western portion of the State." 



SALTSBURG. 



Historical and Descriptive. — Saltsburg, one 
of the principal towns of the Coneniaugh Val- 
ley, is in the southwestern part of the county. 
It is situated on the right bank of the Cone- 
maugh river, near the site of an old Indian 
village, and derived its name from the salt 
works in that section of the county. It is 
twenty miles southwest of the couuty-seat, ten 
miles northwest of Blairsville, two hundred and 
six miles from Washington City, and one hun- 
dred and seventy-five miles from Harrisburg. 
It was laid out in 1817, and received corporate 
honors April 16, 1838. The history of its site 
is given by Caldwell as follows : " The first 
survey in the vicinity of Saltsburg bears the 
date of June '20, 1769, and the application was 
made April 3, 1769, by William Gray. The 
tract was called 'Gray's Mount,' and was con- 
veyed to J. Montgomery, May 8, 1772. The 
survey is numbered ' 863,' and the tract is de- 
scribed as ' situate westward of " Black Leg's 
Town," and on the north side of a small run, 
including several small springs.' An Indian 
trail is shown on the plat as proceeding toward 
Fort Pitt. The survey is signed * Robert Mc- 
Crea. D. S.' 

" In the same year an application was made 
for a survey for a large tract lying between 
'Black Leg's creek' and Kiskiminetas and 
Conemaugh rivers (on part of which Saltsburg 
was afterwards located), by Hugh and Thomas 
Wilson, to whom, we are informed by Wood- 
end, the warrant and patent were afterwards 
granted." 



In 1817 the salt industry attracted the atten- 
tion of Andrew Boggs (father of Judge Boggs, 
of Kittanning), and he purchased a large por- 
tion of the site of Saltsburg and laid it out 
in lots, which were readily bought. The first 
house was built in 1819, on the lot now occu- 
pied by the Presbyterian church. The first 
tavern was opened in 1820 by John Williams, 
by some authorities, while others credited Jas. 
Fitzgeralds as being the first hotel-keeper. In 
1827 John Carson opened a tailor shop, and 
two years later George Johnston established a 
store. Dr. Kirkpatrick was the first physician 
to practice in the town, but Dr. Benjamin Ster- 
rett was the first resident physician. For the 
succeedmg fifty years after his location we find 
account of the following physicians at Saltsburg: 
John McFarland, 1833; Thomas Murray, 1837 ; 
D. R. Allison, 1844; Dr. Kier; Robert 
McConnoughey, 1850; H. G. Lomison and Dr. 
William McBryar, 1852; Jas. Morgan, 1853; 
H. S. Snowdon, 1854; Dr. Cunningham; 
S. T. Reddick, 1860; W. F. Barclay, 1866; J. 
L. Crawford, 1868; Thomas Carson, 1874; M. 
R. George and Dr. Bain, 1875, and W. S. 
Taylor, 1876. The leading resident physicians 
of Saltsburg are : Dr. W. B. Ansley, who came 
in 1877, and Dr. Thomas Carson, who located 
in 1874. In 1829 the Pennsylvania caual was 
completed to Saltsburg, and on May 15th of 
that year the "Pioneer" and "Penasylvania" 
canal-boats of David Leech's line arrived at the 
town. During the existence of the canal the 
town grew rapidly in population and was an 

217 



218 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



important point on the canal as well as being 
the centre of the salt trade of the county, which, 
in 1842, amounted to seventy thousand bushels 
of that article. The abandonment of the canal 
and the decline of salt manufacturing retarded 
the growth of Saltsburg until 1887, when the 
opening of coal mines and the establishment 
of other industries gave a new lease of life to 
the town. 

Saltsburg is west of the third or Indiana an- 
ticliual axis and lies in the Fourth Great Coal 
basin west of the Alleghenies. On the Cone- 
maugh river this basin is more than fifteen 
miles wide. "Prolonged northeast it narrows 
somewhat by the approach of its sides, but fifty 
miles to the north its dimensions are very near 
the same as they are on the Conemaugh. 

"For convenience of discussion I have di- 
vided the basin into two parts, calling all that 
east of the sub-anticlinals and between them and 
the Indiana Axis, the Marion sub-basin, from 
the town of Marion, situated in the northern 
part of the trough; and have denomiuated as 
the Saltsburg sub-basin the portion lying be- 
tween the anticlinals and the Armstrong county 
line. 

"The Saltsburg anticlinal comes up through 
Westmoreland county, to cross the Conemaugh 
river between White's station and Kelly's, 
nearly three miles above Saltsburg. Northeast 
of this it bends slightly and runs under a high 
barren Measure plateau. 

"It is seen, and for the last time, on Ci'ooked 
creek, which it crosses near Chambersville, 
about three miles northeast of McKee's mill. 

"At Saltsburg, as at Blairsville, the Pitts- 
burgh coal bed crosses the Conemaugh Valley 
from Westmoreland into Indiana county, to run 
upward along the gently sloping floor of the 
Saltsburg sub-basin as far as West Lebanon. 
Below Saltsburg on the Conemaugh more than 
one huudred feet of Upper Productive rocks 
are presented in the hills; and in this condition 
the basin continues without much change north- 



eastward from the river for about ten miles, 
when the entire Upper Productive group is 
thrust into the air under the influeuce of the 
rising synclinal. 

"The manufacture of salt at Saltsburg dates 
from a period early in the present century, but 
the salt industry has never been very extensive- 
ly carried on in the valley of the Conemaugh, 
and what little salt is at present produced is 
consumed principally in the country round 
about. The only works now in operation 
(1878) in this immediate region are those of 
Messrs. Waddle aud Wining, close to Kelly's 
station, the salt water there used coming, as 
before stated, from the sandstone of Formation 
X, the top stratum of which here underlies the 
river bed by about six hundred feet in depth ; 
no detailed record of the rocks pierced in drill- 
ing the holes was kept. In every case the bor- 
ing was begun a few feet below the Upper 
Freeport coal. The supply of tlie salt water is 
unfiiiling, and sufficient for all the demands 
made upon it. As it comes from the rock it is 
not specially strong, and the reduction process 
consequently occupies considerable time. In 
the end, however, a good clean white salt is pro- 
duced." 

By one account the Saltsburg Presbyterian 
congregation was organized in Conemaugh town- 
ship in 1796, and by another statement it did 
not come into existence as a church at Saltsburg 
uutil 1824. One historical writer gives the fol- 
lowing of the churches of the place up to 1876: 
"Thomas Davis organized the church. Rev. 
Jos. Harper was tlie first pastor. The church 
was not finished until the spring of 1831. On 
the first day of April, same year, it was con- 
sumed by fire. The present brick structure, 
on the same site, was built soon after. In com- 
mon with the growth of the town other societies 
were formed, and churches were built succes- 
sively, — Methodist Episcopal cluirch, built of 
frame, in 1841 ; first pastor. Rev. Jeremiah 
Phillips. Associate, now U. P., built of brick, 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



219 



in 1843; church organized by Rev. Hanse 
Lee; first instituted pastor, Rev. Oliver P. 
Katz, in December, 1861. Catholic church, 
built of brick, on margin of borough in Cone- 
maugh township, in 1843; first officiating 
priest, Rev. Stillinger. Universalist church, 
built of frame, in 1870; first advocate of doc- 
trine in church. Rev. Andrew Getty. U. P. 
church, rebuilt of frame, in 1870. Baptist 
church, built of brick, in 1843; first settled 
pastor, Rev. Thomas Wedell." 

The first bridge was the toll bridge erected in 
1842. The county bridge over the Loyalhauna 
was built in 1847 and the Western Pennsylva- 
nia railroad bridge was erected in 1885. 

The old burial-ground, on the river, laid out 
in 1810, was succeeded by the Presbyterian 
grave-yard of 1817. Edgewood cemetery con- 
sists of ten acres of ground beautifully hud out 
in streets, avenues and lots. The ground was 
purchased in 18G8, for fifteen hundred dollars. 
In it stands " The Soldiers' Monument." The 
base of the monument is five feet high, upon 
which rests the die and cornice six feet high, and 
on the cornice rests the obelisk, which is twenty- 
five feet high. The names of the soldiers from 
the immediate vicinity who gave their lives in 
the service of their country are enclosed in a 
bo.x in the base of the monument. 

The Saltsburg academy was established in 
1851 as the sixth academy between the Alle- 
gheny river and the Allegheny mountains. 
Daniel Walter started a carriage shop which 
was purchased in 1848 by Hail Clark and 
others. In 1857, Mr. Clark became sole pro- 
prietor and now has one of the largest and best 
enuipj)ed carriage factories in the State. 

The burgesses of Saltsburg from 1838 to 
1878 have been: Dr. Thomas Murray, 1838; 
Alexander White, 1840; Dr. John JMcFarland, 
1841; Thompson McCrea, 1843; James R. 
Daugherty, 1845; David Henderson, 1846; 
James Rl Daugherty, 1848; Alexander Flem- 
ing, 1849; James M. Hart, 1851; William 



Mclntire, 1853; William R. Sprague, 1854; 
J. S. Robinson, 1855; James M. Hart, 1856; 
James Moore, 1858; R. A. Young, 1859, 
James R. Daugherty, 1861 ; W. I. Sterrett, 
1862; John Earhart, 1863; Alex. Fleming, 
1864; Hail Clark, 1865; Alex. Fleming, 
1866; James Moore, 1867; S. H. Martin, 
1869; Hail Clark and W. I. Sterrett, 1870; 
James B. Robin.sou, 1872; R. A. Young, 1873; 
George W. Freet, 1874; R. J. Portser, 1875; 
.James Hart, 1876. 

Saltsburg's most important source of income 
at present is the Fairbanks and Foster coal 
mines. They are located about a mile and a 
half from the town and not far from the line 
of the West Peun railroad. The two compan- 
ies employ about three hundred and twenty-five 
miners. Many of the miners own their own 
homes, and there are no company stores or any 
system of orders in vogue. The men are for 
the most part Americans and, although not 
paid as high wages for mining as those at some 
I other points, they manage to live comfortably 
and subsist without strikes. They come to 
Saltsburg for their supplies, and their trade 
keeps business lively. The capacity of the 
Fairbanks mines is at present about thirty-five 
cars daily, but this is likely soon to be in- 
creased. The Foster mines will also increa.se 
their present capacity of twenty-five cars. 
Both plants are finely equipped, having their 
own line of cars for shipping. Their markets 
extend to Canada. The mines are equipped 
with the latest improved apparatus, such as 
electric drills and .steam subways. The coal is 
conveyed from the mines to the tipples, a dis- 
tance of from one to two miles, by means of 
dinky engines, owned by the company. As a 
result of these almost constant improvements 
the coal companies have not been paying very 
heavy dividends. But the stock-holders can 
.see in these added facilities increased assets and 
a better foundation for future prosperity. In 
connection with the Fairbanks mines are a 



220 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



number of coke ovens, operated by the Salts- 
burg Coke company. Their product is large 
but never in excess of orders. 

The Saltsburg Glass company was organized 
about a year ago, taking the then-idle plant 
down along the river and completely overhaul- 
ing it. New buildings were put up, a ten-pot 
furnace substituted for the small one previously 
used, and elevator, box factory and other auxil- 
iaries and conveniences provided. The output 
of the works is about one hundred gross of bot- 
tles per day. The prescription trade is the 
principal line, but a number of specialties, such 
as catsup and sauce bottles for Allegheny firms, 
are turned out in large quantities. Any one 
having the pleasure of going through the 
works will be very much surprised at their 
extent and completeness. The furnace room, 
the centre of interest, is sixty feet square. 
The mold room adjoining is twenty by thirty 
feet and is well stocked. The packing room is 
eighty feet long by forty feet wide, having re- 
cently been doubled in size, and is a model of 
convenience. The factory employs eighty men 
and boys. Of these twenty-one are expert glass- 
blowers. The other employes are generally 
from Saltsburg, and many are boys. 

The planing mill of Davis Bros. & Co. is 
one of the busiest institutions of the town. 
They make fine stair work a specialty, and their 
orders in that line extend far and wide. They 
are young and energetic business men, and no 
obstacle can deter their progress. 

The Saltsburg flouring mill of Patterson & 
Hershey looms up four stories high on tlie river 
front, and is indeed a credit to the town. It is 
equipped with the full roller process and is pro- 
pelled by an eighty horse-power boiler and 
engine. The capacity of the mill is one hun- 
dred and fifty barrels per day. 

Ever since Saltsburg has been known as a 
town, almost, the carriages and buggies built by 
Hail Clark have been equally famous. The 
carriage works of Mr. Clark are situated at the 



corner of Point and High streets. They are 
immense buildings, one being three stories high 
and 32x60 feet in dimensions, the other two 
stories high, thirty-two feet wide and ninety 
feet long. The blacksmith shop is separate in a 
building 25x40 feet. The capacity of the shops 
is about two hundred buggies per year. Mr. 
Clark's business pertains only to the highest 
class of work. His trade is large in Johnstown, 
Pittsburgh and other outside places. In 1890 
he finished a grand buggy for a patron in Cali- 
fornia. He frequently sends buggies to Kansas. 
Another carriage works is along the West 
Penn railway, not far below the passenger 
depot. 

High up on the blufi" overlooking Saltsburg 
and the river stands a school for boys. The 
building it occupies was formerly a summer 
hotel. The approach to the grounds is exceed- 
ingly picturesque. The bluff is almost perpen- 
dicular, one hundred and fifty feet above the 
level of the river. A few hundred feet to 
I the right is the junction of the Loyalhanna, 
! forming the beautiful Kiskiminetas. The 
grounds themselves are a native forest of state- 
ly trees. In the midst of the grove, a hundred 
feet back from the brow of the cliff, stand the 
two main buildings of the school. The first 
one is the old hotel structure, and the second the 
new brick building erected one year ago, con- 
taining the chapel, a fine gymnasium, class- 
rooms and sleeping-rooms for twenty boys. 
The rooms in both buildings — for eighty boys — 
\ are furnished in the best of style for comfort 
and convenience. The light and heat are sup- 
plied from a plant on the grounds, running 
about two hundred electric lights and provid- 
ing steam heat and pumping the water for the 
Iniildings from a well, drilled two hundred and 
twenty feet deep, to a tank of distribution. 
The faculty is of high order. The principals 
are Prof A. W. Wilson and Prof E. W. Fair. 
Mr. Wilson is the son of Mr. A. W. Wilson, of 
Indiana, and a brother of Prof. Robert D. Wil- 



INDIANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



221 



son, of the Western Theological seminary, and 
of Eev. S. G. Wilson, missionary to Persia. 

About three and oue-half miles out the West 
Penu railroad, in Bell township, Westmoreland 
county, the new town of Avonmore has been laid 
out. There was at first a diversity of opinion 
in Saltsburg as to what would be the effeet of 
the new town on the old one, but the prevailing 
opinion now is that the boom will revert to 
and benefit Saltsburg as Jeannette did Greens- 
burg. Capt. Albert Hicks, who will be re- 
membered as one of the old-time conductors on 
the West Penn railroad, now largely interested 
in Leechburg's(Pa.) coal and iron interests, is one 
of the principal owners of the Avonmore Coal 
and Coke company, in Indiana county, just op- 
posite the site of the new town. 

The population of Saltsburg at each census 
since 1840 has been : 1840, 335; 1850, 623; 
1860, 592; 1870, 659; 1880, 855; 1890,! 
1114. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



WILLIAM B. ANSLEY, M.D., president 
of the Indiana County Medical society, 
and a very successful physician of Saltsburg, is 
a son of James and Sarah (Spencer) Ansley, 
and was born in South Mahoning township, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1847. 
During the Revolutionary war his great-grand- 
father, John Ansley, served as a soldier in the 
American, while his brother commanded a com- 
pany in the British army. John Ansley was a 
farmer and came from New Jersey to West- 
moreland county, where his son, Daniel Ansley 
(grandfather), was born in 1798, and followed 
farming until 1837, when he came to this 
county. He died in 1858, aged sixty years. 
His son, James Ansley (father), was born in 
1825, and is an extensive and prosperous far- 
mer and stock-raiser of Rayne township. He 



is a deacon of the Baptist church, a republican 
in politics and has served as auditor of Indiana 
county, and justice of the peace in Rayne town- 
ship. He married Sarah Spencer, who was 
born near Johnstown, in Cambria county, and 
is a member of the Baptist church. 

William B. Ansley was reared on a farm. He 
received his literary education in Dayton acad- 
emy. Leaving college, he taught several terms 
in the common schools. Having determined 
upon medicine as a life vocation, he entered the 
office of Dr. C. McEwen, of Plumville; after 
reading six months with him he entered the 
office of Dr. R. S. Sutton, of Pittsburgh, as a 
medical student. After completing the required 
course of reading he entered Jefferson Medical 
college, of Philadelphia, attended three cour.'es 
of lectures and was graduated from that famous 
institution in the class of 1867. Immediately 
after graduating he opened an office at Apollo, 
where he practiced for ten years with good suc- 
cess. In 1877 he came to Saltsburg,. where he 
has been in active, continuous and successful 
practice ever since. 

In politics Dr. Ansley is an unswerving re- 
publican. He has served, since 1882, as a 
member of the school board, of which he has 
been president during the last two years. In 
religious sentiment he faithfully adheres to the 
Baptist church and is a member and deacon of 
the Saltsburg church, of that denomination, in 
which he also serves as superintendent of the 
Sunday-school. He is a past ma.ster in the 
Masonic fraternity, a past grand in the I. O. O. 
F. and has served in various official positions in 
several other secret societies of which he is 
a member. Dr. Ansley is president of the 
Indiana County Medical .society and a member 
of the Pennsylvania State Medical society, in 
which he is serving as a member of the com- 
mittee on medical legislation. He often con- 
tributes articles to the medical journals and 
some of the.se contributions have been highly 
sjjoken of by many well-qualified physicians. 



222 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



His professional talent and valuable experience, 
as well as his kind and gentle manners and 
tender solicitude for the well-being of his 
patients, have caused him to be recognized as 
one of the most successful medical practitioners 
in the county. 



THOMAS CARSON, M.D. During the last 
decades of the present wonderful century 
of progress, medicine has been as rapidly pro- 
gressive as any other profession and justly 
stands high in the estimation of the world. 
Indiana county has always been favored with 
many skillful and eminent physicians. One of 
her progressive jjhysicians of to-day is Dr. 
Thomas Carson, of Saltsburg, a medical practi- 
tioner of twenty-five years' successful exper- 
ience. He was born in Allegheny county, 
Pennsylvania, June 23, 1842, and is a son of 
John and Hannah (Henderson) Carson. His 
paternal grandfather, James Carson, came, in 
1820, from Ireland to Allegheny county, this 
State, where he purchased a large farm. He 
was a successful farmer, a zealous member of 
the Methodist church and an enthusiastic demo- 
crat whose democracy was so strong as to cause 
him to disinherit his eldest son because he was 
a republican. He lived to be eighty years of 
age and his widow reached her hundredth birth- 
day. John Carson (father) was born in Ireland 
and came to Pittsburgh in 1818, but soon re- 
moved to Armstrong county, where he owns a 
splendid and well-stocked farm of two hundred 
and four acres on the Indiana and Kittanninw 
pike. He is a Jacksonian democrat, takes great 
interest in local political affairs and has served 
his township as justice of the peace and school 
director. He is an ardent presbyterian and a 
successful business man. He married Hannah , 
Henderson, eldest daughter of William Hen- j 
derson, a member of the Covenanter church, 
who came, in 1820, from Ireland to Allegheny 
county, where he was a successful farmer and ' 



became a strong republican. Mr. and Mrs. 
Carson celebrated their golden wedding in June, 
1890. They have been the parents of seven 
children: Dr. Thomas, William Dr. John A., 
of Leechburg, (deceased); James, of Indiana; 
Margaret, Catherine and J. Wilson, druggist 
at Indiana. 

Thomas Carson was reared in Armstrong 
county and received his education in the com- 
mon schools and Elder's Ridge academy, where, 
in addition to the full academic course, he took 
special courses of study in the Greek, Latin 
and German languages. He read medicine with 
Dr. James K. Parke, of Cochran's Mills, Arm- 
strong county, and in 186.3 entered Jefferson 
Medical college, from which he was graduated 
in the class of 1865. On April .3, 186-5, he 
located at Elderton, Armstrong county, and 
practiced his profession there until July 4, 
1874. In October, 1874, he came to Saltsburg, 
where he has practiced successfully ever since. 

In the State of Illinois, on February 2, 
1866, he was married to Jennie Salina Floyd 
Wilson Jack, daughter of Samuel and Nancy 
(Porter) Jack, who were natives of Westmore- 
land county, this State. To Dr. and Mrs. 
Carson have been born five children : Dr. John 
B., born in 1867 and now a practicing physi- 
cian of Blairsville ; Samuel J., born in October 
1869; Dollie, who died young; Nancy H., 
born July 2, 1875; and an infant son which 
died in 1880. Mrs. Carson is a pleasant, in- 
telligent woman, a member of the Presbyterian 
church and devoted to her home and family. 

Dr. Thomas Carson has been a member of 
the Masonic fraternity for twenty-six years and 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for 
nineteen years. He is also a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, Royal 
Arcanum, Knights of Honor, Knights & 
Ladies of Honor and the Knights of the 
Golden Eagle. He is medical examiner at 
Saltsburg for all these different orders. He is 
a prominent democrat and while a member of nO 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



223 



church, yet contributes freely to the churches 
of every religious denoniiuation. He 0])poses 
the foreign missions of the churches, but gives 
liberally to their home missions. Dr. Carson 
has a fine residence on Point street, enjoys a 
large practice and has treated a great many poor 
patients free of charge. He is very fond of 
hunting and every full takes a trip to the moun- 
tains for deer atid wild turkey. He is genial, 
generous and honorable, and has become de- 
servedly popular as a physician aud a citizen. 



HAIL CLARK, a leading carriage manufac- 
turer of Saltsburg and a Union soldier of 
the late war, is one of the most energetic and 
successful business men of the county. He was 
born at Marietta, Lancaster count}', Pennsyl- '. 
vania, March 17, 1829, and is a sou of Alex- 
ander and Catherine (Leader) Clark. The 
Clarks were one of the old families of 
county Antrim, Ireland, where they were en- | 
gaged for many years in the manufacture of 
linens. Henry Clark (grandfather), a mem- 
ber of this family, came to Lancaster county in 
1783, where he followed coopering, and where 
he died at the close of a useful life. His 
son, Alexander Clark (father), was born on 
board the ship which brought his parents to , 
this country. He learned the trade of cooper 
aud was engaged in the coopering business for 
a number of years at Marietta. He wa.s a ] 
member of the Lutheran church, an honest, 
reliable man and died in 1835, aged fifty-two 
years. He married Catherine Leader, of Lan- 
caster county, who was a member of the M. E. 
church and passed away in 1841, when in the 
fifty-eighth year of her age. 

Hail Clark was reared at Marietta until he 
was twelve years of ago, when he went on the 
Pennsylvania canal as a mule driver, but af^er 
six months' experience in that Hue of work he 
went to Greensburg, Pa., and learned the trade 
of carriage and harness-making. He served an 



apprenticeship of six years before (1842) com- 
mencing to work ibr himself In 1849 he came 
to Saltsburg, where, after working for a short 
time in a carriage factory, he purchased it of 
the proprietor, and since that time has followed 
carriage matiufiacturing at Saltsburg except 
what time he served as a soldier during the late 
war. From 1858 to 1861 he was captain of 
the Black Hornets, a militia company. In 
1861 he raifsed a company for the war, but the 
State did not accept their services. In 1862 he 
raised aud commanded one of the emergency 
companies which served on the southern border 
of Pennsylvania. In 1851 he married Cordelia 
F. Gorgas, of Greensburg, Pa. They have two 
children: Murry J. and Ferdinand G., who 
are both engaged in business with the father. 

In politics Mr. Clark is a strong democrat 
and has held every elective office of his borough 
from member of the town council to burgess. 
He ran, in 1878, as the greenback candidate for 
sheriff, and, after a canvass of three days, was 
only defeated by two hundred majority. He has 
been a trustee for a quarter of a century of the 
M. E. church and is a member of Williamson 
Lodge, No. 431, F. and A. M., and Kiskimine- 
tas Lodge, No. 1 6 1 , K, of H. His two sons are as- 
sociated with him in the carriage manufacturing 
business. Their main factory is 32x60 feet in 
dimensions and is a three-story building. They 
employ a regular force of twelve men, make a 
specialty of buggies and have a large trade. 
They send a large amount of work to different 
parts of the country and have filled orders as 
far west as California. Mr. Clark has been 
remarkably successful in the sale of his work 
and enjoys an excellent reputation as a skilled 
mechanic. 



AJOR SAMUEL COOPER was a son of 
-^'■i- James and Rachel (Powers) Cooper. He 
"was born in Shippensburg, Cumberland county, 
Pennsylvania, on the second of May, 1788. 



224 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



The family name is Cowper, but since about 
1750 has been written Cooper. The great- 
grandfather of our subject was Samuel Cooper, 
who was for many years the commander of In- 
niskillen Dragoons, in Ireland. His son, Sam- 
uel, the grandfather of Major Cooper, was a 
captain in the Inniskillen Dragoons, and mi- 
grated to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1761. He 
was in Gen. Lee's 'cavalry legion' in the Rev- 
olutionary war, and for several years was sword, 
drill and riding-master of Geu. Lee's noted 
command. His son James, the father of our 
subject, was born in Inniskillen, Ireland. He 
was an orderly sergeant in a company in the 
Revolutionary war, which Captain John Wil- 
kins (after whom Wilkinsburg, Allegheny 
county, Pennsylvania, was named) commanded. 

''When Samuel was only an infant his 
parents removed to Chambersburg, where they 
remained until 1804. In that year they re- 
moved to Pittsburgh. In 1833 his father, ac- 
companied by his daughter Margaret, went to 
Dayton, Ohio, where he died about 1836, at 
eighty years of age. Samuel entered the army 
on the 10th of September, 1812, as captain of 
the 'State Pittsburgh Blues,' and with his com- 
pany was mustered into the United States ser- 
vice at Meadville, Crawford county, about ten 
days later." 

His company was sent to Black Rock, N. Y., 
where he and his men volunteered to cross into 
Canada and attack the English, but their ser- 
vices were not required, and he was breveted 
major for meritorious service. Returning home, 
he was variously engaged for some years, during 
which period he was a partner of Gen. Grant's 
father-in-law for fifteen months in the mercan- 
tile business. He read law with John B. Alex- 
ander, was admitted to the bar and, after a 
varied business life of half a century, returned 
to the practice of law. 

"In 1867 he removed to Saltsburg, was 
elected a justice of the peace, and continued as 
such until ninety years of age. He was married 



in 1817 to Elizabeth Weigley, daughter of 
Joseph Weigley, attorney-at-law at Greensburg. 
The latter was a Quaker and of German descent. 
Mrs. Cooper died in 1875, at about seventy-five 
years of age." 



GEORGE B. DAVIS. Too much cannot 
be said of the representative business men 
of a place, as the prosperity of any city or town 
depends largely upon their efforts and enter- 
prises. One of this class at Saltsburg is George 
B. Davis, of the lumljer firm of Davis & Co. 
He was born in Washington county, Pennsyl- 
vania, June 10, 1856, and is a son of George 
and Martha (Crawford) Davis. His paternal 
grandfather, Joshua Davis, was a native of Ire- 
land, and came to Washington county, where 
he purchased a farm and resided until his 
death. His son, George Davis (father), was 
born in 1814, and during the early part of his 
life run on a boat plying between Pittsburgh 
and Cincinnati, on the Ohio river. Leaving 
the river, he purchased a farm and followed 
farming until his death, December 14, 1870, 
when in the fifty-sixth year of his age. He 
was a republican and a member of the United 
Presbyterian church. He married Martha 
Crawford, a native of Kentucky, who was a 
member of the United Presbyterian church, 
and died April 8, 1852, aged fifty-four years. 

George B. Davis was reared on tlie home 
farm and received his education in the public 
schools and Washington college. At sixteen 
years of age he apprenticed himself to learn 
the trade of carpenter, and after serving an 
apprenticeship of three years engaged in con- 
tracting, which business he followed until 1885. 
In the spring of that year he opened a lumber- 
yard at Hills station, which he operated for 
one year and then came to Saltsburg, where he 
engaged in his present planing-mill and lumber 
business. 

In 1878 he united in marriage with Anna 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



225 



M. Wright, daughter of Edward Wright, of 
Washington county, Pa. To their union have 
been born three children, two sons and one 
daughter: Walter L., Mary M. and Edward W. 
In political matters Mr. Davis is an ardent 
temperance man and a prominent supporter of 
the Prohibition party. He is a member of the 
Saltsburg United Presbyterian church, of whose 
Sunday-school he has been superintendent for 
some time. Mr. Davis is a member of Davis, 
Bros. & Co., which was organized in the spring 
of 1887. Their mill and shops are favorably 
situated for business purposes, and manufacture 
and deal in lumber, doors, sash and moldings. 
They make a specialty of stair work and other 
difficult lines in their branch of business. 
George B. Davis has shown remarkable busi- 
ness ability in the management of his large 
lumbering establishment, which is justly de- 
serving of particular mention in a record of the 
leadinc; industries of Saltsburg-. 



HARRY R. McCAULEY, a prosperous, 
progressive and energetic young business 
man, now actively and successfully engaged in 
the general mercantile business at Saltsburg, 
was born in Bell township, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, April 13, 1860, and is 
a son of John G. and Mary J. (Alcorn) Mc- 
Cauley. John McCauley (paternal grandfather) 
is a native of Ireland, came to the United 
States where he located in Westmoreland 
county, where he now resides in a comfortable 
home. He has been a farmer and is now very 
active for a man nearly four-score and ten. He 
was born in 1803, and is a member of the 
Presbyterian church. John G. McCauley (fa- 
ther) was a native of Bell township, Westmore- 
land county, and an extensive farmer and stock 
dealer, in connection with which he was en- 
gaged in the general mercantile business for 
some years. He was very successful in busi- 
ness, firm in his convictions and very energetic. 



In political opinion he was a republican, and 
in religious faith a presbyterian, being a mem- 
ber of the church of that denomination at Salts- 
burg. He died in 1882, in the fifty-second 
year of his age. In 18 — he married Mary J. 
Alcorn, who was born in 1840, in Westmore- 
land county, where she now resides on the old 
home place. She is a member of the Presby- 
terian church. 

Harry R. McCauley was roared on the farm 
and received his education in the j)ub]ic schools 
of his native township. He continued on the 
farm and assisted his father in thestore until 1888, 
when he came to Saltsburg and engaged in his 
present general mercantile business. He has a 
well-selected stock of everything needed in that 
line of business, and has succeeded in building 
up a flourishing trade. His establishment is 
one of the largest and foremost mercantile 
houses of Saltsburg, and fully sustains its well- 
deserved reputation for first-class goods, reason- 
able prices and honorable dealing. 

In 1889 Mr. McCauley married Delia, 
daughter of Joseph M. Johnston, of Loyalhanna 
township, Westmoreland county. Their union 
has been blest with one child, a son. 

In political opinion Mr. McCauley is a re- 
publican. He is a member of Saltsburg Lodge, 
No. 646, I. O. O. F. He has achieved success 
in his chosen line of business, and is recognized 
as one of the leading merchants of Saltsburg. 



REV. SAMUEL W. MILLER, D. D. wag 
born on May 3d 1835, in Washington 
county, Pennsylvania. He is the third of nine 
sons, born to Samuel and Mary A. (Calkins) 
Miller. His ancestry was German, and the 
founder of the family in this country, was Wil- 
liam Miller, a German Lutheran of education, 
who came to America between 1730 and 1740, 
to avoid Roman Catholic persecution. He set- 
tled in Philadelphia, and was a teacher of lan- 
guages. 



226 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



His paternal grandfather was born in Ches- 
ter county, Pa., and his father in Berkeley 
county, Va., and in 1803, in the third year of 
his father's age, the family joined the army of 
Western pioneers and settled in Washington 
county, Pa., where his grandfather died at a 
great age, and in communion with the First 
Presbyterian church of Washington, Pa. 

His mother was the youngest daughter of 
Vincent Calkins, a presbyterian Irishman, who 
was also a pioneer in the same county. He 
obtained a good common school education in 
Allegheny county, Pa., whither his parents had I 
moved in his early childhood. His academic 
training was received at Hickory, Washington 
county. Pa., the place of his birth, and at Wil- 
kinsburg, Allegheny county. He entered the 
freshman class in Jefferson college in 1856, j 
and graduated in 1860, with the highest hon- 
ors of liis college literary society. 

In the fall of 1860, he took charge of an \ 
academy at Huntersville, the county seat of 
Pocahontas county, Va., which he conducted 
with great success and satisfaction to his pa- 
trons, until Virginia passed the Act of Seces- 
sion, in the spring of 1861, when only by the 
good will and aid of a few influential friends, 
he was enabled to avoid conscription, and amidst i 
constant difficulty and peril, escaped over the 
Cheat mouutain.s, to the loyal soil of his native 
State. j 

By the sudden death of his father, and the 
consequent care of a large farm, he was detained 
at home ; but during the same time he entered 
and prosecuted his studies in the Western Theo- 
logical seminary at Allegheny, Pa., where he 
graduated in 1864. He was licensed to preach , 
by the Presbytery of Ohio, in the First Pres- 
byterian church Pittsburgh, Pa., in October, 
1863. 

Ever since, without the interval of a single 
Sabbath he has sustained the relation of pastor, 
to the following churches, in succession ; viz : 
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1865-68 ; Wooster, Ohio, 



1868-74; Mansfield, Ohio, 1874-80; Salts- 
burg, Pa., 1880 until the present time. In 
1880, from the University of Wooster, he re- 
ceived the degree of doctor of divinity. 

Of his present charge the late Rev. Dr. S. J. 
Wilson, professor in the Western Theological 
Seminary at Allegheny, Pa. justly remarked, 
" It is tlie most important country or village 
charge in western Pa." This church has a 
membership of nearly 500, and stands in the 
centre of the thriving town of Saltsburg, which 
is situated where the waters of the Conemaugh 
and Loyalhanna meet, and form the beautiful 
Kiskiminetas. The people of the town and 
vicinity are of the most substantial character, 
the great majority of them descendants of the 
early pioneers. They have always been deeply 
interested in educational enterprises." 

For many years the church has owned and 
sustained an academy from which a large num- 
ber have gone forth, who have attained to posi- 
tions of eminence and usefulness. Saltsburg is 
also the seat of the exceptionally jirosperous 
" Kiskiminetas Springs school for Boys," aa 
institution eminently worthy of its wide repu- 
tation and overflowing patronage. Dr. Miller 
takes great pleasure in the feeling, that he had 
a little hand in securing the location of this 
school under the very shadow of his own 
church. 

On September 5th 1865, he married Salina 
Ledley Crawford, daughter of Robert Craw- 
ford, E.sq., of Steubenville, Ohio. He and his 
good wife with their two sons, Robert Craw- 
ford, and Samuel Wilson, thoroughly enjoy 
life at their beautiful place on High street 
which overlooks the valley. Few pastors of 
any denomination are more favored in the way 
of a home than he of the Saltsburg Presbyter- 
ian church. 

His biographical motto and caution is, — 

"Praise me not too much, 
Nor blame me, for thou speakest to the Greeks, 
Who know me." 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



227 



JAMES C. MOORE, the present popular 
burgess of Saltsburg, deservedly ranks as 
one of the most energetic and thorough-going 
business men of the county. He is a son of 
William and Jane (Robinson) Moore, and was 
born at Saltsburg, Indiana county, Pennsylva- 
nia, December 19, 1848. The Moore family is 
of ycotch-Irish descent. William Moore was 
born in 1810, in Butler county, and after arriv- 
ing at manliood came to Saltsburg, where he 
engaged in the tinning business, which ho has 
followed ever since. He has widened his field 
of business from time to time, and is now the 
principal partner in one of the largest and most 
successful business houses of Saltsburg. He is 
a member and elder of the Presbyterian church, 
a prohibitionist in politics and a deserving and 
prosperous business man who enjoys the good- 
will and respect of all who know him. He 
married Jane Robinson, of Indiana county, 
who was a presbyterian in faith and died in 
1884, aged seventy-two years. To their union 
were born one son and three daughters: Jas. C, 
Sarah E., Kate J. and R. Mary Moore. 

James C. Moore was reared at Saltsburg, 
where he received his education in tlie public 
schools and academy of that place. Leaving 
sciiool in 1871, he went to Baltimore, where he 
became a time clerk in the office of the North- 
ern Central R. R., and served as sucii until 
1875, when he was compelled to resign on 
account of impaired health. Returning home, 
he was shortly afterward admitted into partner- 
ship with his father in the stove and tin busi- 
ness, to which they soon added a large stock of 
iiardware. The firm-name was William Moore 
& Son and continued as such until January, 
1886, when they admitted Ira C. Ewing into 
partnership with them and have done bnsine.ss 
since then under the firm-name of William 
Moore, Son & Co. They are wholesale and re- 
tail dealers in their various lines of business. 
Their extensive establishment extends from No. 
44| to No. 46 on Salt Street. They carry a 
14 



large and complete stock of hardware, paints, 
oils and glass and have a full and varied assort- 
ment of tin, copper and sheet-ii'on ware. 
Another department is devoted to every style 
anil variety of stoves, grates and house fui'iiish- 
ing goods which are first-class in every respect. 
They make a specialty of tin, iron, slate and 
felt roofing and have a remunerative trade that 
extends beyond Saltsburg and the limits of the 
county. 

In 1875, Mr. Moore married Maggie G. 
Logan, who was a daughter of Margaret I. 
Logan, of Parker City, Pa., and who died in 
1886, leaving three children: Alice, Logan and 
Mary. On May 2d, 1888, Mr. Moore united 
in marriage with Jennie E. Ewing, daughter of 
Matthew Ewing, of Jack.sonville. To this 
second union has been born one child, a daugh- 
ter: Helen. 

James C. Moore is a member and treasurer 
of the Saltsburg Presbyterian church, of whose 
Sunday-school he is superintendent. He is re- 
corder of Loyal Lodge, No. 165, K. of H., 
treasurer of Diaii'ond Council, No. 248, Jr. O 
U. A. M., and .secretary of Kiskiminetas 
Castle, No. 28, K. of G. E. He is a member 
of the board of trustees of Saltsburg cemetery 
and of the board of managers of the Memorial 
institute. He is a pronounced republican in 
politics, yet stands so high as a business man 
and is so popular that his borough, which is 
.strongly democratic, has twice elected him as 
burgess, which office he now holds. He has 
also served as school director and filled various 
other borough offices. Mr. Moore has been 
emphatically the architect of his fortune and in 
his lines of business stands second to none in 
the county. Courteous, kind and accommodat- 
ing, yet he is firm in his convictions of right 
and cannot be swerved from what is jn.st and 
honest. Genial and popular, he enjoys an lionor 
accorded to but few men in being elected to a 
responsible position by the votes of his fellow- 
citizens of a politicid faith adverse to his own. 



228 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



MARTIN V. PATTERSON, junior mem- | 
ber of the Saltsburg Flouring-mill com- 
pany and a man of wide and successful exper- 
ience in the oil fields and lumbering business of 
western Pennsylvania, was born in Franklin 
township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania) 
December 12, 1839, and is a son of Martin and 
Anna (Kidd) Patterson. Martin Patterson was 
a native of county Down, Ireland, and settled 
in Westmoreland county, where he died in 
1865, aged sixty-nine years. He was engaged 
extensively in farming, was a member of the 
Presbyterian church, and in political matters, 
after he came to the United States, was identi- 
fied with the Democratic party until his death. 
Ere he sailed for America he married Anna 
Kidd, of his native county, who was a presby- 
terian in religious faith and who died in 1874, 
aged seventy-seven years. They were a highly 
respected couple in the community in which 
they resided and by all who knew them. They 
reared a family of five sons and five daughters. 
Martin V. Pattei-sou was reared on the farm 
and attended the public schools of his native 
townshij). In 1861 he commenced life for 
himself as an oil-well driller, but soon became 
a contractor, and as such was actively engaged, 
until 1870, in the different oil fields of western 
Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and northern West 
Virginia. In the last named year he embarked 
in western Pennsylvania in the lumber busi- 
ness, which he continued in up to 1881, when 
he came to Saltsburg, where he engaged in the 
flouring-mill busines.s, which he has followed 
with good success until the present time. In 
1885 he formed a business partnership with 
John Hershey, and they purchased the Saltsburg 
Flouring-mill which they have operated suc- 
cessfully until the jjresent time. They have a 
large trade and manufacture high and fancy 
grades of roller flour which they export to 
some extent beyond supplying the home demand 
for the same. Mr. Patterson is a member of 
Saltsburg Presbyterian church, Williamson 



Lodge, No. 431. Free & Accepted Masons; 
Local Branch, No. 141, Order of the Iron 
Hall; Kiskiminetas Castle, No. 223, Knights 
of the Golden Eagle; Salt.sburg Commandery, 
No. 22, K. G. E.; Saltsburg Council, No. 381, 
Royal Arcanum ; Loyal Lodge, No. 165, 
Knights of Honor; and Diamond Council, No. 
248, Jr. Order of United American Mechanics. 
In politics he is a democrat, has served one 
term as burgess and was a member of the 
school board for six years, besides serving, for 
some time, in tlie (own council. Martin V. 
Patterson is a man of good judgment and busi- 
ness ability, as is attested by the marked success 
that has attended his different enterprises. He 
is thorough-going in business, but pleasant and 
agreeable in manner, and is one of Saltsburg's 
substantial and progressive citizens. 

June 15, 1876, he united in marriage with 
Annie L. Watt, daughter of Hon. Isaac Watt, 
of Homer City, who served one term as as.so- 
ciate judge of the courts of Indiana county. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Patterson have been born 
two children: Harry C. and Grace R. 



ROBERT A. PAUL, the present postmaster of 
Saltsburg, has been successfully and honor- 
ably engaged, for nearly forty years, in different 
business enterprises. He was born in what is now 
Bell township, Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- 
vania, June 6, 1829, and is a .son of John and 
Sarah (Thompson) Paul. The Paul family is 
of Scotch-Irish extraction, and its American 
progenitor came in an early day to eastern 
Pennsylvania. Robert A. Paul's paternal 
grandfather was Squire Samuel Paul, who 
came from east of the Allegheuies to what is 
now Bell township, Westmoreland county, 
where he served for many years as a justice of 
the peace and where he died in 1840, at sixty- 
five years of age. John Paul (father) was 
born in 1802, and is quite an active man for his 
advanced age of eighty-eight years. He has 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



229 



always followed farming in his native township, 
is a member of the Presbyterian church, in 
which he has always taken an active part, and 
in political affairs yields his siijiport to the Re- 
publican party. He married Sarah Tiiompson, 
a daughter of Samuel Tiiompson, a farmer of 
Washington township, who died in 1836, aged 
about sixty-five years. Mrs. Paul was an esti- 
maljle woman, a zealous presbyterian and passed 
away January 27, 1890, when in the eighty- 
sixth year of her age. IMr. and Mre. Paul 
celebrated their golden wedding in 1874 and 
continued the celebration of their marriage an- 
niversaiy for fifteen succeeding years. 

Robert A. Paul was reared on the farm. 
After attending the schools of his neighborhood 
he learned the trade of mill-wright, which he 
followed for thirteen years. He was then en- 
gaged in the general mercantile business at var- 
ious places until 1869, when he came to Salts- 
burg, where he accepted the superiutendency of 
the Kier Bros.' Fire-brick works, which posi- 
tion he held for ten years. He then resigned 
(1879) to engage in his present fire insurance 
and agricultural implement business. He is an 
active republican in politics, was appointed by 
President Harrison, on April 3d, 1889, as post- 
master of Saltsburg, and has discharged the 
duties of his office in a very creditable manner 
ever since. 

October 1, 1850, Mr. Paul married Mary A. 
Cochran, daughter of Hon. Michael Cochran, 
who was a prominent man in his day, and who 
served, with great credit, as associate judge of 
Armstrong county for several years. Mr. and 
Mrs. Paul have one child living: John L., who 
is engaged in the fire insurance business with 
his father. 

In 1863 Mr. Paul enlisted in company I, 
54th regiment Pennsylvania Militia, which 
helped largely to capture Gen. John Morgan in 
Ohio. Afler an active service of ninety days 
Mr. Paul was honorably discharged and re- 
turned home. Robert A. Paul is a member and 



trustee of the Presbyterian churcii. His busi- 
ness interests are chiefly at Saltsburg, where he 
has always been active and successful in the 
different commercial euterpri.ses in which he has 
been engaged. He is a man of his word and 
has wrought out for himself a position in life 
wliich commands respect. 



WC. RALSTON, D.D.S., of Saltsburg, In- 
• diana county, Pa., was born May 30, 1848, 
in Derry township (near Blairsville), Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania ; is a son of John 
Ralston. His grandfather, William Ralston, 
came with his parents from Ireland when five 
years of age and settled in Salem township, 
Westmoreland county, was reared in the bounds 
of Congruity, became a member of that church 
in his youth, and in manhood served as riding 
elder. He died in 1852, aged si.xty-seven 
years. His son, John Ralston (father of Dr. 
W. C. Ralston), was born in 1809, in Salem 
township, Westmoreland county, Pa., where he 
spent the greater part of his life. In 1838 
he married Elizabeth Mason, daughter of Thos. 
Mason (ex-connty surveyor of Westmoreland 
county). He purch.ased the old homestead (his 
father's farm), where he remained for thirty-two 
years, and in the spring of 1884 removed to 
Saltsburg, where he died November 9th of the 
same year. He was a successful farmer and a 
man who took a great interest in the cause of 
education and temperance, and was rewarded by 
seeing all his children prepared to fill places of 
usefulness in life. He was a Presbyterian in 
religions faith and a republican in politics. His 
wife, Elizabeth Ralston, was born July 2d, 
1815, and died July 10th, 1887; their remains 
lie side by side in Edgewood cemetery, Salts- 
burg, Pa. 

W. C. Ralston was reared on his father's 
farm near Congruity and received his education 
in the public schools and Elder's Ridge and 
Ijogan academies, and also is a graduate of 



230 



BI00RAPHIE8 OF 



Duff's college, Pittsburgh, Pa. In 1879 he 
entered the dental oflSce of Dr. Waugamau, 
Greensburg, Pa., and pursued the study of 
dentistry for two years ; he afterwards attended 
the Baltimore dental college, from which he 
graduated March 4th, 1882, as one of a class 
of sixty-seven members. He then located at 
Saltsburg, where he has remained ever since in 
the successful practice of his profession. 

On September 11th, 1884, he united in mar- 
riage with Annie M. Deery, only child of 
Archie Deery, of Saltsburg, Pa., who was a 
man of irreproachable character and high stand-* 
ing in Saltsburg, where he had been president 
of the First National bank for many years and 
until his death, September 16th, 1890. On 
December 21st, three months later, his wife 
joined him in the eternal world. To Dr. and 
Mrs. Ralston have been born two children: 
Sarah E. and Anna M. 

Dr. Ralston is a republican and is a member 
of the Saltsburg Presbyterian church. He owns 
some desirable real estate, ar)d, besides being an 
e.xcellent workman in his profession, is a man 
of business ability who stands well with the 
public. 



ROBERT STEWART, a retired business 
man of Philadelphia, now resident of 
Saltsburg, and a very highly respected citizen 
of Indiana county, is a son of William and 
Catherine (Potter) Stewart, and was born in 
Paisley, Scotland, September .1, 1833. Wil- 
liam Stewart was a native of county Tyrone, 
Ireland. In 1830 he moved to Scotland, where 
he remained until 1841, when ho came to the 
United States, and located in Philadelpliia. In 
1857 he engaged in the carpet manufacturing 
business for himself, at which he continued 
very successfully until within a few years of 
his death, when he retired froui the business 
cares and toils of life on account of ill health. 
He died in 1877, aged seventy-nine years. He 



was very successful in business and carried on 
an extensive establishment. He and all of his 
family were members of the Covenanter church. 
He was a whig and afterwards a republican in 
politics. In 1827 he married Catharine Potter, 
a native of county Tyrone, Ireland, and by 
whom he had seven children, five sons and two 
daughters. Mrs. Stewart died in 1881, iu the 
eighty-second year of her age. 

Robert Stewart came to the United States 
with his father iu 1841. He was reared in 
Philadelphia and received his education in the 
public schools of that city. In 1857 he and 
his brother Arthur formed a partnership with 
their father in the carpet manufacturing busi- 
nes.s under the firm-name of William Stewart 
& Sons, and their house soon attained a posi- 
tion of influence in business whicii it success- 
fully held for over a quarter of a century, and 
until the dissolution of the partnership between 
the brothers, in 1885, when Mr. Stewart with- 
drew from the firm. This firm, during its con- 
tinuance, manufactured a splendid assortment 
of carpets of every kind and grade from the 
finest ingrain Venetian carpets, rugs and cur- 
tains, down to the plain and useful varieties. 
In April, 1889, Mr. Stewart came to Saltsburg, 
where he owns some valuable property. He 
also owns a farm of three hundred and sixteen 
acres of land in Ijoyalhanna township, AVest- 
moreland county, which he benight in 1880, and 
where he expects to make his permanent home 
some time in the future. This farm is under- 
laid with valuable minerals and ranks as one 
of the finest farms of that township. Iu 1866 
Mr. Stewart married IVIary, daughter of John 
Stewart, of Philadelphia, and their union has 
been blest with three children, one son and two 
daughters: Elizabeth, William and Catherine. 

Robert Stewart is a republican politically, 
and wa-s a .school director at one time in Phila- 
delphia. He was very successful as a business 
man of Philadelphia, and is recognized as one 
of Saltsburg's most enterprising citizens. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



231 



TAINIES r. WATSON, a leading director of 
^ the Saltsburg Glass «mipany, is one of the 
foremost business men and most enterprising 
citizens of Indiana county. He is a son of 
Thomas and Rebecca P. (Wilspn) Watson, and 
\\as born in Young township, Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania, November 1!), 1857. His pa- 
ternal grandfather, Matthew Watson, was born 
in county Tyrone, Ireland, in 17G3, and set- 
tled, in ITll.'J, in the northern part of Westmore- 
land county. In 1800 he removed to Cone- 
niaugli township, this county, where he lived to 
be nearly ninety-three years of age. He was a 
man of unsullied character, and " Watson's 
Ridge" was named in honor of him. His first 
wife died soon after his arrival in this country, 
and he afterwards married Margaret McClel- 
land, of Scotch-Irish descent, and a daughter 
of James McClelland, who came, in 1783, from 
Scotland to Conemangh township. Mr. and 
Mrs. Watson were the parents of twelve chil- 
dren : John, Thomas, Matthew, Jr., Mary, 
William, Alexander, Robert, James, Jane, Isa- 
bella, Ann and Margaret. (For a fuller sketch 
of Matthew Watson, see sketch of M. C. Wat- ; 
son, of Indiana.) The second son, Thomas 
Watson (father), was born in 1800, on the site 
of Harrison City, Westmoreland county. He 
was a carpenter and boat-builder by trade, 
worked on the old Pennsylvania canal for 
many years, and owned a fine farm of three 
hundred and twenty-five acres of land in 
Young township. In 1872 he came to Salts- 
burg, where he died in June, 1887, when in 
the eighty-eighth year of his age. He was a 
republican and a strict presbyterian, and mar- 
ried Rebecca P. Wilson, of Allegheny county, [ 
who was born in 1815, and is a member of the 
United Presbyterian church of Saltsburg, where 
she now resides with the subject of this sketch. 
Mr. and M-rs. Watson were the parents of five 
sons and three daughters. i 

James P. Watson was reared in Young town- 
ship, and received his education in the common 



schools and Elder's Ridge academy. Leaving 
School, he followed farming until 1888, when 
he came to Saltsburg, where, in November, 
1889, he became a member of the present Salts- 
burg Glass company. This company j)urchased 
the plant of tiic old Saltsburg Glass company, 
and with the characteristic energy for which 
they are noted, immediately remodeled, enlarged 
and improved the works. They now manufiic- 
ture fine prescription ware and bottles of all 
kinds. They give constant employment to 
seventy-five men and boys, and have added 
largely to the business prosperity of Saltsburg. 
When the project of starting the old glass-works 
was discussed, Mr. Watson was the first to enter 
heartily into the matter, and wa.s largely instru- 
mental in forming the present company and 
pushing forward the enterprise until it was an 
assured success. 

In pijlitics Mr. Watson is a republican. In 
religious faith he is a United Presbyterian and 
a member of that church at Saltsburg. He 
owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres of 
land in Young township, besides his business 
investments in Saltsburg. In financial as well 
as business mattere he has been prominent for 
some years, and is now serving as a director of 
the First National Bank of Saltsburg. James 
P. Watson has contributed as largely as any 
other citizen of his native borough to its pres- 
ent prosperity. He is a respected citizen, a 
popular business man, who has been faithful to 
every trust reposed in him, and ranks high 
wherever he is known as a man of well-known 
integrity. 



ROBERT H. WILSON, of Saltsburg, is one 
of the most scientific, practical and suc- 
cessful civil engineers of this State, and during 
his professional career had charge of some very 
important engineering operations connected with 
municipal and industrial development of the 
county. He was born in South Bend township, 



232 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 9, 1851, 
and is a son of James D. and Nancy (Wray) 
Wilson. His paternal great-grandparents, Wil- 
son, born respectively in Franklin anil Adams i 
counties, were among the earlier settlers of 
Washington and Allegheny counties, as were 
also his father's maternal grandparents, Hender- 
son, who were natives of Lancaster and Chester 
counties. His j)aternal grandfather, Hugh M- 
Wilson, married Mary Henderson, a grand- 
daughter of the Rev. Matthew Henderson, one 
of the pioneers of Washington county, Penn- 
sylvania, and a participant in the original move- 
ment which culminated in the establishment of i 
Jefferson college. 

One of the sons of Hugh M. Wilson was ! 
James D. Wilson, the fiither of the subject of 
this sketch. James D. Wilson was born in ! 
v\llc'gheny county, November 5, 1818. On 
INfarch 24, 1847, he married Nancy Wray, who ' 
is a daughter of Robert and Abigail Wray, and 
was born in Armstrong county, August 11, 
1825. In April, 1847, Mr. Wilson moved to 
his present farm of one huudred and eighty 
acres near Oliv^et village, in South Bend town- 
ship, Armstrong county, which was purchased 
by his father in 1838 and then contained only 
one hundred and twenty acres. Mr. Wilson 
has given his time chiefly to farming except 
four years during which he was engaged in 
milling. He has served as a director of Apollo 
Savings bank for many years and is the last 
remaining one of the original members of 
Olivet U. P. church, of which his wife and 
children became members. Mr, and Mrs. W^il- 
son have Ijcen the parents of six children : 
Robert H., Mary L., born June 5, 1854 ; Abi- 
gail, born Sept. 18, 1856 ; Hattie, born April 27, 
1864 ; and Hugh and Sarah, born i-e.'ipeotively 
in 1849 and 1860, both of whom died in in- 
fancy. ]Mr. and Mrs. WiLson, now well advanced 
in years, are in the enjoyment of the fruits of 
their many years of honorable and u.seful labor. 

Robert H. Wilson was reared on the home 



farm. He received his education in the com- 
mon schools, Elder's Ridge academy and the 
Western University of Pittsburgh, in which he 
studied civil engineering. Leaving the univer- 
sity, he entered upon the active practice of 
his profession, and met with such a mea- 
sure of success that eventually his services 
were sought for by parties throughout the 
entire western part of the State. In 1889 his 
business had increased so in volume that he was 
compelled to seek assistance in order to take 
care of it, and accordingly associated in partner- 
ship with himself, Albert Smith, of this county, 
under the firm-name of Wilson & Smith. They 
have offices at Saltsburg and Washington, Pa. 
In 1888 Mr. Wilson came to Saltsburg, where 
he has resided ever since. 

On December 5, 1878, he married Ellen 
Blakely, daughter of James Blakely. To their 
union have been born five children : Florence, 
Karl, Zora, Irene and Robert. 

Robert H. Wilson is a republican in politics 
and served as county surveyor of Armstrong 
county from 1879 to 1882. He is a member of 
the U. P. church and has served for many 
years as a trustee of Elder's Ridge academy. 
He has made a specialty of town and city work 
for some years, and his firm now has charge of 
large sewerage and water sjstems and is actively 
engaged in conducting the surveys of several 
important coal fields and the construction of 
some extensive colliery plants. At this time 
they have charge of the sewerage and paving at 
Washington and Monongahela City, Pa., besides 
having just completed a series of surveys em- 
bracing over six thousand acres of coal land 
and making extensive surveys of various gas 
fields. He is engineer in charge of the surveys 
and developments of the Maher Coal & Coke 
company of Blairsville, Pennsylvania. Mr. 
WiLson has kept abreast of the times in his 
chosen profession and enjoys the respect of his 
professional brethren and the confidence of a 
large and increasing clientelage. 



HOMER CITY. 



Historical and Deseriptive. — Homer City is 
six miles south of the county-seat and is the 
largest town ou the Indiana Branch railroad 
between Indiana and Blairsville Intersection. 
It is situated on Yellow creek, a short distance 
from the confluence of that stream with Two 
Lick creek. It was laid out in 1854, incorpo- 
rated as a borough in 1872 and is tlie great 
centre of the lumber trade of tiie county. It is 
situated not very far from the geographical 
centre of Centre townshi[), and in population 
is the fourth of the towns of Indiana county. 
Homer City is in the Blairsville or Third Great 
Coal basin. The Upper Freeport coal bed of 
the Lower Productive coal measures is well ex- 
posed along Yellow creek and in the valley of 
that stream near Homer City are tlic nearest coal 
mines to Indiana. Limestone is abundant, and 
"as here developed, the Mahoning sandstone 
furnishes excellent building material, not only , 
for heavy foundations, but equally well for pur- ■ 
poses of decoration. This is fully shown by 
the handsome court-bouse building at Indiana, 
in the erection of which all the sandstone em- I 
ployed was taken from the Mahoning deposit 
above Homer City. The rock is easily tooled, 
stands weathering well, and can be cheaply 
raised in the Tearing Run region, being present 
in prodigious quantities above water level." 

Homer City is situated on land which is a | 
part of two tracts; one patented in the name of j 
John Allison, and the other to John and Wil- 
liam Cummins. About 1800 Allison had a 
mill on Yellow creek just below the present 



dam (1880) in that stream. He afterwards 
built a second mill, to which a saw-mill and 
carding-machiue was attached. Some years 
after the mill was establisiied the site of the 
town was a contestant for the county-seat, and 
in all probai)ility would have l)cen successful if 
it had not Ijeeu for the liberal offers of ISIr. 
Clymer in favor of Indiana. lu 18;]2 John 
Mullin opened a store on tlic cast side of wiiat 
is now Main street. Hugli Devers soon 
opened a second store and several houses 
were erected. The town was laid out iu 1854, 
by William Wilson, who named it in honor of 
the poet Homer. The next year the Indiana 
Brauch railroad was completed to the town and 
it began to improve rapidly. Stores, mills, shops 
and tanneries were estalilished, and in 1872 it 
had attained to a size sufficient to become a 
borough under the name of Homer City. On 
, February 11, 1876, the post-office was changed 
' from Phillips' Mills to Homer City, and a dec- 
ade later many of its present industries were 
started. 

The first church was the Methodist Episco- 
pal, and the successive churches since established 
have been the United Presbyterian, Presbyterian 
and Evangelical Lutheran. 

The first physician to locate at Homer City 
was Dr. James Shields, who came about 1858. 
From that time until 1880among the physicians 
of Homer City were: D. M. Marshall, 1860; 
John Evans and J. C. Morrison, 1865; D. Bor- 
dell, 18G7; H. S. Thomas, 1873; G. F. Arney, 
1878, and J. G. Campbell, 1879. 

23.3 



234 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



In the future Homer City is destined to be 
one of tiie large, prosperous and progressive 
boroughs of the county. Its manufacturing in- 
dustries, now in tlieir infancy, will increase in 
number as well as in magnitude. Its large 
lumber and planing-mills are now the principal 
business industries of the town. Homer City 
is one of the i-ailway towns of the county, was 
laid out prior to the late war and has grown 
rapidly in size and numbers. 

The census reports give its population since 
18S0 as follows: 1880, 381; 1890, 513. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



JOHN GILBERT CAINIPBELL, M.D., a 
^ sufcces.sful i>hysician of Homer City, and 
ex-member of the board of pension e.xaminers 
of this district, is a son of Robert and Margaret 
(Mack) Campbell, and was born near Armagli, 
East Wheatfield township, Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania, March 1, 1852. His grand- 
father, David Campbell, was born in Ireland, 
in 1794, and came, in 1814, to East Wheat- 
field township. He then bought a farm which 
he tilled during the remainder of his life. One 
of his .son.s, Robert Campbell, was born August 
7, 1818, and was employed during his early 
manhood as a boatman on the Pennsylvania 
canal. 

Leaving the canal, he bought a farm of one 
hundred and twenty-seven acres in West Wheat- 
field township, on which he resided until his 
death. Robert Campbell was a member of the 
United Presbyterian church, and an influential 
democrat, having at different times been elected 
to the township offices of school director, road 
supervisor and overseer of the poor. He died 
in 1882, at the age of sixty-two years. In 



1843 he married Margaret Mack, eldest daugh- 
ter of Robert and Margaret (McDonald) Mack, 
of East Wheatfield township. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Campbell were born nine children, of whom 
six are living: Amanda, wife of John Lamor- 
eaux ; James McClure, a farmer, residing on 
the homestead farm ; Dr. John Gilbert ; Jo- 
seph, engaged in the lumber business ; and 
Emma, wife of C. C. Fisher, of Garfield. Mrs. 
Margaret Campbell's father, Robert Mack 
(maternal grandfather), was a native of Indiana 
county, and a substantial farmer of East Wheat- 
field township. 

John G. Campbell attended the public schools 
of East Wheatfield township and Elder's Ridge 
academy. For eleven years he taught in the 
common schools of his native State. In 1876 
he commenced the stud}' of medicine under the 
instruction of Dr. R. J. Tomb, of Armagh, at- 
tended a medical college in Cleveland, Ohio, 
for a short time, and then entered the Baltimore 
school of medicine, from which he was gradu- 
ated March 1, 1879. He, immediately after 
graduation, opened an office and, after practic- 
ing for some time, removed to Homer City, 
where he has built up a large and remuner- 
ative })ractice. He is erecting a tasteful 
dwelling on Main street, which will be, when 
completed, one of the finest residences in the 
borough. 

He married Belle Boyd, daughter of David 
and Mary (McCarty) Boyd, of Homer City. 
Dr. and Mrs. Campbell have one child, a 
daughter : Frank Boyd Campbell, who was 
born July 16, 1886. 

Dr. John G. Campbell is a prominent mem- 
ber of the United Presbyterian church, holding 
the offices of elder and trustee of his church. In 
politics he is a democrat, and has been elected 
to various borough offices. His time is mainly 
devoted to the study and practice of his jirofes- 
sion. He is a genial, courteous gentleman, a 
successful physician and is worthy of the es- 
teem in which he is held. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



235 



JOHN COY, ex-postmaster of Homer City, 
and a ^^•ide-a\vake inerchaut, is a son of 
John B. and Margaret (Enipfield) Coy, and 
was born in Cherry Hill towushi]), Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1818. His 
grandfatiier, John Coy, was a native and a life- 
long resident of Bedford county, where, at the 
time of his death, he owned a farm of four 
hundred acres of land. He was a man of great 
activifv, and was quite notable among the bear- 
hunters during the pioneer days of Bedford 
county's early settlers. He was an old-line whig, 
a member of the Evangelical I/Utheran church, 
and died in June, 1855. He married Sarah 
Bovvers, by whom he had nine children : Lewis, 
Franey, John B., Adam, Sarah, wife of George 
Empfield ; Peter, Nancy, who married Samuel 
Stahl ; Elizabeth, wife of AVilliam Fowler, and 
David. His second son, John B. Coy (father), 
was born in Bedford county, November 2, 
1814, attended the subscription sciiools, and 
learned the trade of siioeinaUer, which he fol- 
lowed for nearly a (juartcr of a century. In 
April, 1851, he removed to Centre township, 
this county, where he bought a farm of one 
hundred and thirty-five acres, which he tilled 
during the remainder of his life. He was an 
elder and deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran 
church, (if which he was for many years an ac- 
tive member. He was a republican and took 
quite an active part in hjcal politics. He served 
as road supervisor, school director and overseer of 
the poor, and at tliis date (October 10, 1 800), he 
is living and enjoying good health. In 1838 
he married Margaret Empfield. To their union 
were born five children : Saraii J., wife of G. 
A. Mikcsell ; Benjamin, Alexander W ., Peter 
and John. Of these children, Sarah J. and 
John only are living. Mrs. Coy was a daugh- 
ter of Peter Empfield (maternal grandfather), 
who was a farmer of this county and met with 
several reverses in business. He was a re[)ub- 
lican in politics. 

John Coy was reared on his father's farm 



and attended the public schools. la early 
manhood he worked on the farm in the sum- 
mer and on a saw-mill during the winter for 
several years. In 1872 he came to Plomer 
City and formed a mercantile partnership with 
G. A. Mikesell, under the firm-name of Coy 
& Mikesell. Some eighteen months after- 
ward Mr. Mikesell sold out his interest to 
James Fenton, and the firm became Coy & 
Fenton. In 1875, Mr. Coy bought out his 
partner's share, and since that time has con- 
ducted the business very successfully. He has 
a large, well-selected stock of dry goods, gro- 
ceries, hardware and general nicrchandi.se, espe- 
cially selected to gratify the wishes and satisfy 
the needs of his patrons. Attentive, courteous 
and obliging, he has built up a good j)atronage. 
His present general mercantile establishment 
is on Main street, and w-as erected in 1805 by 
his father. 

On September \\), 1871, he married Anna 
M. McFeaters, daughter of James and Eliza- 
l)eth (Duncan) McFeaters, of Indiana county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Coy have three children : Lela 
Thoburn, born May 18, 1873; Tesora Grace, 
born December 14, 1876; and Jennie Ethel, 
Ixirn November 16, 1879. 

John Coy is an uncompromising democrat, 
and has made an excellent record as school 
director, overseer of the poor and councilman 
of the borough. In 1885 he was appointed 
postmaster of Homer City, which position he 
held until May 24, 1889. He is a man of 
perseverance, sagacity and prudence, and his 
success in mercantile life is attributable to 
these qualities which he pos.sesses in so high a 
degree. 



DR. JOHN EVANS, a successful physician 
of Homer City, and a wounded Union 
veteran of the late war, is a .son of William 
and Susan (Wilkins) Evans, and was born in 
Brush Valley township, Indiana county, Penn- 



236 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



sj'lvania, May 20, 1835. The Evanses are of 
Welsh descent, and Hugh Evans (grandfather) 
was among the early settlers of Brush Valley 
township. He came from Wales, and about 
1800 erected a stone grist-mill on Brush creek, 
about three-quarters of a mile below the pres- 
ent site of Mechanicsburg. It was the first 
mill in Brush Creek Valley, and for many 
years was a prominent landmark. Besides the 
grist-mill, Hugh Evans owned a large farm 
and a distillery. He was the first member of 
the Baptist church who settled in Brush Val- 
ley township. He was a strong abolitionist, 
and died in 1849, when he was about seventy 
years of age. He was married twice. By his 
first wife, Hannah , he had eight chil- 
dren : Ann, married to James Stewart ; John, 
Hugh, William, Evans, James, Mary and Eliz- 
abeth. After the death of his first wife he 
married Esther Creswell. William Evans 
(father) was born in 1800, and followed farm- 
ing tor a livelihood. He was a presbyterian 
and a whig, and served as school director and 
judge of elections. He has a well-improved farm 
of one hundred and thirty-five acres. He died 
in 1852, in the fifty-third year of his age. He 
married Susan Wilkins, daughter of Andrew 
and Elinor (Robinson) Wilkins. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Evans were born eight children : Dr. 
John, Andrew W., Samuel W., William A., 
Nancy, E., married to J. Rhoads; Susan, wife 
of W. S. McCormick ; Sarah E. and George W. 
Dr. John Evans was reared on his father's 
farm and attended the common schools and 
Saltsburg and Jacksonville academies. From 
1851 to 1859 he taught school. He read med- 
icine with Dr. James ]S[cMnllen, and attended 
Jefferson Medical college, but left his class to 
come home and enlist as a soldier. On July 
24, 1861, he became a member of Co. H, 41st 
regiment. Pa. Vols., and in November of the 
same year was appointed hospital steward. He 
served until June 11, 1864, when he was hon- 
orably discharged at Harrisburg. He partici- 



I pated in the battles of Draiusville, Mechanics- 
ville, Gaines' Mills, Malvern Hill, Charles City 
Cross-Roads, Bull Run, South Mountain, An- 
tietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Bristoe 
station, Rappahannock station, Mine Run, Wil- 
derness, Spottsylvania, Jericho Ford and Beth- 
esda church. In the battle of Mechanicsville 
Dr. Evans was wounded by a ball. In 1864 
! he entered upon the practice of his profession 
\ at Greenville, but in 1866 removed to Homer 
; City, where he has enjoyed a lucrative practice 
ever since. 

On December 21, 1868, he married Isabella 
S. Watt, daughter of Isaac and Jane (McKen- 
nan) Watt. To Dr. and Mrs. Evans have been 
born five children : William I., born in 1871, 
and died in 1876; Luella G., born in March, 
1876; John J , born August 26, 1880; An- 
drew E. and Jane I., born in 1888. 

Dr. Evans and his estimable wife have been 
members of Homer City Presbyterian church 
since it was organized, July 21, 1870. On 
May 26, 1889, he was appointed postmaster at 
Homer City, and is one of the leadiug republi- 
cans in the borough, having been a member of 
the school board ever since its organization. 
Dr. Evans is a successful physician and well 
deserves the esteem in which he is held. 



" T) EV. CARLE MOORE was born in Jef- 
-L*' ferson, Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 
1848. He was a student of Madison college, 
Unlontown, Fayette county, Pa., for four years, 
and read Theology with Rev. John ]\Iorgan, a 
Cumberland Presbyterian minister, of Union- 
town. His first charge was over three Cumber- 
land Presbyterian churches, one in each of Ve- 
nango, Mercer and Crawford counties. After 
nearly four years' labor he removed to Punx- 
sutawney, where he labored about five years. 
His successive parishes were: Cumberland Pres- 
byterian church, Mercer county, about two 
years; Brady's Bend Presbyterian church, for 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



237 



Brady's Bend, Iron works; Cumberland Pres- 
byterian church, in Armstrong county, and 
Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland county; Beverly 
and Lowell, Ohio, Congregational, and Green- 
field, Ohio, new school Presbyterian churches; 
Cumberland Presbyterian, Newburg, Indiana, 
and from 1869 to 1877 for several Presbyterian 
churches in northern Indiana county. 

"Our subject's wife was M. J., daughter of 
William Caldwell, of Indiana. Their children 
were: William I., who was born in 1847, grad- 
uated from the laboratory department of the 
Philadelphia school of pharmacy, opened a 
drug store at Homer City in July, 1876, and 
in 1877 married Mary G. Woodford, of Cherry 
Tree, by whom he had one child, Nellie J.; 
James, deceased, and Thomas, deceased." (This 
sketch was written in 1880.) 



HON. WILLIAM L. REED, M.D., a 
member of the House of Representatives 
of Pennsylvania, and a well-established physi- 
cian and influential citizen of Homer City, is a 
son of Augustus J. and Mary (Anderson) 
Reed, and was born near Stewartsville, in Arm- 
strong township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
February 11, 1843. The Reed family is of 
Scotch descent. William Reed, the paternal 
grandfather of Dr. William L. Reed, was a 
farmer who lived near Clinton village, in Find- 
lev townsiiip, Allegheny county. He was an 
old-line whig and a strong anti-slavery man 
and an active member of the Presbyterian 
church. His son, Augustus J. Reed (father), 
was born in Findley township in 1820, re- 
ceived a common-school education and was en- 
gaged in farming until 1888, when he removed 
to Colorado. He there bought a farm of one 
liundred and sixty acres, but, not liking the 
country and the rough frontier life of the sec- 
tion in which he had located, he returned to 
Allegheny county in 1889. He is an elder in 
the United Presbyterian church, a prominent 



republican and served once as township asse.ssor. 
In 1842 he married Mary Anderson, daughter 
of William and Elizabeth (Logan) Anderson, 
of Indiana county. Mr. and Mrs. Reed have 
been the parents of eight children, six of whom 
are living. Mrs. Reed's father, William An- 
derson (maternal grandfather), was born in 
Ireland, came in 1812 to Ohio, and shortly 
afterwards removed to Armstrong county, 
where, near the site of Taylorville, he pur- 
chased a farm of four hundred acres. He was 
the founder of Stewartsville (Parkwood post- 
office), which he had laid out on New Year's 
Day, 1848, and of which village his son Sam- 
uel erected the first dwelling. William Ander- 
son was a member of the Presbyterian church, 
and married Elizabeth Logan, a native of Ire- 
land, by whom he had several children. 

William L. Reed was reared on his father's 
farm and attended the common .schools and 
Elder's Ridge academy. He entered West- 
rriinster college, in Lawrence county, from 
which institution of learning he was graduated 
in 1867. On August 31, 1861, he enlisted as 
a sergeant in Company D, 62d regiment, Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, commanded by Col. Black. 
He served three years and four months, was 
wounded three times and was discharged at 
Stone general hos))ital, Washington city, in 
December, 1864. He was shot in the left leg 
at Hanover Court-house, received a ball in the 
left leg at Chancellorsville, and was shot in the 
left arm, left side and through both thighs dur- 
ing the second day's fight at Gettysburg. After 
he was discharged from the army he read med- 
icine with Dr. Banks, of Livermore, Westmore- 
land county, for six months and then taught a 
select school, after which he resumed the study 
of medicine with Dr. Robert ^IcChesney, of 
Shelocta. He attended lectures at the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons, Cincinnati, from 
which institution he was graduated in 1874. 
After graduation he located at Shelocta, where 
he practiced for six years and then removed to 



238 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Jacksonville. In 1889 he came to Homer City 
as a larger and more favorable field for the 
jiractice of his jirofession and is building up 
quite an extensive practice. 

In 1867 he married Anna P. Johnson, 
daughter of James and Mary C. (Miller) John- 
son, of New Wilmington, I^awrence county. 
To Dr. and Mrs. Reed have been born five 
childern : Luhi, born January, 1868, died in 
1870; Nola, born in 1870, wife of a Mr. Scott, 
of Westmoreland couuty; Nellie, born in 1872; 
Charles Paul, born September .30, 1877, and 
Mary, Ijorn in August, 1880. Mrs. Reed is a 
woman of good education, prominent in society 
and devoted to her family. 

Dr. Reed is an influential and leading repub- 
lican, and has served as a school director and 
biu'gess of Homer City. He was elected 
as a member of the House of Representa- 
tives of Pennsylvania, and served very cred- 
itably during the session of 1888-89. He is a 
courteous gentleman of good address and kind 
disposition, and has many friends throughout 
the county. He is painstaking, trustworthy 
and successful as a physician ; useful as a citi- 
zen, honorable as a man and prominent as a 
republican in the county councils of his party. 



JOHN P. ST. CLAIR. Among the busi- 
*-' ness men of Homer City, none rank higher 
than John P. St. Clair, ex-clerk of the board 
of commissioners of Indiana county and pro- 
prietor of the Homer City flouring mills. He 
is a son of Hon. Thomas and Charlotte (Pat- 
ton) St. Clair, and was born at Indiana, Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, December 31, 1848. He 
is of Scotch-Irish descent and on his paternal 
side is descended from the St. Clair family of 
Scotland, which was founded during the middle 
ages, by Sir Walderne de St. Clair, a Norman 
Knight, and whose full history will be found in 
the sketch of Hon. Thomas St. Clair, of In- 
diana. James St. Clair, Sr. (great-grand- 



father and cousin to Gen. Arthur St. Clair), 
came from Ireland to York county and served 
in the Revolutionary war. His son, James St. 

j Clair (grandfather), came to this county, where 
he married Jennie Slemmons, of Irish descent 
and reared a family of ten children: Margaret, 
William S., Mary W., James, Samuel, Isaac, 
John, Robert, Hon. Thomas, M.D., and Hiram. 
(See sketch of Ex-Senator St. Clair, of In- 
diana.) 

j John P. St. Clair received his education in 
the common schools and Indiana academy. 
Leaving school, he engaged in the general mer- 

; cantile business as a member of the firm of 
Sutton, Lloyd & Co , but soon withdrew from 
that firm and formed a partnership with W. R. 
Laughry, under the firm-name of Laughry & 
St. Clair, which name was afterward changed 
to Sutton, Laughry & Co., when Peter Sutton 
entered the firm. In 1871 Mr. St. Clair ex- 
changed his interest in this latter firm for a 
third interest in the old " Two Lick " grist-mill. 
His father bought the remaining two-thirds 
interest and they operated it under the firm- 
name of Thomas St. Clair & Son until Feb- 
ruary, 1876, when they sold the mill. They 
then engaged in business at Two Lick's station 
as the " Two Lick's Lumber company, limited." 
Three years later they sold their property at the 
station and dissolved partnership. John P. St. 
Clair, in the mean time, was elected clerk of the 
commissioners of Indiana county, which office 
he assumed on January 1, 1879, and filled very 
creditably for his term of three years. In 1 882 
he inherited a third interest in the Homer City 
mills, and since that time has devoted his atten- 
tion to the management of these mills and 
building up the extensive trade which he now 
enjoys. The mill, including the other buildings 
on the property, is worth $25,000. It is one of 
the oldest mills in the county, and since being 
improved and refitted by Mr. St. Clair, has a 

, capacity of seventy-five barrels of flour per 

' day. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



239 



January 4, 1872, he married Martha J. ' 
Daugherty, daughter of James R. and Anna 
M. (Hart) Daugherty, of Indiana. Mr. and 
Mrs. St. Clair are the parents of seven chil- 
dren : Mary C, born March 3, 1873; Tliomas 
P., born January 2, 1876; Frank D., born 
June 10, 1879; John D., born July 4, 1881; 
Jennie, born May 11, 1884; James K., born 
August 26, 1886; and Anna Joe, born Decem- 
ber 2, 1888. Mrs. St. Clair is an intelligent 
and amiable woman, a devoted mother, a kind 
friend and an earnest, consistent member of the 
Homer City Presbyterian church, of which her 
husband was for years a trustee and is now an 
elder. 

J. P. St. Clair is a member of Indiana 
Lodge, No. 21, Ancient Order United Work- 
men. In politics he is independent, regarding 
a candidate's character and capabilities for the 
office for which he is a nominee, rather than his 
political views. He has filled the office of 
school director for seven years and is a member j 
of the borough council. He resides in a pleas- 
ant and tasteful residence in a desirable part of 
the town and his excellent wife has rendered 
their home as attractive without as it is genial i 
and hospitable within. 



" A NDREW ALLISOX, who came to In- 
■^ diana county in 1788, was the first to 
settle within the present limits of the county. 
He was born in Cumberland county. Pa., in the 
year 1757. His father, Robert Allison, came 
from county Dcrry, Ireland, in 1750, and set- 
tled in CVunbcrland county. He was married 
in 1752 to a lady by the nameof Beckie Beard, 
a granddaughter of one Charles Stuart, a de- 
scendant of the house of Stuarts. They reared 
a family of si.x sons and one daughter. Andrew, 
the third sou, after having followed General 
Washington through the most gloomy period 
of the Revolution, returned to his father's 



family, in Cumberland county, but did not re- 
main there long. In the year 1785 he again 
left the paternal roof, and, M'ith a new axe in 
his hand and a rifle on his shoulder, crossed the 
mountains and settled in Westmoreland county, 
near the site of the present village of New 
Deny. There he commenced an improvement, 
makiug his home with Joiin Pomroy in time of 
peace, and when the Indians invaded the settle- 
ment he took refuge in a fort in the vicinity. 
During his sojourn in Westmoreland county 
the settlement was frequently attacked by In- 
dians, and several men were killed and others 
wounded. In 1788 he sold his improvements 
to Francis Pomroy, crossed the Conemaugli 
river, and settled on the bank of Two Lick, on the 
site of an old Indian town, opposite the present 
village of Homer. Here he built a cabin and 
cleared some ground for agricultural purposes. 
The cabin was without a door, and a liole in one 
side served as a ])lace of ingress and egress. 
In the year 1790 his father came from Cum- 
berland county and took charge of his improve- 
ments, and Andrew penetrated farther into the 
forest and opened up the farm now owned by 
Archy Nichol, three miles east of the borough 
of Indiana. Here he was the frontier settler, 
with nothing between him aud the Susquehanna 
river but the howling wilderness, abounding 
with wild beasts, and traversed by hostile sav- 
ages. In October of that year he was married 
to a lady by the name of Sally Barr. He re- 
mained at his new home till 1792, in which 
year the Indians renewed their depredations 
upon some of the border settlements. A report 
having reached him one evening that Indians 
were in the vicinity, he took his family, con- 
sisting of his wife and oue child, and fled to 
his nearest neighbor, Irwin Adams, who had 
come from Ireland and located on the farm now 
owned by G. A. McCiain. After remaining 
there several days Allison went to look after 
his farm, and get some articles that had been 
left, but the cabin w^ith all its contents had 



240 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



been burnt, the Indians having fired it during 
his absence. He then returned to his father's, 
on Two Lick and Yellow creek, on an improve- 
ment made by Jolui Henry at an earlier date, 
but who, on account of the dangers that sur- 
rounded him, had returned to his former home 
in Virginia. At this place Allison remained 
till 1795, when he purchased an improvement 
made in 1772 by one Joseph Hopkins, about 
three miles south of Indiana, Hopkins and his 



family having fled from their clearing on account 
of the Indian troubles. Here again he was on the 
frontier, with neither a horse nor a public road, 
bridge, church or school-house within ten miles. 
It was truly a secluded spot ; the silence of the 
forest was seldom broken, except by the howl- 
ing wolves, the yelling panthers or the crack 
of the hunter's rifle. Here he spent the re- 
mainder of his days, and cleared out a large 
farm. He died in 1815, aged fifty-eight years." 



MARION. 



Historical and Descriptive. — Marion (Post- 
office Brady) is on Pine run in the soutiiern 
part of East Mahoning township, and is the 
largest town north of the piirciiase line in Indi- 
ana county. It was laid out by John Park in 
1842 and incorporated as a borough in 1872. 

" Marion is situated on a tract of land which 
originally embraced four hundred and eight 
acres, the patent of which was issued to James 
Johnston, a deputy surveyor, on the 31st of 
January, 1798. lu the patent the tract is 
called 'Greenland,' and is descril:)ed as situated 
on the waters of Pine run. In 1795 John 
Park came to this portion of Peunsylvania to 
make surveys under the direction of Mr. John- 
stou. lu 1798 he purchased the 'Evergreen' 
body of land, though he did not get his deed 
till the 2d of December, 1803. In 1799 he 
erected a log cabin 16x20 in what is now the 
south-west end of the village, on the lot now 
owned by the Rilchey heii"s. The Ritchey 
house stands on the old foundation. This is 
said to have been the second house erected in 
this section north of the purchase line. Elisha 
Chambers, Hugh Thompson, Fergus Moorhead, 
Jacob Shalleberger, William McHenry, five 
Seneca Indians, a squaw and a papoose M'ere at 
the raising. The Indians, according to tradi- 
tion, would not work till the bottle of whiskey 
was passed and each had drank a portion there- 
of Then, upon a signal from the chief, who 
shook energetically a gourd partly filled with 
corn, they went to work with much awkward- 
ness but good-naturedly, and in a few hours the 
lone cabin had risen. 



"It is said that when Mr. Park first came to 
this region he encamped on the site of his cabin. 
Near it was a fine spring. On the opposite bank 
of the run were some Indians who had erected 
their wigwams there, no doubt on account of 
the spring, as well as the abundance of game in 
the surrounding forest. After the raising they 
all went to Hugh Thompson's place, about two 
and one-half miles down Pine run, where the 
Indians and the whites had a grand frolic. The 
red men danced to the music of tlie shaken 
gourd, and there was naught to disturb the har- 
mony of the hour." 

John Park was the life of the settlement that 
was gathering around the site of his future 
town. In 1810 he built a tan-yard, and soon 
afterwards built a horse-power grist-mill, which 
he replaced in 1834 with a water-power flour- 
ing-mill, with a capacity of thirty bushels per 
day. His son James had a cabinet factory and 
carpenter shop in connection with the mill for 
several years. 

"Marion was laid out by John Park in 
August, 1842, and the first sale of lots occurred 
in the succeeding month. The plat embraced 
eight acres, with one main street and two rows 
of lots on either side. The first house erected 
after the platting of the town was the residence 
of Hezekiah Wood, the pioneer chair and spin- 
ning-wheel maker. This is still standing on 
the south side of West Main street, and is the 
property of John Riddle. Mr. Wood worked 
at his trade in James Park's shop. The second 
building was erected by James Park for James 
McKelvey, the first blacksmith. It stands to- 

241 



242 



BWORAPHTES OF 



day on the east side of the Wood residence. 
The blacksmith sliop was situated on the east 
side of Manor street, one square below the 
Diamond, and is now used as a warehouse by 
John H. Rochester. The next house was Wil- 
liam Campbell's, on the west side of the Wood 
property. The first wagon shop was carried on 
in this building by Wm. Bowers. It is now 
occupied by Dr. W. S. Shields. The first 
saddler and harness maker was Wm. Richard- 
son, who also kept his shop and residence in the 
Wood house. Hezekiah Wood, Sr., was the first 
shoemaker. He was said to have been as good 
at the last as his son was at the bench. The 
first paiuterwas Linton Park, whose experience 
has justly entitled him to be designated as 
the master of the craft in (he Mahoning Val- 
ley. McCracken & Conrad (George) were the 
first merchants. Their store was commenced 
in 1845, and was located in the room now 
(1880) occupied by Mrs. Mary Pounds as her 
dining-room for the Exchange hotel. James 
Park owned the building, and in a short time 
he built the front part of the building, and the 
store was transferred to the room now used as 
the office. After a career of three years the 
store was transferred to Gettysburg." 

The first hotel was opened in 1844 by James 
Park, and the first resident justice of the peace 
was Robert J. Hopkins. Kiuter and Ritchey 
erected a steam grist-mill in 1855, C. M. Long 
built a woolen-mill in 18fil, and James and 
Linton Park erected a planing-miil in 1868. A 
cabinet factory was erected in 1869, the Parks & 
Beans window-blind factory went into operation 
in 1874, and about 1885 the Marion creameiy 
was started. 

The physicians of Marion have been : J. D. 
Baldwin, 1844-61; J. K. Thompson, 1845-90; 
J. B. Davidson, 1851-64; G. J. McHenry, 
1864; D. M. Marshall, 1865-72; D. H. 
Snowdon, 1873-75; W. S. Shields, 1874-77, 
and A. H. Allison, the present leading physi- 
cian of the borough, who located there in 1880. 



I The population of Marion since 1860 has 

■ been as follows: 1860, 137; 1870, 113; 1880, 
114; 1890, 133. 

"In the midst of an excellent agricultural 
section, with never-failing supplies of water, 
witk thousands of acres of timber at her very 
doors, with coal veins oj^ened even within the 

. corporation limits, whose extent seems inex- 
haustible, and whose quality is up to the re- 
quired standard, with a climate at ouce exhila- 
rating and balmy, and having a people indus- 
trious, energetic and fruitful in invention, there 
is no reason why ISIarion should not increase 
steadily in numbers, wealth and intelligence. 
The academy and the public school offer 

'. facilities of no mean order. The religious 
privileges are the equal of any in the county. 
The moral tone of the community is at a 
most healthy stage, and there seems to 
be a desire to be and to do something for the 
improvement not only of the town, but the 
county and State. 

j " The Marion subdivision of the Fourth Coal 
basin embraces all that portion of Indiana 
county situated west of the Indiana anticlinal, 
and east of the Saltsburg and Perrysville sub- 
anticlinals. On the Conemaugh river it_is a 

' narrow trough six and three-quarters miles 
wide, exteuding from the Deep hollow, two 
miles below Blairsville, to near White's station, 
on the West Pennsylvania railroad. Followed 
northeastward from the Conemaugh river the 
width of the sub-basin is steadily diminished 
by the convergence of its anticlinal sides ; but 
in the Mahoning townships acro.ss the ' Pur- 
chase Line' the Saltsburg axis is obliterated 
altogether, and the basin there extends west- 
ward to the Perrysville anticlinal, thus giving 
to the trough in this latitude a width of nearly 
nine miles. Besides the town (jf Marion this 
sub-basin includes the villages of Covode, Da- 
vidsville, Marchand, Georgeville, Kellysburg, 
Kintersburg, Jacksonville and Fillmore. As 
much as two-thirds, and in places, perhaps 



INDTANA AND ARMSTRONG COUNTIES. 



243 



three-fourths, of the Lower Barren group are 
piled up along the synclinal axis, giving to this 
section gentle slopes and fertile soils, profitable 
to the farmer and stock-grower. 

" The Lower Productive Coal Measures are 
little known in the southern portion of the 
Marion sub-basin, and it is not until we have 
crossed the ' Purchase Line ' that we find these 
rocks occupying an extended area above water 
level. It is true that the Frecport group rises 
above the draiuage line at such points in the 
valleys of tlie Coneraaugh, Crooked creek and 
McKee's run, as lie close to the anticlinals; and 
these exposures, though of very limited extent, 
are of great im])ortance to the surrounding 
country, which is thus supplied with cheap fuel 
both for domestic purposes and for the limekiln. 
North of the 'Purchase Liue,' by the uplift of 
the whole country, the Lower Productive meas- 
ures are the surface rocks aloug all the princi- 
pal streams in the eastern hiilf of the trough ; 
but by the great expansion of the basin and the 
obliteration of tlie Saltsburg anticlinal before 
readiing the Little Mahoning, the western half 
of the trough in this region is composed chiefly 
of Lower Barren rocks, which we find in the 
deep valley of the Little Mahoning to the al- 
most total exclusion of the Lower Productive 
measures above the surface. Only the highest 
strata of the latter group outcrop above water 
level at the point where the Pcrrysville anti- 
clinal crosses the creek about three miles above 
the town of Smi(;ksburg. 

'■' At Kellysburg the narrowly contracted 
and rocky valley of Pine run expands under 
the disappearance of the Mahoning, which in 
turn gives place to higher and softer rocks. 
The developments of Mr. St. Clair Thompson 
have fully demonstrated that this valley is bar- 
ren of workable coals until the eastward course 
of the raviue has carried it to Marion, where 
the upper portion of the Lower Productive 
Coal measures has been pushed above the pres- 
ent drainage line by the Indiana anticlinal axis, 
15 



on the western flank of which the town of 
Marion is situated." 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



ALEXANDER H. ALLISON, M.D., the 
pioneer pliysi(;ian of Cookport and now 
in active and successftd practice at Marion, is a 
son of John R. and Rebecca (James) Allison, 
and was born in East Mahoning township, In- 
diana county, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1842. 
John R. Allison was born in Indiana county 
and was an industrious farmer of East Mahon- 
ing townshij), where he died December 7, 1853, 
aged forty-four years and seven months. He 
married Rebecca James, a native of Clarion 
county, who was born in 1814, and died Jan- 
uary 25, 1884, aged seventy years. Their 
family consisted of nine children, five sons and 
four daughters. One of the sons was William 
R., who was a prominent lawyer of Indiana, 
served as district attorney from 1871 to 1874, 
and died in 1883, aged forty-six years. 

Alexander H. Allison was reared on his 
father's farm and received his literary education 
in Dayton and Glade Run academics of Ann- 
strong county. At twenty-two years of age he 
commenced the study of medicine with Drs. 
McEwcn and Annesly, and after completing 
the required course of reading, entered Jefferson 
Medical college of Philadelphia, from which lie 
was graduated March 4, 1867. On May l.'Uii, 
of the same year, he located at Cookport anil 
became the first jihysician of that )>lace. lie 
was prominently identified with the town in its 
growth and progress for over thirteen years. 
In 1880 he left an extensive and lucrative prac- 
tice and a large circle of personal friends at 
that place to establish himself in another and 
very inviting field for the practice of his i)ro- 
fession. This section which he had selected 
was Marion borough and vicinity. He located 



244 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



at Marion ia 1880, where he soou Iniilt up a 
large practice which, has continually increased 
ever since. In 1881 he opened his present 
well-stocked drug-store iu order to have pure 
and fresh drugs always convenient for his prac- 
tice and also as an accommodation to the pub- 
lic. During Lee's threatened invasion of Penn- 
sylvania, in 1863, he enlisted in Co. B, sixty- 
second regiment, Pa. Militia, and participated in 
the battle of Antietam. 

On July 4, 1879, Dr. Allison united in mar- 
riage with Mary Lockard, of Indiana, whose 
father, David Lockard, owns the well-known 
Lockard flouring-raills of Indiana. 

Politically Dr. Allison is a democrat. In 
addition to his practice he has given some atten- 
tion to agriculture and business pursuits. He 
owns one hundred and thirty-three acres of the 
old Allison homestead farm in East Mahoning 
township, where he keeps some of the finest 
thoroughbred horses to be found in the county. 
He is proprietor of the Marion creamery, iu 
which from 100 to 200 pounds of butter are 
made daily and shipped to various parts of the 
county. He is a genial and courteous gentle- 
man. He successfully discharges the duties of 
his profession with care and sincerity and has 
well-earned his deserved popularity as a physi- 



cian. 



" JOHN PARK was born in 1776, in the 
^ town of Baltiwalter, county Down, Ire- 
land, and was the son of Robert and Jane 
(Bailey) Park. The family removed in 1794 
to Philadelphia, where Robert instructed classes 
in navigation. He died about a year after his 
location, and his widow subsequently married 
James Johnston, the surveyor, who resided near 
Green Castle, Franklin county, and whose 
name is associated with the early surveys of 
northern Indiana county. She died iu 
Johnstown, Cambria county, in 1 828, and was 
one hundred and eight years of age at the time 



of her death. Our subject studied surveying 
with his father and step-father, and received a 
commission as deputy surveyor for the western 
district of Pennsylvania, from Gov. Snyder. 
His location near the present site of Marion is 
related in the history of the borough. He died 
August 10, 1844, at the age of seventy. His 
wife was Mary Lang, whom he married in 
Franklin "county, in 1807. She died in 1864, 
eighty-one years old. She was the daughter of 
Rev. James Lang, a Presbyterian minister of 
White Spring, Franklin county. John and 
Mary Park's (children were : Margaret H., mar- 
ried to Samuel Craig; Robert, married first to 
Mary G. Cannon, second to Margaretta Thomp- 
son and third to Martha Caruthers, a sister of 
Rev. John (Jaruthers; Jane R., married to 
Alexander Sutor; Mary B., married to Joseph 
Brady; James L., married first to Susannah 
Early, and second to Anna Loughry; Ann E., 
married to James Martin; Amanda, married to 
Robert Barbour; John, married to Martha 
Curtiss; and Lindon. Lindon was for six years 
in the United States service, one year of which 
he was a member of the ' President's Guards,' 
2d regiment, District of Columbia. Lindon 
engraved the broad-axe presented to Lincoln in 
1860." 



HON. JOHN KEENE THOMPSON, 
M.D., ex-member of the Pennsylvania 
legislature, and ex-associate judge of the 
courts of Indiana county, was one of the 
oldest and ablest physicians of western Penn- 
sylvania. He was born at the village of Ston- 
erstowu, twelve miles west of Bellefonte, Centre 
county, Pennsylvania, December 25, 1821, and 
was a son of John and Lydia (Blake) Thomp- 
son. Among the many settlers of Centre 
county who came from county Derry, Ireland, 
was John Thompson, Sr., the grandfather of 
Dr. Thompson. He was a Presbyterian in 
religious faith, and died iu early life. He 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



245 



bad a war claim from the war of 1812, and 
settled near the site of Stonerstown, where he 
served for several years as justice of the peace. 
His son, John Thompson (father), was born and 
reared on his father's farm, upon wliiuli lie con- 
tinuously resided until his death, in 1877, at 
seventy-eight yeai"s of age. He was well edu- 
cated for his day, and ably sustained the repu- 
tation of an honest and upriglit man. He acted 
as clerk for the Potter Furnace company, after- 
wards became manager of their extensive iron 
works, but resigned the latter position to engage 
in tlie general mercantile business at Stoners- 
town, where he became quite wealthy. He was 
elected sheriff of Centre county, whei'e he served 
one term with great credit to himself and advan- 
tage to the county. He married Lydia Blake, of 
Keunett Square, Chester county, against tiic 
wishes of her parents, who disinherited her on 
aocount of her marriage. Respected for his 
honesty and integrity, his services were con- 
stantly in demand among his neighbors in all 
matters of importance, especially in legal busi- 
ness. 

John Keene Thompson was reared at Stt)ners- 
town, and at the age of seventeen entered Alle- 
gheny college, at Meadville, Pa., in which he 
remaiual for two years. He then left college 
and read medicine with Dr. George B. Engles, 
after which, in 1844, he entered Jefferson Med- 
ical college of Pliiladelphia, from which insti- 
tution he was graduated in 1845. In March, 
1846, he locatetl at Marion, when Dr. Baldwin 
was the only physician in that section. Dr. 
Thompson soon came into a wide practice that 
extended over parts of Jefferson, Armstrong 
and Clearfield counties, in addition to his home- 
practice at Marion. In 18G3 he removed to 
Indiana, but two years later he returned to 
Marion, where of late years he had retired from 
active practice, except in his own town, or when 
adled in consultation. In 185G Dr. Thomp- 
son was elected associate judge of Indiana 
county, and at the expiration of his term in 



1861, was re-elected, and served until 1866. 
In 1874 he was elected a member of the 
Pennsylvania legislature, and w-as re-elected in 
1875. Before the war he was a frce-soiler, and 
since 1865 h.'id been an active Republican. He 
was a delegate to the National Republican con- 
vention in Philadelphia that nominated General 
Grant for president, and was alternate to the 
Chicago convention of 1888, that nominated 
Benjamin Harrison for president. 

Dr. Thompson was serving as president of 
the Marion school board and burgess of the 
borough at the time of his death, in 1890. He 
married Jane Thompson, <laug]iter of Robert 
Thompson. (See sketch of Robert Thompson, 
of Indiana). Mrs. Thomp.soii died and lefl one 
child : Horace J., a successful mcrciiant at 
Decker's Point. On Marcii 6, 188'J, Dr. 
Thompson was united in marriage, by Rev. H. 
A. Ottnian, of Salamanca, N. Y., with Mrs. 
Anna M. (AYeamcr) Sylvis, an estimable and 
fine-looking woman. Slie is a native of Indiana 
county, and a daugiiter of David Weamer, who 
was a merchant at Indiana and Newville, and 
(lied in 1877. 

In addition to his town property, Dr. Tliomp- 
son owned about five liundred acres of valuable 
land. He was a charter member and one of 
the directors of the Indiana County Deposit 
bank, and a trustee of the State Normal school 
at Indiana. During the hist summer (although 
it was not apparent to any) his .sands of life 
\vere nearly run out, and on September 17, 
1890, his spirit went home, wiien he was well 
advanced in his seventy-ninth year. With 
impressive funeral ceremonies his remains were 
entombed in Gilgal cemetery amid a large and 
sorrowing assemblage of people. It has been 
the privilege of very few men to be so eminently 
useful as Dr. Joiin Keene Thompson was in all 
that pertained to the well-being of iiis neigh- 
bors and the prosperity of his community. As 
a physician he had always been successful, as a 
judge he was able and impartial, as a legislator 



246 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



none were more active in the interests of their 
constituents, and as a man he stood high in the 
estimation of his fellow-citizens throughout the 
county. 



JAMES M. WORK, a well-qualified justice 
of the peace and a prominent citizen and 
leading business man of Marion borough, is a 
son of William and Nancy (Brown) Work, and 
was born about five miles northeast of Marion, 
in East Mahoning township, Indiana county, 
Pennsylvania, April 8, 1832. He is of Scotch - 
Irish lineage, and his paternal grandfather, 
William Work, Sr., was a native of eastern 
Pennsvlvania. He was married, iu 1792, in 
Cumberland county, to Miriam Scroggs, daugh- 
of Alexander and Rachel (Ireland) Scroggs, 
the former a native of Scotland and the latter 
of Irish descent. Soon after his marriage 
William Work, Sr., removed to the foot of 
"Squirrel Hill," near the site of New Florence, 
in Westmoreland county. In 1805 he came to 
East Mahoning township, where he died in 
1828, aged sixty-eight years. He was an hon- 
est, honorable man and a member of the Se- 
cedcr church. His widow survived him until 
1855, when she passed away at eighty-one years 
of age. William Work, Sr., was a prominent 
man although no aspirant for political honors. 
He was among the first (if not the first) teach- 
ers ill the Mahoning country, and left the im- 
press of his excellent character, to some extent, on 
the veneration that succeeded him and received 
its education at his hands. His children were: 
Rachel Hamilton, James, Lettice Ewing, Alex- 
anders., John, William, Hon. Allen N., who was 
a member of the Pennsylvania legislature; Sarah 
Steele, Mary S,. Miriam Limerick, Moses T., 
Susan E. Smith, and Elijah I. William 
Work (father) was born iu November, 1800, 
and died in 1878. He was reared in his na- 
tive township, where he always resided, and 
where he followed forming until his death. He 



married Nancy Brown, who was a daughter of 
Jeremiah Brown, a farmer and distiller of this 
couuty. After JVIrs. Work's death, Mr. Work 
married for his second wife Mary T. Hamilton. 
James M. Work was reared on a farm, re- 
ceived a good, practical education and taught 
school for five years. At fifteen years of age 
he learned barn-building, but was principally 
engaged in farming until 1871, although he de- 
voted a portion of each winter to lumbering. 
In the last-named year he came to Marion, 
where he embarked in the manufacture of fur- 
niture and window blinds. After seventeen 
years of successful experience as a manufac- 
turer he disposed of his factory and engaged iu 
his present prosperous undertaking business. 
In 1874 he was elected as county commis- 
sioner and served very faithfully during his 
term. In 1875 he was appointed to fill out 
an unexpired term as justice of the peace, and 
rendered such good satisfaction that he has been 
elected to that office three times in succession 
since. Oil Oct. 13, 1853, he married Margaret 
Hamilton, who died September 7, 1874. Mr. 
Work was remarried April 17, 1879, to Anna 
R. (Getty) Morton. By his first marriage lie 
had six cliildreu : Jeremiah W., Jessie F., wife 
of James L. Park, Jr.; Elizabeth Estella, mar- 
ried to Robert C Meanor, editor of the Cherry 
Tree Becord ; Lottie N., wife of Samuel Rue, of 
Ft. Collins, Colorado; Maud C, married to A. 
L. Guthrie, a merchant of Marion ; and Mar- 
garet. 

In 1863 he enlisted in a regiment of Pennsyl- 
vania Militia, and served on the southern bor- 
I der of the State. He is a member of the Ma- 
honing United Presbyterian church, and has 
been as prosperous in his present as he was in 
his past lines of business. Squire Work has 
carefully studied the principles as well as the 
practice of law, and while an expert in drawing 
up legal documents in correct form, is also 
recognized as an authority in his section upon 
points of law. 



CONEMAUGH, BLACK LICK, Bl RRELL AND EAST AND WEST 

WHEATFIELD TOWNSHIPS. 



Historical and Descriptive. — The southern 
townships of Indiana connty are Couemaugh, 
Bhick Lick, Bnrrell and East and West Wheat- 
field, on whose territory the earliest settlements 
in the county were made. 

Conemauf/h towtwhip is in the southwestern 
part of the county, was organized from Arm- 
strong township about 1803, and received its 
name from the river whicli separates it from 
Westmoreland county. 

Settlements were made in the township as 
early as 1779, and by 1807 it contained two 
hundred and thirty eight taxables, as returned 
in the following assessment list of that year : 

John Barr, tanner; Charles Barr and Sam- 
uel Barr, weaver; Samuel Barr, cooper; Thos. 
Bell, weaver; John Bell, David Blakely, Jas. 
Black, saddler; Alexander Barkley, Nancy 
Bollman, widow; James Brown, David Black, 
James Bums, ^\'iiliam Crawford, Thomas Cini- 
uingham, Samuel Coulter, Andrew Cunning- 
ham, John Cuuninnham, William Croazer, 
shoemaker; George Cunningham, Tlios. Curry, 
John Coleman, William Coleman, Nicholas 
Coleman, Hugh Cunningham, John Crosier, 
Ann Canning, widow; Thonuus Carey, James 
Curry, Robert Dunlap, reedmaker; Fred- 
erick Deemer, Thomas Duncan, shoemaker ; 
John Davis, James Elder, Robert Elder, David 
Elder, Mary Elder, widow; John Ewiug, Rob- 
ert Ewing, blacksmith ; Thomas Elder, James 
Elder, fuller; Benjamin Edwards, shoemaker; 
Abb Findley, Robert Fulton, John Flemming, 



William Flemming, James Flemming, Alex- 
ander Flemming, James Gailey, cooper; John 
Garey, John Gray, Jas. Gibson, Andrew Cietty, 
John Getty, joiner; Wm. Gains, Anna Gibson, 
widow ; Robert Henderson, David Henderson, 
joiner; Robert Henderson, Joseph Henderson, 
Edward Hutchison, David Hutchison, George 
Hutchison, James Hutchison, John Hutchison, 
Francis Harbison, tailor ; Jos. Harbison, tailor; 
Robert Harbison, John Hopkins, Moses Hart, 
Rosannah Haselet, widow; John Henry, Robert 
Henry, Thomas Hood, James Hamilton, Eliza- 
beth Hutchison, widow; Joseph Hutchison, 
Catherine Hindmau, widow; Eiiphlet Irwin, 
Hannah Irwin, widow; Beza Irwin, school- 
master ; Thos. Kier, David Kerr, Jacob 
Keener, Samuel Kelly, Samuel Kilpatrick, 
Henry Kilpatrick, weaver; Robert Kelly, 
John Long, Tobias Long, carpenter; Jacob 
Long, Tobias Long, Abraham Lowman, John 
Lewis, Hugh Lynn, John Laird, Zachariah 
Loughrey, IVIargaret Loughrey, widow; Sam- 
uel Lyon, Robert Lafferty, John Lalferty, 
Alexander Little, Jacob Libengood, Robert 
Little, James Leach, John Lepley, wagonmaker; 
Allen McComb, James McNeal, Susanna Mill- 
irons, widow; James Millen, Joseph Millcn, 
carpenter; Christian Miller, stiller; ilathias 
Miller, blacksmith; R. McCready, R. Miller, 
J. Mardanand, J. McCreight, J. McKissock, J. 
Mit<'hell, Margaret Marshall, widow; John 
McClelland, Daniel McClelland, Matthew Mo- 
Cowell, James McDowell, Francis McClellam, 

247 



248 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Kobert McKissock, John Marshall, Archibald 
Marshall, James Marshall, John McKee, hatter ; 
Alexander MeCurdy, Alexander McLean, James 
McLean, Esq., Samuel McMean, John Mc- 
Lean, Samuel Marshall, Archibald Mar- 
shall, William Marshall, tanner; Robert 
Miller, Samuel Miller, John Matthews, James 
Mattiiews, Rev. John Matthews, Samuel Mil- 
ler, Joseph Marshall, William McEliianey, 
blacksmith; Samuel Mitchell, Andrew "Mo- 
Curdy, Joseph Mitchell, Andrew McCreery, 
Samuel McCreery, Robert Mitchell, siioemaker; 
Isabella Martin, widow ; Thomas McClelland, 
shoemaker; Jane Madre, widow ; Robert Mc- 
Conib, John McNeal, blacksmith; William 
Newel, Jolui Neal, Wm. Neal, Rosannah 
Neal, John Nisbet, Jonathan Nisbet, 
Mary Nisbet, widow; Agnes Oliver, 
widow; James Oliver, John Pattersou, Alex- 
ander Patterson, William Patterson, Josepii 
Pitts, Joseph Pierce, cooper; Samuel Reed, 
merchant; Thomas Reed, John Reed, shoe- 
maker; Robert Robinson, Sr., George Randies, 
John Robinson, Robert Robinson, Jr., Rebecca 
Rosborough, widow; Joseph Ross, John Ru- 
therford, James Smith, weaver; Thomas Smith, 
James Smith, Robert Shields, Robert Shirley, 
John Shirley, James Simmons, weaver; Nich- 
olas Snow, blacksmith; Mary Thompson, 
widow; Moses Thompson, cabinetmaker ; Moses 
Thompson, Sr., Adam Thompson, Alexander 
Thompson, Alexander Templeton, Jas. Thomp- 
son, Wm. Thompson, Jane Thompson, widow; 
John Thompson, Robert Virtue, Samuel Vir- 
tue, Adam Wreath, weaver; Matthew Watron, 
Jacob Wimmer, Robert Wilson, Daniel Wray, 
Robert Wray, John Wray, Joseph Wray, John 
Wright, Francis Riddle, weaver; Joseph Yates; 
James Alexander, weaver. 

In 1880 a gentleman who was well acquainted 
with the township gave the following facts in 
connection with its surface minerals and early 
settlers : 

" The soil is a rich loam, well adapted to ag- 



ricultural purposes. The principal minerals 
are coal, iron ore and lime-stone. The surface 
is hilly. It is well watered by the Black Legs 
creek and numerous other streams that empty 
into the Conemaugh and Kiskirainetas rivers, 
bordering on the south. 

"The first settlers in this locality were prin- 
cipally Scotch and Irish, who came from the 
old counties of the State, and were a very sober 
and industrious j)eople. From 1770 to 1794 
the settlers were quite insecure on account of 
the hostility of the Indians. A block-house 
was erected on the Dixon farm as a means of 
defense. One of the Indian war-paths was 
along the Loyalhanna. There was an Indian 
town about one mile below Saltsburg, on the 
left bank of the Kiskiminetas. Notwithstand- 
ing the frequent interruptions by the Indians, 
the settlement was rapidly extended. Among 
the early settlers here were the Wilsons, Wrays, 
Millers, Marshalls, Lemons, Pattons, Loves, 
Drums, Johnstons, Robinson.s, Hendersons, 
McBrides, Colemans, Thompsons and others. 
A number of these had been raised under Pres- 
bvterian influence, and they brought with them 
the Bible and held family worship. Robert 
Robinson, Sr., came to this locality in 1766 and 
built a cabin in sight of the river opposite Coal- 
port, and soon after built his residence, which 
is still standing upon the farm now owned by 
W. J. Sterett, where he lived and died. The 
Rev. James Power, afterward D.D., became 
pastor of Mount Pleasant and Sewickley 
churches, and began to preach as stated supply 
at Unity. Unity, fourteen miles distant, was 
the nearest point from Saltsburg for public 
worship prior to 1783, the close of the Revo- 
lutionary war. From that time the Presbytery 
of Redstone, which then embraced all of this 
region in its field, sent out numerous supplies 
into the thinly settled districts, by whom 
churches were organized. There were no set- 
tled pastors until 1790. On the 22d of No- 
vember of that year, old Salem, Congruity and 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



249 



Polk Run obtained under-shepherds — Mr. I 
John MePherrin being ordained and installed 
pastor of the first (in connection with Unity) 
and Mr. Samuel Porter of the other two. The 
Rev. Joseph Henderson was «illed to the con- 
gregation of Ebenezer, April 9th, 1799, and 
became their pastor. To those points where 
tents, and afterwards rude log houses of worship, 
had been erected, our forefathers from the sur- 
rounding country gathered with their families 
for public worsiiip. 

" A log grist-mill was erected on Johnson's 
Point at a very early day, to which the settlers 
packed their grain to be prepared for food. 
From the Indiana side they came from five to 
ten miles across a region of country but thinly 
settled, and winding through unbroken wood- 
land to the very edge of the river; they forded 
it at a point just above the junction of Loyal- 
hanna. Later there was an oil-mill and still- 
house built upon the point, and business began 
to centre here. Flat-boats were laden at the j 
point with home products for New Orleans. 
This was the only source of communication for 
trade until the opening of the Pennsylvania I 
canal in March, 1829, on the opposite side of 
the Coneniangh, which did away with tlat-boats. 
From this date there were no niore bills of 
shipment made out at Johnson's Point. The 
line of trade passed by on the other side and i 
touched at Saltsburg. The early rising town [ 
faded in the disappointment and went down, 
and to-day a lone rude dwelling — the oldest in i 
all the country around — marks the place. The 
early discovery and manufacture of salt in this 
locality is accredited to one William Johnson, 
who came from Franklin county in 1800, and 
settled upon the point. In 1813 or '14 he 
bored the first well, in the pursuit of salt, in 
the bed of the Coneraaugh, about two miles 
above its junction with the Loyalhanna. At 
the depth of 287 feet he found an abundant 
fountain, strongly impregnated with salt. He 
was soon in the full tide of successful experi- 



ment, making about thirty bushels per day, all 
of which found a ready market; and some of it 
at first sold as high as $4 per bushel. Others 
soon embarked in the business, and the manu- 
factory of salt was carried on quite extensively 
for twelve or fourteen years, when the low price 
discouraged its production. There are but 
three wells in operation at the present time. 
These are from one to five miles above Salts- 
burg. The deepest of these wells is 1,000 feet. 
In 1825 a salt well was sunk on the left bank 
of the river a short distance above the mouth 
of the Black Lick ; but to the grief of all the 
parties interested, it only poured forth a stream 
of useless dirty looking oil. They filled up the 
well and abandoned it. Of late search has 
been made to find the oily well, but in vain." 

The Saltsburg axis passes nearly through the 
centi-al part of the township, and divides into 
two parts, of which the western one lies in the 
Saltsburg sub-basin and the eastern one in the 
Marion sub-basin of the Fourth Great basin. 
The eastern part is entirely in the Lower Bar- 
ren measures which carries the Upper Freeport 
coal, while the western part, west of Black 
Legs creek, is principally in the Upper Coal 
measures, and carries the Pittsburgh coal-bed — 
which has not yet been fully developed — up to 
the Armstrong county line. The geologists 
say that the Pittsburgh coal-bed appears as a 
slaty and much-parted seam in the Saltsburg 
basin. Including its partings and roof coal, it 
ranges from 8 to 11 feet in thickness, main- 
taining these dimensions, with trifling varia- 
tions, from the Coneraaugh river to West Leb- 
anon. The coal is very rich in hydrocarbon 
gases — richer by from 3 to 7 per cent, than 
the coal from the same bed at Blairsville. 
And the few analyses made of it show also 
that it is here less pyritous than at the latter place. 

The coal makes a broad distinct bench on 
nearly every slope over which it runs. By 
means of this bench, and with the aid of the 
geological map of the county, the observer 



250 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



iu the field will have no difficulty in tracing 
the bed across the numerous ravines by which 
the basin is gashed, to the northernmost end 
of this coal in Indiana county. 

Moreover the bed has been so frequently 
opened up in this basin that allusion here 
can only be made to such mines as were ex- 
amined, and in which measurements of the bed 
were made. Generally speaking, only the 
lower half of the seam is wrought in the 
Saltsburg basin, tlie roof coal being so much 
parted by thin bands of slate that there is 
little inducement to taUe it dmvn in mining. 
Moreover the shales over tliis roof coal are so \ 
soft and friable that they render this plan of 
mining almost imperative, without an elaborate 
and expensive system of timbering. 

Ill the Saltsburg basin the Pittsburgh bed 
exists in tiiree belts of nearly equal size. All 
of these have their western limits across the 
borders of Armstrong county, but the great 
bulk of this coal area is in Indiana county. 
The first of these bolts extends from the Con- 
eniaugh river to Big run, a small stream 
which empties into Black Legs creek, near 
Clarksburg; the second belt extends from Big 
run, northeast to Whiskey run, while the third 
area embraces the region between Whiskey 
run and the headwaters of one branch of 
Gobbler's run at West Lebanon. Beyond this 
latter place there are a few small detached 
outliers of Pittsburgh coal, but as before 
stated, this seam docs not cross the main val- 
ley of Gobbler's run, two miles northeast of 
AVest Lebanon. 

The deep ravines dividing this coal area in 
separate belts furnish long lines of outcrop, 
by means of which all the coal in this basin 
could be easily and cheaply mined. The 
strata are nearly horizontal, the gentle rise 
from the synclinal only assisting the operations 
of the miner. 

At present the bed is worked in this basin only 
in a small way to supply the home market. 



Many years ago the coal was quite exten- 
sively mined on the Rhea property, near Coal- 
port, but developments here terminated when 
the canal ceased to be used. Further down 
the river the bed is now being mined be- 
low Loyalhanna station, in Westmoreland 
county, by the Loyalhanna Coal and Coke com- 
pany. 

The outcrop of the Pittsburgh coal bed 
skirts the high western bluif of Black Legs 
creek. In the vicinity of Clarksburg, on Black 
Legs, five miles above Saltsburg, several mines 
have been opened on the Pittsburgh seam. 
The village of Clarksburg is in Lower Barren 
rocks, 200 feet below the Pittsburgh coal, 
nearly all the intervening measures being ex- 
posed in the little valley of Harper's run, 
which joins Black- Legs at Clarksburg. 

In the Conemaugh valley there are several 
salt wells, from which is manufactured au ex- 
cellent quality of salt. About the year 1812 
or 1813 an old lady named Deemer discov- 
ered an oozing of salt water at low-water 
mark on the Indiana side of the ''/onemangh 
river, about two miles above the present site 
of Saltsburg. Prompted by curiosity, she 
gathered some of the water to use for cook- 
ing purposes, and with a portion of it made 
mush, which she found to be quite palatable. 
This discovery very soon led to the develop- 
ment of one of the most important business 
interests in the county. About the year 181.3 
William Johnston, an enterprising young man 
from Franklin county, commenced boring a 
well at the spot where Mrs. Deemer made the 
discovery, and at the depth of two hundred and 
eighty-seven feet found an abundance of salt 
water. The boring was done by tramp or 
treadle, the poles being connected with open 
mortice and tongue, fastened with little bolts. 
The salt was manufactured by boiling the water 
in large kettles, or graimes, using wood for fuel, 
until, with the opening of additional wells, 
some fifty or sixty acres of woodland had been 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



251 



consumed for this purpose. Originally the 
pumping was done by blind horses, and the salt 
sold at five dollars per biisiiel retail, but as tiie 
wells multiplied the price came down to lour 
dollars. With the increase of the trade came 
new maciiinery and appliances in tlie manufac- 
tui-e of the salt. The unwieldy kettles were dis- 
pensed with, and large pans of half-inch iron, 
some twenty feet long, ten to eleven feet wide 
an<l eight inches deep were used instead ; coal 
was used as fuel, and the blind hor-ses were put 
aside, and tiie steam-engine introduced for l>oth 
b(iring and pumping. The place was called the 
tJreat ("oneu'augh salt works, from the name i)f 
the river upon which they were located, and a 
post-office with that name was established there. 

The seven wells along the river, on the West- 
moreland side, were all put down prior to 1820 
and 1822, and from that date till 1830 the 
gi'oup of hills on both sides of the river was 
like a great bee-hive; yet the expenses of pro- 
duction, in many instances, exceeded the income. 
The coal and machinery had to be hauled from 
Pittsburgii by wagon, or brought by tiie river 
in keel-boats — both expensive means of trans- 
portation. 

The population of Conemaugh township at 
each census, from 1860 to 1890, has been as 
follows: 1748, 1701, 1493, 1346 and 1530. 

The principal townsof the towship are: Salts- 
burg, Kelly's station, where John Kelly made 
the first improvement prior to the Revolution- 
ary war; Clarksburg, situated iu the Pittsburgh 
coal field, with 200 population, and Tunnel- 
ton. 

Black Lick Toiniship. — This township lies 
north of Black Lick creek, and the Indiana 
axis divides it into two nearly equal parts; the 
western part is in the Marion sub-basin of the 
Fourth Great basin, and the eastern part lies in 
the Blairsville or Third Great basin. Between 
two tributary streams of Black Lick creek is 
an area of the Pittsburgh coal-bed. 

Crossing Black Lick and ascending the 



northern slope of the valley, the Pittsburgh bed 
first apj)ears in a small knob on the Camjibell 
farm at the summit of the slopes. Here it is 
exposed. Then in a knob of similar size, but 
separate and distinct from the Campbell out- 
crop, and to the northwest of the latter farm 
it again appears. But the most important area 
north of Black Jjick creek is that embracing 
the Doty and .1. Dixon farms, which, with a 
small oul-lier in the S. Dixon property, termi- 
nates the Imsin. 

The coal as opened on the Doty farm is 55 
feet higher in level than in Coleman's ; this 
being nearly along tlie strike of the rocks ex- 
presses the gentle rise in the synclinal towards 
tlie northeast — -the rise that thrusts the Pitts- 
burgh coal from the basin and covers the coun- 
try beyond with Ijower Barren rocks. 

In the Doty mine the coal is very uniform 
and regular, and is decidedly more free from 
pyrites than where exposed at any other point 
in the basin. It carries, however, considerable 
slate, especially near the floor, the bottom 
bench being almost worthless in its lower part. 

The geological structure of Black Lick Val- 
ley M-ill be further noticed in East and West 
Wheatfield townships. 

The township was formed from Armstrong 
township in 1807, and its chief productions are 
wheat, corn, oats, coal and limestone. The 
surface is moderately hilly, and its citizens give 
particular attention to raising fine (-at tie. 
Among the early settlers were George Ault- 
mau. Rev. Henry Baker, Patrick McGee, Gen. 
Charles Campbell and Jacoi) Bricker. Mollie 
Furnace, who came with the Dixons, frcipient- 
ly told of having nursed Gen. George ^\'ash- 
ington. Gen. Charles Campbell and five others 
of the early settlers were captured by the In- 
dians and held as prisoners for five years. 
John Dixon, who died iu 1843, at seventy-two 
years of age, was the first white child which 
was born in the township. 

Newport, the first town in Indiana county, 



252 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



was founded half a mile below the junction of j 
Black Lick creek and the Conemaugh river, by 
Alexander Deunison, some time between 1785 
and 1790. 

A block-house was erected and the town pros- 
pered for a few jeai-s. Stores were opened, two 
taverns were started, and among other build- 
ings erected were a church, mill, carding fac- 
torv, tannery, hatting shop and scythe factory. 
A new county was agitated at that time, and 
Newport, being in the centre of its proposed 
territory, expected to become its future county- 
seat. The Conemaugh being made the bound- 
ary line of Westmoreland destroyed all possi- 
bility of the new county, and Newport went 
down, until to-day not a vestige of any of its 
buildings are to be seen. 

We give the following list of taxable 
inhabitants resident within the bounds of 
Black Lick township, in the county of Indi- 
ana, as returned on the assessment lists for 
1807: 

Robert Anderson, weaver; Philip Altman, 
Jacob Altman, blacksmith ; George Altman, 
John Anderson, James Brunson, mulatto ; 
John Burns, Mary Bell, spinster; George 
Bell, tailor; Jeremiah Brown, Thomas Bell, 
David Byers, weaver; Tobias Byers, Henry 
Byers, Jacob Bricker, Benjamin Closson, con- 
stable; Philip Cribs, John Casaday, Charles 
Campbell, judge; ^Michael Campbell, Josiah 
Closson, Richard Closson, George Cribs, Sr., 
John Conkle, John Cowen, James Caldwell, 
John Caldwell, James Craig, George Cribs, 
Jr., Samuel Coulter, David Campbell, weaver; 
John Compton, shoemaker; Jean Dean, spin- 
ster; Samuel Dixon, Esq., Andrew Dickson, 
James Dickson, Davis Davis, William Davis, 
Sr., William Davis, Jr., William Downey, 
Samuel Downey, John Downey, ilary Downey, 
spinster; Thomas David, William Deviney, 
Esq., Andrew Deviney, Samuel Douglas, cabi- 
net-maker; Steward David, shoemaker ; George 
Daugherty, Abraham Dehavens, William Dona- 



hew, Henry Ebrick, carpenter; Mary Elder, 
spinster; Joseph Elder, Elizabeth Elder, raan- 
tuamaker; John Fair, Peter Fair, James Fer- 
guson, Sr., James Ferguson, blacksmith; David 
Fergiison, Hance Ferguson, Alexander Fails, 
Susanna Glenn, spinster; James Gordon, John 
Gibson, Hugh Gibson, Samuel Gray, tailor; 
William Green, Michael Heir, weaver; Robert 
Hunter, shoemaker; James Hunter, George 
Hays, doctor; John Hamilton, weaver; Henry 
Frederick, John Herrold, Sr., John Herrold, 
Jr., Daniel Herrold, David Herren, Ruban 
Jewel, Patrick Jack, Rev. John Jameson, Wil- 
liam Jameson, John Jameson, painter; Isaac 
Jennings, Samuel Keton, Archibald Kelly, 
Charles Kenning, Joseph Kenning, James 
Kelly, stonemason; Patrick Kelly, coverlid 
weaver; Amos Laurence, William Laurence, 
Reynold Laughlin, James Lyon, Alexander 
Lyon, Jacob Lepley, wagon-maker; Henry 
Livingston, wagon-maker; Conrad Lintner, 
tavern-keeper; Andrew Lowers, James Lock- 
erd, Jos. Loughry, cooper ; Nicholas Loughry, 
William Loughry, Daniel Levear, John Miller, 
James McConnal, David Mercer, John Meri- 
man, wheelwright; Archibald McEwen, Pat- 
rick McGee, distiller; Rebochah Moorhead, 
weaver; Jonathan Martin, stone-mason; James 
McComb, assemljly; George McComb, tanner; 
William McFarlaud, John McFarland, miller; 
William Martin, Hugh Mclntire, Andrew 
McCartney, carpenter ; Arthur McGufF, John 
McCready, John Meason, trader; William 
Mecum, tavern-keeper; Joshua McCracken, 
shoemaker ; Robert McElhaney, Jane McClure, 
spinster; Robert ilurdurgh, Peres Means, Eli- 
zabeth McCartney, spinster; John McCrea, 
William McFarland, James Mitchell, Robert 
Nixon, merchant; Robert Nixon, Jr., mer- 
chant; John O'Conner, school-master; Robert 
Patten, Peter Palmer, Charles Palmer, Susan- 
nah Palmer, spinster; John Palmer, Sarah 
Reed, weaver; Samuel Reed, Jane Rapine, 
spinster; James Rapine, Daniel Rapine, John 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



253 



Rapine, mill-wright; William Rankin, George 
Rankin, Andrew Rankin, James Reed, Chris- 
topher Rapine, George Rapine, fuller; Agnes 
Rain, spinster; Christian Riich, John Robins, 
shoemaker; Catherine Rhees, spinster; Robert 
Rhees, Michael Buch, Joseph Smith, Daniel 
Smith, blacksmith ; William Smith, shoemaker; 
David Still, James Shields, Garvin Sutton, 
Joseph Shields, cooper; John Scott, shoe- 
maker; Thomas N. Sloan, Esq., John Spires, 
Jane Smith, negro, jobber; Catherine Thomas, 
spinster; Joseph Turner, wheelwright; Sam- 
uel Talmage, doctor: Michael Tarry, Daniel 
Ulam, Aaron Wear, Hugh Wear, George Wear, 
wheelwright; Joseph Wear, Abraham Wear, 
AVilliam Wallace, Samuel Wallace, tailor; 
James Williams, Catherine Wolf, tavern-keep- 
er ; James Wilson, Hugh Wiley, cooper ; John 
Wiley, miller; Adam Walker. 

The population of Black Lick township at 
each census from 1850 to 1890 has been : 2043, 
1130, 1016, 798 and 924. 

Burrell Toicnship is in the Blairsville basin 
and lies between the Chestnut Ridge axis on 
the east and the Indiana axis on the west. 
About one-third of the eastern part of the 
townshi|> lies in the Lower Coal measures, 
while the remainder is situated in the Lower 
Barren measures, which carries the Upper 
Freeport coal. A small area of tiie Pittsburgh 
Coal-bed extends north from Blairsville towards 
Black Lick creek, while in the extreme south- 
east the Mauch Chunk Red Shale, XI, Pocono 
Sandstone, X, and Catskill formation, IX, 
crosses the township. In the northeastern part 
the Red Shale again appears. 

The fire-clay deposit of Burrell township has 
acquired some commercial celebrity, and justly 
so, because the clay when carefully selected, 
and the two varieties properly mixed, produces 
a brick of liigh refractory power. It exists in 
great abundance, is easily mined and is favor- 
ably situated; moreover, it loses nothing in 
thickness or in character in ascending the 



stream, remaining in all respects even and reg- 
ular. It has been traced as far up the creek as 
Berry's house, where it has been worked, but 
beyond this point, aside from its outcrop, it is 
not known, having hitherto been overlooked in 
the explorations on Dr. Simpson's property. 

TJie plastic day immediately underlying the 
coal is not worked, sufficient clay of this variety 
and of better quality being obtainable just be- 
low the band of hard clay, an interval of about 
one foot separating the two deposits. 

This deposit of fire-clay resting immediately 
on top of Formation XII is one that is widely 
outspread in the bituminous coal regions. It 
is this clay that is worked by -Mr. Hawes, at 
Mineral Point, in Cambria county, aud it is 
likewise this deposit that supplies the brick- 
works along the line of the Tyrone and Clear- 
field R. R., in Clearfield county. 

Burrell township was formed, in 1853, from 
Black Lick, and was named in honor of Judge 
J. M. Burrell. The township has a very irreg- 
ular boundary', as may be seen from the map. 
The surface is an alternation of hill aud dale, 
grove and meadow, wiiich is divided into farms, 
most of which are highly productive. The 
minerals are coal, iron ore, fire-clay and stone- 
ware clay, and limestone. The surrounding 
hills are teeming with bituminous coal, large 
([uantities of which are mined and shipped east. 
Chestnut ridge, extending from Westmoreland 
county into the eastern portion of this town- 
ship, is cut at this point by the Conemaugh 
river, w^hich separates Indiana aud Westmore- 
land counties, leaving "Pack Saddle" upon the 
left bank, and "Oakes Point," which is an ele- 
vation of about 1200 feet above the river, upon 
the right bank. This eminence affords one of 
the finest views in all the country around. The 
bank of the river about half a mile above 
Blairsville, is very high and precipitous, and is 
known ;is the "Alum Bank." There is here 
an upright wall of nature's own masonry, in 
some places fifty or sixty feet high, and below 



254 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



this, an abrupt descent of about one hundred 
feet, to the water's edge, covered with forest 
trees. This cliif is a mile or more iu length, i 
Several veins of iron ore and coal have been 
opened upon its face. There is also an exten- 
sive vein of fire-clay, and an alum deposit. 

The population of Burrell township at each 
decennial census from 1860 to 1890 has been : 
1251, 1374, 1770 and 1450. 

"Among the manufacturing interests of In- 
diana county the Black Lick Manufacturing 
company, of Burrell township, de.serves especial 
mention. Its works are located about seven 
miles north of ' Black Lick Intersection,' on 
the Indiana branch of the West Penn railroad, 
one and one-quarter miles east of Black Lick 
station, and connected with the station by a 
tram railway. They were erected in 1869 for 
the purpose of making fire-brick and tile. The 
firm was composed of E. Roliinson, C. Hadley 
and F. McKinter. The works at this time 
consisted of a clay-mill driven by an engine of 
thirty-five horse- power, and a yard capacity of 
four thousand brick per day, with two kilns of 
each thirty thousand capacity. In May, 1872, 
Ml-. Robinson .sold his interest to J. M. Guth- 
rie, of Indiana, and in July of the same vear 
E. \V. Giddings and E. J. Mildren, of Johnsr 
town, Cambria county, bought the establish- 
ment. They immediately doubled the size of 
the yard, also the capacity, by running day and 
night. In November, 1873, Mr. Mildren, the 
present proprietor, purchased the interest of 
Mr. Giddings, and in addition to the manufac- 
ture of brick and tile, commenced making 
' Bessemer Tuyers,' on what is known as the 
'Ostrander machine.' In 1874 Mr. Mildren 
added another clay-mill driven by a twenty- 
five h'or.se-power engine, and a powerful steam 
' Tuyer machine.' In connection with fire-brick 
he manufactures nozzle-.stoppers, chimney-tops, 
fire-clay dust, gas-retorts aud settings. In 
1875 the two old kilns were removed aud two 
crown-kilns were built, with a capacity of 



forty-five thousand each. At these works are 
employed upwards of one hundred men and 
boys." 

mieatfield township was formed in 1779, and 
at one time embraced all of what is now Indi- 
ana county, .south of the purchase line. Old 
Wheatfield might well be called the mother of 
the county, for within her limits the early set- 
tlements began, and sixteen townships are now 
embraced within what were once her original 
boundaries. In 1859 AVheatfield was divided 
into East and West Wheatfield townships. The 
name is .said to have been derived from the 
" barrens," or places destitute of timber, afford- 
ing a good soil for wheat, hence the " wheat 
fields." 

The first settler was undoubtedly George 
Findley, who had come to the Pumroy and 
Wilson settlement in 1764, and in the following 
year had " tomahawked " a tract of land iu 
what is now East Wheatfield township, and his 
home was spoken of. May 29, 1769, as the 
" Findley cabbins," in some application warrants 
of that year. There were many early settlers 
whose graves were .scattered in out-of-the way 
places through the township, of whom no ac- 
count is given, save that they were pioneers. 
William Clark was prominently mentioned 
among the pioneers. His improvement was 
not surveyed till June 22, 1776, and is described 
as situated on the " path between Conemaugh 
and Black Lick, adjoining George Findley, and 
including AVipey's cabbin." 

Shoupstown was laid out about 1807, by 
Henry Shoup, on the old Frankstown road. It 
was situated on the hill opposite the present 
residence of John Schrock. At one time it 
boasted of a store and a half-dozen cabins. The 
[)ike's erection gave it a death-blow, and there 
is not to day a single vestige of its existence left 
on the hill to tell the story of its downfall. 

The first grist-mill in the town.ship was the 
William Bracken mill, erected about 1772 to 
1774, as it is mentioned in the surveys of 1772 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



255 



-74, and called the " Bracken mill." This was 
situated on a run which flows into Black Lick. 
During that stormy period, although deserted for 
several years, and many buildings in this section 
were destroyed, it escaped all damages, save 
that from Time's ruthless hand, and upon the 
return of Bracken was again put in order, and 
did a large amount of work for the new-comers 
who arrived after the war. The Bracken mill 
was succeeded by the William Clark mill, a 
better arranged mill than its predecessor. The 
present saw-mill of David Tomb is the third 
mill that has occupied its site. The next grist- 
mill was the George Fiudley mill, on Laurel 
run. The first was erected in 1784-85, and 
was a small, rude log mill, using a ten-foot 
undershot wheel, and had only one run of stones. 
The second was worn out in 1817, and was then 
using a breast wheel, and it too had only one 
run of stones. The third was erected in 1817, 
and had two run of stones, and used an overshot 
wheel, sixfeen feet in diameter. The Isaac 
Rogers mill was erected by Robert Work, a 
noted wheelwright, about 1 784-85, on the Con- 
emaugh. It was the only "dry weather" mill 
in this section, and was resorted to by the peo- 
ple living distant eveu forty miles. It was the 
most noted of all the early mills, and when its 
mates were prostrate with drought, it went on 
its way merrily grinding night and day. Old 
settlers speak of camping near it, and waitiug 
even three or four days for the chance to get 
their grist. The present mill is the fourth on its 
site. 

"Among those who are known to have first 
settled along that part of the Conemaugh river 
which bounds West Wheatfield township on the 
south, were James Clark, " Billy " Woods, David 
Inyard, William Bennet, Archibald McGuire, 
Ben Sutton, Neil Dougherty, David Lackens 
and James Galbraith. On and near " Tub- 
mill " creek there were the ancestors of the 
numerous families of Bradys now living in the 
northern part of Indiana county. It is claimed 



to have been the home, for many years, of the 
great Indian hunter. Captain Samuel Brady. 

" William P. Brady, after the disposal of his 
property, together with " Big Joe " Brady, 
" Little Joe " Brady, " Big Peggy " Brady, 
John Brady, and numerous Hughs, Sams and 
Jims, becoming disgusted (as did also Ben Sut- 
ton, Billy Woods, Davy Inyard, William Ben- 
nett, Sr., William Bennett, Jr., and others too 
numerous to mention) with the scarcity of bears, 
wolves, panthera, etc., as well as Indians left in 
search of homes more prolific of their accus- 
tomed surroundings. Some went to the north 
part of this county and others migrated to west- 
ern Virginia and the Ohio coimti-y, where Cup- 
tain Samuel Brady achieved the most exciting 
exploits ever recorded in the history of Indian 
warfare." 

We give the following list of the taxable in- 
habitants of Wheatfield township, Indiana 
county, which was returned for 1 807 : 

Henry Auberts, innkeeper; James Anderson, 
distiller; Valentine Amsbough, Adam Ams- 
bough, Henry Amsbough, Thomas Askins, 
John Armstrong. William Alexander, Thomas 
Bracken, Sr., Samuel Bratteu, John Bruce, cab- 
inet-maker ; Frederick Brantlinger, Alexander 
Barr, Jr., innkeeper ; Archibald Beckwith, 
Thomas Bracken, Jr., Ruth Bracken, widow ; 
John Bowler, George Bowler, Jacob Bowser, 
Mary Boner, widow ; John Bennett, shoemaker ; 
George Bowers, Nathaniel Bryan, Jr., Henry 
Bowers, John Bowers, Thomas Barr, Francis 
Boals, William Boals, David Boals, David 
Campbell, blacksmith ; Alexander Carnahan, 
cooper; Samuel Carnahan, James Campbell, 
shoemaker; James Campbell, James Crawford, 
Moses Crawford, Alexander Campbell, Samuel 
Cochran, John Campbell, Elizabeth Carney, 
widow; Thomas Clarke, William Clarke, Jr., 
Ruth Clarke, spinster; Findley Can^eron, Dan- 
iel Cameron, Hugh Cameron, Andrew Camp- 
bell, Mark Campbell, William Clarke, Esq., 
Robert Craig, William Campbell, Andrew 



256 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



Campbell, Jr., John Crisswell, Francis Chap- 
man, Thomas Craven, John Carney, Jacob 
Craig, weaver ; John Craven, John Coleman, 
shoemaker ; James Campbell, stonecutter ; Mary 
Dempsey, widow ; Chris. Dumars, shoemaker ; 
Peter Dike, blacksmith ; John Davis, Joseph 
Davis, William Davis, Matthew Dill, Sr., Mat- 
thew Dill, Jr., wheelwright ; Richard Dill, 
Thomas Dias, Sr., Richard Dias, Robert Davis, 
tobacconist ; John Davis, Nathaniel Davis, 
James Dunwoody, Isaac Dicker, Job Dicker, 
William Erwiu, innkeeper ; John Ekler, 
George Empfield, millwright; Jacob Empiield, 
millwright ; Joseph Evans, Hugh Evans, Rob- 
ert Elkins, John Evans, John Ewings, Eliza- 
beth Faloon, widow ; George Finley, James 
Finley, Isabella Ferrier, widow ; Andrew 
Fee, John Fink, carpenter ; Joiin Fleaker, car- 
penter ; William Fowler, Lawrence Fox, Wil- 
liam Ferguson, Jr., William Ferguson, Sr., 
James Grimes, Sr., innkeeper; Joseph Grimes, 
William Grimes, Jr., Allen Grimes, John 
Grimes, William Grimes, Sr., Isaac Griffith, 
William Gamble, George Glassford, Sr., 
George Glassford, Jr., Alex. Glassford, Leon- 
ard Gooshoru, blacksmith ; John Grimes, Sr., 
James Grimes, Jr., Charles Gibson, Hugh 
Junkins, mason ; Robert Hill, John Hopkins, 
Henry Heis, George Heis, William Heis, 
Thomas Hull, Barbara Heater, widow; Rob- 
ert Holmas, tailor ; William Johnston, Sr., 
William Johnston, Jr., Mary Johnston, widow; 
Archibald Jarae.son, Sr., blacksmith ; Archibald 
Jame.son, Jr., Allen Jameson, Sr., William 
Jameson, John Jameson, Allen Jameson, Jr., 
shoemaker ; Alexander Jameson, David Jen- 
kins, John Jones, mason ; David Kennedy, 
weaver; William Kennedy, Thomas Laps- 
ley, Mary Lapsley, widow ; Francis Lath- 
ers, Robert Liggett, Elizabeth Likens, widow ; 
Samuel Logan, weaver ; James Longstreth, 
William Lee, James Luke, Archibald Louth- 
ers, William McBroom, weaver ; Henry Mc- 
Broom, Robert McBroom, carpenter; James 



McLean, Robert Muck, Joseph McDonald, 
Archibald McCochran, tailor ; James McCocli- 

' ran, Robert Marshall, tanner ; Archibald Mat- 
thews, distiller; William Mayben, George Mc- 
Garrow, David McKown, Robert Maffet, Rob- 
ert Michael, distiller; William Murphy, Pat- 
rick McCoru)ick, James McDonald, James Mc- 
Nitt, Joseph McCartney, Sr., treasurer ; Joseph 
McCartney, Jr., John McCartney, John Mecuue, 
Sr., John Mecune, Jr., John McDowell, Neal 
Manamau, George McEutire, distiller ; John 

( McCarland, weaver; Samuel Parker, cabinet- 
maker; William Parker, cabinet-maker; Hugh 
Parker, Frederick Persian, John Patterson, 
Thomas Patterson, Joseph Patterson, Samuel 
Patterson, Archibald Patterson, William Patter- 
son, Benjamin Pitman, Joseph Pitman, Thomas 
Pettigrew, David Reed, Esq., Aaron Robinson, 
Isaac Rodgers, miller ; Robert Rodgers, Daniel 
Reynolds, Adam Ritchie, iVEatthew Rhea, Aaron 
Rose, Philip Smires, Hugh St. Clair, James 
Shaw, Robert Sutton, Adam SideS, Thomas 
Sanderson, Esq., Samuel Stevens, Benjamin 
Stevens, John Stillwell, Shedrick Stevens, Dan- 
iel Sleppey, Thomas Selfridge, Christopher 
Stinemen, James Strong, weaver ; John Thorn, 
David Tomb, constable ; Henry Taylor, George 
Turner, Henry Treece, Alexander Tilford, 
Jesse Talkington, Thomas Taylor, David 
\¥akefield, wlieelwright ; James Wakefield, 
Thomas Wakefield, Robert Wakefield, Ephraim 
Wallace, Robert Wallace, John Wallace, Rich- 
ard Wilson, speculator; Andrew Wilkins, Alex- 
ander Wilson, Joseph Wilson, weaver ; Richard 
Williams, Robert Wier, William Wilson, dis- 
tiller ; Archibald Woodsides, Henry ^yyke, 
John Wolf, Jeremiah Wakefield. 

In 1859 Wheatfield township was divided 
into East and West Wheatfield townships. East 
Wheatfield town.ship lies between the Nolo and 
the Laurel Hill axis, while the larger part of 
West Wheatfield township is between the Nolo 
and the Chestnut Ridge axis. The southeastern 
part of East Wheatfield and the northern and 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



257 



western parts of West Wheatfielcl are in the 
Lower Coal measures. 

The Pennsylvania geological report of 1880 
gives the following description of both town- 
ships : 

Between the Conemaugh river and Black 
Lick creek, in the Ligonier Basin, ranges a belt 
of smooth high land, the surface of which, 
deeply gashed in places by ravines extending 
north and south, is composed of Ijower Bari-cu 
rocks, excepting along the flanks of Laurel 
hill and Chestnut ridge. The region so in- 
cluded embraces the Wheatfield townships, a 
name at once suggestive of deep fertile soils, 
which are the product of the disintegration of 
the prevailing surface rocks. 

Through the centre of these townships and 
along the highest land runs tlie Indiana and 
Cambria turnpike, which, from Mr. Clark's 
house on the east slope of Ciicstnut ridge, to 
the Ling property east of Armagh, traverses 
Lower Barren rocks. At one point, namely, at 
the Stone House between Armagh and Ling's, 
the road is nearly four hundred feet al)Ove the 
Upper Freeport coal bed. 

The course of Black Lick, though not exactly 
parallel to the Conemaugh, is yet in effect 
the same, both streams flowing generally 
west and northwest across the basin. But | 
in spite of the similarity in the direction of 
the two sti'eams, the geology displayed along 
Black Lick differs in many respects from that \ 
along the Conemaugh. Precisely the same ; 
rocks compose both valleys; the difference i 
in tide water level between the surfaces of the j 
two .streams is everywhere trifling in this basin ; 
yet certain points along Black Ijick correspond- | 
ing in position to the shallowest parts (geologi- 
cally) of the Conemaugh Valley are the deepest 
along the first named stream, while certain other 
points among the deepest on the Conemaugh 
correspond in position to the shallowest parts 
of Black Lick. To verify this statement, the 
reader has only to compare the geology at 



Baker's furnace with that exhibited at the old 
Black Ijick furuac*, the latter being scarcely 
more than three miles northeast of the former, 
and along the strike of the rocks. Under such 
circumstances one would naturally expect to see 
the conditions of the one place repeated at the 
other; but so great is the fall of the Laurel 
Hill anticlinal in this distance of three miles, 
a fall, moreover, participated in by the rocks at 
the base of the mountain, that a difference of 
uearly four hundred feet exists between the 
geological horizons of the two places, and in- 
stead of the Conglomerate and Lower Product- 
ive hillsides, prevailing at Baker furnace, we 
find at the old Black Lick furnace Barren 
Measure slopes two hundred and fifty feet in 
height; near the base of these slopes is the 
Black fossiliferous limestone, itself two hundred 
feet above the highest coal of the Lower Pro- 
ductive measures. This explains the absence of 
workable coal beds above \^■at('r level in the 
region of Black Lick furnace, and why it is 
that all efforts to find sucii in the interval be- 
tween the old furnace and Dilltown, either on 
the hills extending southwest towards the pike, 
or northeast into Buffingtou township, have 
been and must be unavailing. 

Again, to compare the country between Cen- 
treville and Lockport with that between the old 
Buena Vista furnace and the month of Brush 
creek on the Black Lick is to discover that of 
the Lower Barrearocks, of which the hills are 
entirely composed alTthe first named locality, 
scarcely a vestige remains on the creek, and 
what is there left of them is forced to the very 
highest land, thus giving place to the Lower 
Productive Coal measures, and even to the 
Conglomerate of XII. Instead, therefore, of 
the smooth arable slopes at Centreville, steep 
rugged hillsides prevail at the Buena Vista 
furnace, and the country ha.s remained a wilder- 
ness, excepting along the uplands, which are 
covered by Lower Barren rocks. 

This last change in the geology has no imrae- 



258 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



diate connection with Laurel Hill, but has been | 
effected by the Nolo anticlinal, the sub-anticlinal 
axis of the Ligonier Basin, an axis whose force, 
gradually weakening southward, was nearly 
exhausted before reaching the Conemaugh, and, 
in consequence, was there unable to push the 
lower rocks upwards to the same level that they 
are found on Black Lick, along which waters 
the anticlinal exercises a potent influence, and is 
one of the main features of the valley. 

The section of Lower Barrens exposed along 
Black Lick between the Cambria county line 
and Dilltown embraces over four hundred feet 
of rocks, in which are included three small coal 
beds and sevei-al limestone layers. Besides 
these, there is a band of carbonate iron ore, 
which ranges near the top of the section, and 
which is known generally by the local name of 
the " Black Lick ore." This ore stiatura was 
at one time extensively worked, supplying not , 
only the Black Lick furnace with material for j 
smeltino- but also the Buena A'^ista furnace 
below Dilltown, and even the Baker furnace on 
the Conemaugh. The Morgautown sandstone 
is the highest rock (geologically) in this valley; \ 
it leaves the basin at Dilltown, being forced 
into the air liy the Nolo anticlinal, but it ex- 
tends southwest from the creek along the centre 
of the basin, and is consjiicuous on the Cambria 
pike, near the Stone House east of Armagh. 
It is a heavy, compact rock, often conglomeritic 
and at least fifty feet thick. 

Though the Lower Productive Coal measures 
outcrop at the eastern end of the valley, in the 
ravines at the base of Laurel hill, these rocks 
can be studied to better advantage, because 
more frequently exposed, at the western end of 
the trough, namely at Heshbon, where all the 
coals of the Lower Productive series have been 
developed by the farmers. 

The coal once mined by Mr. Clark near the 
headwaters of Laurel run, which is crossed by 
the Cambria pike at the foot of Laurel hill, 
came from a bed near the base of the Lower 



Productive group. The same bed was long 
afterwards developed to supply the Black Lick 
furnace with fuel. It is said to exist as a 
double seam parted by a thick band of soft 
clay ; the upper bench, however, is now all that 
is visible at the old works. It measures four 
feet thick and is overlaid by a heavy mass of 
black slates. These conditions would indicate 
the presence of bed B at this place. 

On the unexplored hillside rising westward 
above the mine come in all the higher coals of 
the Lower Productive series. Advancing iu 
the direction of the dip, the uppermost coal of 
the group appears on Mr. Ling's farm, where it 
ha-s been explored, measuring 3J feet thick. 
Still further west, the Lower Barrens make up 
the country rock. 

It was shown in the Report of Progress for 
1875 that the Lower Productive Coal measures 
are above water level at the old Ritter furnace, 
which stands at the forks of Black Lick, on 
the dividing line between Indiana and Cambria 
counties. It was further stated in that report 
that the iron ore band once worked at the forks 
of the creek, for the supply of Ritter furnace 
is at the top of the Lower Productive Coal 
measures. The .stratum must not, however, be 
confounded with- the " Black Lick ore " of the 
Black Lick furnace resrion. 

After crossing the Indiana county line 
Black Lick flows a nearly due west cour.se for 
about a mile, and the Lower Productive rocks 
disappear under the creek bed. Bending then 
to the southwest it runs along the strike of the 
rocks to Black Lick furnace, the geology of the 
valley in this distance undergoing little change. 
Below the furnace, at which point the synclinal 
axis crosses the valley, the creek flows west and 
northwest to Dilltown, the rocks rising in the 
.same direction towards the Nolo anticlinal. 
This forces the Lower Barrens above water 
level and Lower Productive rocks appear below 
Dilltown. 

The Lower Barren rocks have been thorough- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



259 



ly explored on the Kern property below the j 
Black Lick furnace, and again on the Stevens 
farm near Dilltown. | 

Mr. Kern has failed to discover a single 
workable bed of coal above water level on his 
farm, and it is unlikely that a bed of minable 
dimensions exists there. Several seams have 
been found at various intervals, but none exceed 
one foot in thickness. This, moreover, is the 
size of the Elk Lick bed, for which, however, 
on the Stevens farm a thickness of thi'ce feet is 
claimed. The lower coals of the section have 
been mined at Dilltown on both sides of the 
creek, but these are below water level on the 
Kern farm. 

The black fossiliferous limestone has been 
finely exposed by Mr. Kern, together with a 
smaller but much purer stratum which occurs 
about seventy feet higher in the measures. 

The "Black Lick ore" was benched on 
nearly every hillside close to the furnace. It 
ranges as a persistent deposit, varying from six 
inches to two feet in thickness ; resting in shale 
it can be cheaply mined, and a sufficient amount 
of ore was easily obtained near at hand, for the 
supply of the small furnaces once dependent 
upon it for support. The ore is rather coarse 
grained, of a bluish cast, and to all appearances 
rich in iron. 

Advancing to Dilltown, the lowest Barren 
Measure coals as yet explored in this region are 
visible at the grist-mill on the Stevens property. 
These coals, measuring respectively two and 
three feet tiiick, and separated by thirty feet of 
rock, have been mined by Mr. Stevens, and 
have further been explored on the J. Tomb 
property to the south of the Dilltown bridge. 

The black fossiliferous limestone has been 
exposed on the Stevens' hill, as also the Black 
Lick ore, the latter stratum appearing near the 
top of the hill, and measuring, according to 
Mr. Stevens, two feet thick. 

A test hole for oil was drilled some years ago 
to a depth of nearly 1,200 feet below the level 
Itj 



of the creek at Dilltown bridge. The record 
of this drilling, which started at the top of the 
Lower Productive Coal measures, and exteudetl 
downward nearly, if not quite, to the base of 
No. X, is no longer obtainable. 

The northwest rise of the rocks brings the 
Upper Freeport coal (bed E) to daylight about 
one-half mile below Dilltown, whence to 
Heshbon the outcrop line of this coal follows 
along both sides of the creek. It runs np all 
the small ravines, which widen into the Black 
Lick Valley; and it preserves an unbroken 
line across the Nolo anticlinal, shooting out 
finally into the air on the flank of Chestnut 
ridge. 

Dill mine. The bed is exposed on several 
farms below Dilltown. It .shows on both sides 
of the creek at McCartney's mill, being here 
quite extensively developed on the north bank 
of the stream by Mr. J. C. Dill. 

Still further west a bed of coal, similar in 
appearance and dimensions to the above, is 
mined on the D. Killcn farm. This is also 
most likely the Upper Freeport bed, which, at 
the Killen mine, is 160 feet above the creek 
level. 

About one-half mile below Armagh a bed of 
coal and slate four feet thick was opened at the 
level of tlie run on the A. Campbell farm. 
Thirty feet higher in the measures there is 
another coal seam 3 feet thick. Neither of 
these beds correspond with that mined by Mr. 
Killen, although the mines are nearly on a 
level, and along the .strike of the rocks. The 
rapid rise of the Nolo anticlinal to the north- 
east sufficiently explains the difference in the 
horizons, the coals at Mr. Campbell's corre- 
sponding doubtle-ss with the beds (Philsou and 
Coleman) once worked by Mr. Stevens at the 
grist-mill near Dilltown. 

Buena Vista furnace stood on the right bank 
of Black Lick, about one-half mile below the 
mouth of the Armagh run. The ore supply at 
this place seems to have been inconstant and 



2G0 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



irregular, and the furnace was long ago aban- 
doned on account of ill success. 

The Lower Productive rocks make up the 
hillsides bordering the creek at the furnace, the 
Conglomerate of XII also rising above water 
level for a short distance at the centre of the 
Nolo anticlinal, which crosses Black Lick be- 
tween the furnace and the mouth of Brush 
creek, the country between being an unexplored 
wilderness, from which the valuable timber has 
in large part been cut. 

In the vicinity of Heshbou, one mile and a 
half below the mouth of Brush creek, the 
entire Lower Productive group is above water 
level. Three coal beds only of this series have 
been developed to any extent at Heshbon, these 
being the three lowest seams of the section. 

The Johnstown Cement bed has a long line 
of outcrop at Heslibon ; and, existing here as 
a good limestone upwards of five feet thick, it 
furnishes the farmer with abundance of fertili- 
zer. Hitherto little attention has been paid to 
the deposit, but recently active steps have been ' 
taken to explore the limestone and to make 
practical use of it. The dominating rock of the 
Lower Productive measures at Heshbon is sand- 
stone. 

The Lower Productive Coal measures at 
Heshbon are a trifle over three hundred feet 
thick. They include in the aggregate about the 
same amount of coal as at Bolivar, altiiough 
neither Bed E nor Bed B is so thick on the 
Black Lick as on the Conemaugh. But Beds 
A and C fully make up the difference, these 
coals at Heshbon being more than double their 
dimensions at Bolivar. 

The Conglomerate of XII is divided into 
three membei-s along Black Lick, and in this 
respect corresponds with its condition on the 
Conemaugh. It measures at least seventy-five 
feet from top to base, its full thickness being, 
perhaps, slightly in excess of that figure. Its 
lowest memljer rises above the creek below the 
grist-mill, and is a compact, heavy, coarse- 



grained sandstone. The Piedmont sandstone, 
the top layer of the deposit, is partially ex- 
posed on Mr. Hoskinson's land, between the 
mill-dam and the village, the rock there skirt- 
ing the water in a vertical cliff twenty feet 
high. It is fine-grained, of a greenish color, 
and much current- bedded. Between this sand- 
stone and the lowest member of the XII oc- 
curs an interval of concealed rock, which out- 
crops in the bank at the mill, and there fills a 
space twenty-five feet high. 

Bed A, The lowest workable coal bed of tiie 
Lower Productive series here comes in almost 
immediately on top of the Piedmont sandstone. 
The coal-bed is exposed on Mr. Hoskinson's 
land, and measures four feet thick. 

Sandy shales and sandstone fill the interval 
to bed A', which occurs sixty- eight feet higher 
in the measui'es. This is the small coal seam 
that outcrops in the bed of the run on the A. 
Campbell farm to the south of the village. It 
is only one foot thick. 

Bed B. Continuing upwards in the column, 
thirty feet of shales and sandy clay bring us 
to bed B, which, though onl}- three feet thick, 
has nevertheless been quite frequently explored 
by the neighboring farmers. 

Three coal beds of the Lower Productive 
series are of workable thickness at Lockport, 
and together aggregate fifteen feet of coal. 
These beds are E, D', and B ; coals D and C 
being of little importance in this vicinity. Lime- 
stone al)ounds in the hills, the Lower Productive 
series containing alone as much as seventeen feet 
of this kind of rock, while the portion of the 
Lower Barren group present in the hills above 
Lockport hold nearly as much more. Some 
of these limestone layers have been developed 
close to Lockport, and used for fertilizing, but 
as yet little attention has been paid to them. 

The developments of Bolivar, a small village 
at the eastern end of Packsaddle gap, and about 
one mile below Lockport, are chiefly confined 
to the fireclay bands, one of which is a member 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



261 



of the Freeport group of rocks, and the other 
underlies coal bed A, at the base of the Lower 
Productive Coal measures, this whole series 
being above water level in the hills at Bolivar. 

Several clay works have been established at 
this village on the fii-eclay deposits, the clay 
being good, abundant, and close at hand, while 
the bricks and retorts made from it are highly 
esteemetl. Moreover, the cla}' woi'ks at Lock- 
port derive their supply of clay almost entirely 
from the Bolivar hills, the plastic variety being 
underneath the river bed at Lockport, while 
the Freeport deposit is there, thin and worth- 
less. 

The fireclay belonging to the Freeport group, 
is from 15 to 20 feet below bed E. It is con- 
veniently situated for mining, and has been 
worked on nearly all the hills close to the vil- 
lage. The deposit is very variable in thick- 
ness, varying from 3 to 8 feet in height, and 
yields a smooth even clay quite free from im- 
purities. It is overlaid by shale and rests upon 
a similar rock. 

The principal towns of East Wlieatfield 
township are Armagh, the second town founded 
in the county; Nineveh and New M'^ashington. 
The population of the township from 18(30 to 
1890 at each U. S. census has been: 1420, 
1104, 937 and 775. The principal town of 
West Wheatfield is Ceutreville, on the Cone- 
maugh, which was founded by \yilliam Log- 
gett in 1828 on land on which Ephraim Wal- 
lace had settled in 1800. The township also 
contains Clyde, a village of 50 inhabitants. 

The population of West Wheatfield township 
at each census from 1860 to 1890 has been: 
1408, 1318, 1359 and 1G99. 

Armagh, in East Wheatfield township, "the 
second and the oldest of all the existing towns 
in the county (Newport being the first), was 
founded in September, 1792, by Margaret Jane 
Graham, the wife of James Graham. The 
first settlers were a portion of a ship-load 
of emigrrants from Ireland, most of them 



being from the counties Armagh and An- 
trim, Avho arrived in America on the 21st of 
July, 1792. They located in western Peim- 
sylvania, eight families arriving on the present 
site of Armagh in the early portion of August 
oftiiatycar. These eight families were from 
an A&sociate Reformed church, in the county 
Armagh, and were composed of James Graham, 
Margaret J., his wife, and four children by a 
former husband ; a Mr. Parker, David TomI) 
(a brotlier of Mrs. Graiiam), wife, ou<^ child and 
a sister, Mary Tomb; .James Anderson and 
wife; A. Fee, wife and one child, Elizabeth; 
Alexander Carnahan, wife and four children; 
James Leslie and wife; James Luke and wife; 
and Hugh .Junkins and wife. The site of 
Armagh was partially covered with a thin and 
scrubby growth of oaks, and was like in ap- 
pearance to an old field on a hill. Armagh, 
Armaghada, in the Irish dialect, means a field 
on a hill, hence its name." 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



HON. JEREMIAH MURRY BURRELL, 
in honor of whom a township in each of 
the counties of Indiana, Armstrong and West- 
moreland was named, was tiie third president 
judge of the courts of Indiana county. 

"Jeremiah M. Burrcll was born at Murrys- 
ville, Westmoreland county, Pa., September 1, 
1815. He was the .son of Dr. Benjamin Bur- 
rell, who came from an eastern county and 
settled at Murrysville in the practice of his 
profession, and in 1814 married Sarah Murry, 
daughter of Jeremiah Murry, lOsq., a merchant 
and large landholder. Jeremiali wa.s the only 
child of this marriage, and after receiving such 
elementary education as the village school af- 
forded, entered a classical school taught by a 
Rev. Mr. Gill, about three miles from his native 
village, and in which he studied Latin and the 



262 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



mathematics, and prepared for entering college. 
After a full course of collegiate training at Jef- 
ferson Cc)llege, Cannonsburg, Washington 
county, Pa., he graduated with honor. His 
father having died, and young Burrell having 
decided to enter into the legal profession, his 
mother removed to Greensburg, where he en- 
tered the office of Richard Coulter, afterwards 
a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and 
after the due course of reading was admitted to 
the bar, and rapidly made progress into a good 
practice, which became a large one. He pos- 
sessed splendid powers of oratory, which im- 
pressed his audiences in the very beginning of 
his careei'. While studying law he had stumped 
the county as a democratic politician, com- 
manding great admiration, and making count- 
less profitable acquaintanceships, which served 
him wlien he entered upon professional practice. 
He conducted the practice of the law with 
a.ssiduity, faithfulness, and constantly increasing 
success for some years. 

" Some time about 1839 he bought the Penn- 
sylvania Argus, and became its editor. In the 
hot political campaign of 1840 he established 
his name as a writer of high ability, and made 
a State reputation for the paper. Some of his 
articles on political topics were copied in otiier 
papers all over the Union. Horace Greeley in 
the Log Cabin, on the side of the opposition, 
took issue with some of the articles, and gave 
them still wider circulation by replying to 
them in the fulminating style which later made 
him one of the most celebrated political jour- 
nalists of the age. In the campaign of 1844 ; 
he was one of the most efficient speakers and 
writers in the State in behalf of Colonel Polk, 
his political friends pitting him against such 
men as Thomas Williams, who was afterwards } 
selected by Congress to deliver the eulogium 
upon Abraham Lincoln. He was subsequently 
elected to the State Assembly. Here he soon j 
distinguished himself, and there was a heated 
rivalry between him and Thomas Burnside, Jr., 



a son of Judge Burnside of the Supreme Court, 

and a son-in-law of Simon Cameron, then a 

democi-at, for the position of leader of the 

: Democratic party in the House. In this com- 

' petition Burrell was victorious, and it is admit- 

I ted by both friends and political opponents that 

lie was the ablest partisan and the most eminent 

orator in the Pennsylvania Legislature. 

"In 1847 he was appointed judge of the 
Tenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and 
in February, 1852, took his seat as judge of the 
same court under election (as elsewhere stated in 
detail), and held the post till 1855, when he 
was appointed by President Pierce judge of the 
Territorial District of Kansas. Leaving his 
family in Greensburg, he went to Kansas and 
entered upon his professional duties in a time of 
great excitement over the slavery question. 
Judge Burrell entertained what was known as 
Douglass' ' Squatter Sovereignty ' policy in re- 
gard to that territory, and which involved the 
proposition of the right of citizens of any State 
to take with them into the territories south of 
the Missouri Compromise line, without interfer- 
ance or opposition by others, whatever was 
regarded as property in their own State. If 
this policy was a mistaken one, it must be 
remembered that it was entertained by many 
able statesmen of the times, which were those 
of great political distress in the land, when no 
man was found wise and prophetic enctugh to 
foresee what one of the several conflicting propo- 
sitions or policies of that day would prove the 
best or most expedient for the country, or be, 
all things considered, actually the most just. 
Judge Burrell's instincts and education in- 
clined him to refined consideration for the 
rights of all men, and nothing but a supreme 
reverence for tiie Constitution of his country 
could have allured him to lose sight for the 
moment of the great question of positive and 
equal justice to and among all races of men. 

" Suffering from malarial fever in Kansas, 
Judge Burrell returned to Greensburg in 1856, 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



263 



and after a sickness of some months' duration, 
died at his home, surrounded by his family, on 
the 21st day of October of that year. 

" He married Miss Ann Elizabeth Richard- 
son, daughter of William H. and Henrietta D. 
(Hubley) Richardson, of Greensburg. Of this 
union were six children, — Sarah M., William 
Richardson, deceased ; Henrietta H., BLiijamiu, 
Mary R. and Jeremiah M." 



" n EN. CHARLES CAMPBELL, of Black 
^ Lick township, was of Scotch-Irish 
parentage, and a native of the Conecocheague 
Valley. He migrated to what was afterward 
known as Campbell's mills, in this township, 
about 1772. 

The data at our command are so meagre 
that adequate justice cannot be done to his 
memory. A scant record exists of his captivity 
among the Indians and British. The positions 
of trust and responsibility which he held in the 
county and on the frontier indicate in some de- 
gree the estimation in which he was held by 
the citizens and State authorities. He died in 
1828, at the age of eighty-two. For mauy 
years he was an elder in Bethel Presbyterian 
church. 

His connection with the militia of the 
county and district was both honorable and 
effective. He died as he lived, respected by ail 
who know him. His first wife was Margaret 
Clark, and his second was Mrs. Elizabeth Ram- 
sey. The children were: Barbara, Michael, 
Rebecca, Sarah, Mary, Jane, James, ^largaret, 
Fennwell, Eliza, Charles and Thomas. 

"Mrs. Mary (Cummins) Campbell has several 
tea-spoons over one hundred years old, that 
were used by Gen. Campbell. Matilda, daugh- 
ter of the late Charles Campbell, has Gen. Camp- 
bell's gold watch ; this is an unique specimen 
old mechanism. It is marked ' M. and A. No. 
5106.'" 



RICHARD W. H. DAVIS, a pioneer in the 
field of brick-making machinery, is des- 
tined soon to be widely known as an inventor 
through his valuable machine for pressing brick, 
which is l)eing rapidly and successfully intro- 
duced throughout the coiuitry. He was born at 
Brady's Bend, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, Ajtril 28, 1851, and is a son of Richard 
and Alice (Williams) Davis. His parents were 
natives of Wales and came to Brady's Bend in 
1840. Richard Davis was a cabinet-maker by 
trade, but after arriving at Brady's Bend 
was employed, for eight years, as a furnace 
mauager liy the Brady's Bend Iron company. 
In 1849 he went to the then new discovered 

: gold fields of California, where not meeting 
with the degree of success which he anticipated, 
he embarked for Australia. Landing in that 
great island-continent, he was variously em- 
ployed until 1854, when he was drowned in 
crossing a river and liis body was never re- 
covered. His widow survived him until 1876, 
when she passed away. 

j Richard W. H. Davis received his education 
in the common schools of Brady's Bend town- 
ship and a college of Alliance, Ohio. Leaving 
college, he was engaged as a clerk in a mercan- 
tile house at Alliance, in which he remained for 
twelve years. In January, 1887, he came to 
Indiana county, where he was employed as 
general manager of the Black Lick Manufactur- 
ing company, which position he has held ever 
since. In February, 1890, he was elected justice 
of the peace and has already in the rightful en- 
forcement of the laws become a terror to evil- 

i doers. 

At Alliance, Ohio, in 1874, he united in 
marriage with Louisa Slialfcr. They have two 
children living: Howard and Stella. 

In politics, Mr. Davis is a republican. He 
is a member of the Masonic fraternity and is 
a cousin of Capt. Jones, the great inventor, of 
Braddock, Pa., who was realizing $75,000 per 
year out of his inventions at the time of his 



2n4 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



tleath. Mr. Davis has given some time and at- 
tention to the consideration of useful inven- 
tions, and has succeeded in pei'fecting a 
machine for pressing brick which is a great 
labor-saving invention. On November, 1889, 
a patent (No. 328,899) was issued to him for 
this machine, which, on account of its excellent 
work and its great saving of time and labor, is 
destined to soon become an indispensable adjunct 
to every first-class brick-making establisliment 
in the United States. This machine has been 
severely and successfully tested and has re- 
ceived merited commendation after each and 
every trial. The man who has felled a forest 
or has tilled a field has not lived in vain, yet 
often a comparatively simple invention repre- 
sents all the possible labor of many life-times. 
The machine invented by Mr. Davis for press- 
ing brick will perform the labor of many men, 
fills a long-felt want in an important industry 
and will soon come into universal use through- 
out the United States. 



JOHN E. KELLY, one of the useful citizens 
and a prosperous merchant of the progres- 
sive town of Black Lick, is a son of John and 
Anna (Evans) Kelly, and was born in Brush 
Valley township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, April 11, 1841. His paternal grand- 
father, James Kelly, was a native of Ireland 
and settled in Centre township at an early day 
in the history of Indiana county. His maternal 
grandfather, Hugh Evans, was born in Wales, 
and, after attaining his majority, came to Penn- 
sylvania, where he settled in Indiana county. 
John Kelly (father) was born and reared in 
Centre township, in which he resided until his 
death, in 1847. He was a steady and indus- 
trious farmer, as was his father before him, and 
married Anna Evans, who was a native of the 
county. 

John E. Kelly was reared on a farm and re- 
ceived three months' schooling. He has made 



up largely for his lack of educational privi- 
leges by reading and self-study. He learned the 
trade of shoemaker at Mechanicsburg, where he 
established a shop at the expiration of his ap- 
prenticeship, and was engaged in the shoemak- 
ing business uutil 1873. In that year he came 
to Black Lick, where he operated a shoe-shop 
uutil 1886. In 1880 he embarked in the gen- 
eral mercantile business, which he has success- 
fully pursued ever since. He has continually 
increased his mercantile investment until he 
now carries a well-selected stock of goods which 
is worth over three thousand dollars. His 
trade has rapidly increased since 1880, and he- 
iu)w does a business of twelve thousand dollars 
per year. He is a democrat in politics and 
served, for several years, as constable of Me- 
chanicsburg. He was commissioned as post- 
master at Black Lick by President Cleveland, 
and held that position for some time. He is a 
member of the Baptist chiu'ch, has always been 
interested in religious affairs and contributes to 
the support of his own and other churches. In 
addition to his store, he owns a valuable house 
and lot. By untiring industry, fair dealing and 
good management he has been able to secure a 
competency. 

In 1860 Mr. Kelly married Britania Hile- 
man, of Mechanicsburg. To their union have 
been born four children, three sons and one 
daughter: Thomas B., Alonzo B. (born June 1, 
1869, and now engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness with his father), John E., Jr., and Frances. 



EDWARD J. MILDREN. The fact that 
most of the great resources of Indiana 
county are being developed with home capital, 
and by citizens of the county, is a matter of 
gratification to Indianians. One of the leading 
and most imjjortant indu.stries of Indiana 
county and Pennsylvania to-day is the manu- 
focture of fire-brick, and a representative man- 
ufacturer in that line of business is Edward J. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



265 



Mildreu, the proprietor of the Black Lick Man- 
ufacturing company. He was born in Sheffiekl, 
Cornwall eouiity, England, in March, 1837, 
and is a son of Jacob and Jane (Jennings) Mil- 
dren. Jacob Mildren was born March 2, 1808, 
in Cornwall county, England, where, on No- 
vember 29, 1834, he married Jane Jennings, 
daughter of Edward Jennings, and in 1848 
came to Armstrong county and puichased his 
j)rcsent farm near Brady's Bend. He has always 
followed farming and met with good success 
in that line of business. He is now in the 
eighty-second year of his age, while his wife has 
seen her seventy-ninth birthday, and both are 
in good health. He is a son of Richard Mil- 
dren (born September 9, 1750), who married 
Mary Ijory, and whose father (Richard) was a 
son of Richard Mildren, Sr., whose father 
(James) was a son of Richard Mildren, who was 
a very wealthy and influential man in Cornwall 
county about 1650. 

Edward J. Mildren was reared on a farm 
and received his education in the public schools 
of England and the common schools of Penn- 
sylvania. At twenty two years of age he was 
manager for one year of an iron and blast fur- 
nace owned by the Tennessee Iron and Coal 
company. Pie then returned to Pennsylvania 
and went to Cambria county, where he took a 
contract for hauling ore out of one of the large 
coal mines of that county. He worked from 
forty to one hundred mules, and held this con- 
tract for fourteen years, when he resigned it, in 
1873, to succeed the firm of Kinter, Hadlaije 
& Guthrie, in tlie proprietorship of the Black 
Lick Manufacturing company. The works are 
one and one-fourth miles east of Black Lick 
station, with which they are connected by a tram 
railway. They were erected in 1860 for the 
purpose of manufacturing fire-brick and tile. 
After Mr. Mildren' came in possession he en- 
larged the yard to twice its original size and 
increased the capacity of the works. In 1874 
he added another clay-mill and a twenty-five 



horse-power engine. The next year he erected 
two crown kilns, and since then has been con- 
tinually enlarging and improving his works. 
A large machine-shop and a thoroughly-equip- 
ped foundry have been attached to the works, 
which arc used exclusively for the manufacture 
of (ire-brick. Mr. Mildreu employs from one 
huiulrcd to one hundred and .seventy- five hands, 
and does over $100,000 worth of business per 
year. These works are fully equipped with all 
the latest machinery and apparatus necessary 

1 for the prosecution of the business, which is 
conducted in all of its l)ranches by experienced 
and skilled workmen. The fire-brick of the 

{ Black Lick Manufacturing company are of the 
finest quality. They are used for building 
purposes and in blast furnaces, glass-houses, 
coke-ovens and iron and steel-works all over 
this county, and are shipped to Mexico, where 
they are in great demand for their durability 
and excellence. The capacity of the works at 
the present time is forty thousand bricks per 
week. Mr. Mildren brings to his aid, in con- 
ducting this enterprise, years of business ex- 
perience, as well as an intimate knowledge of 
the wants of his numerous patrons. He is 
favorably located to secure low freights and 
to make prompt shipments to every part of 
the country. The reasonable inducements 
which he offers to the public have secured him 
the present extensive patronage which he eu- 
joys in his line of business. In 1873 he 
opened his present mercantile establishment, in 
which he always carries a stock of from five 
to eight thousand dollars' worth of goods. 

In 1859 he married Mary Davis, daughter 
of Richard Davis, formerly of Brady's Bend, 
Armstrong county. They have one atlopted 
daughter, Edna, who is the wife of L. H. 
Shannon. Mrs. ilildren is a member of the 
Presbyterian church, while Mr. Mildren was 
reared in the episcopalian faith. 

Edward J. ^lildren is a republican in poli- 
tics. In Masonry he has passed through lodge 



2fi6 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and chapter, and is a Knight Templar. He 
possesses a high sense of lienor and a marked 
individual independence, and has always been 
true to himself and his engagements. He is 
distinguished for promptness and fearlessness 
in the discharge of every duty devolving upon 
him. 



" "ROBERT EOBINSON, SR., of Cone- 
-»-*' maugh township, was born in county 
Antrim (Mahara), Ireland, in the year 1739. 
In November, 1769, he married Rachel Wier, 
who was born in the same county in 1738. 
They, with his father and mother, two brothers, 
two sistere and brothers-in-law, emigrated to 
America, landed at Philadelphia in July, 1770, 
and in a short time moved to Marietta, later 
going up to Harrisburg with all his family. 
He was one of the masons who built the .John 
Harris ' House,' (now Cameron House) Har- 
risburg. In a short time he, with the balance 
of his family, moved up to Franklin county, 
to Conococheague (Conikagig) creek, where he 
helped to build a mill (now a tub factory). 
Some time from 1777 to 1778 he, with his 
family, moved west of the mountains, to 'Big 
Sewickley,' Westmoreland county. 

"Soon after 1780 they, with their three sons 
and two daughters, moved from Sewickley to 
the north side of the Kiskiminetas river, in 
Armstrong township, Westmoreland county, 
near the mouth of Lick Run, on lands called 
' York,' in the midst of numerous Indians- 
While living in that insecure cabin the writer's 
father got his first schooling, at night. Mr. 
John McDowell was the teacher. In a short 
time they made their way north one mile (no 
roads), put up a building twenty-four by twen- 
ty-eight feet, two stories high, and used it as a 
stockade. No windows or doors were there for 
a time. The second log from the puncheon 
floor had four feet of it cut out for an entrance. 
The building is still standing, having been built 
nearly one hundred years. It is situated on 



part of the ' York ' lands. The aged parents 
lived there till 1820, when they went to their 
sou John's on a visit, half a mile north, on the 
'Iconium' lands. Ou Friday, October 31, 
1823, she died, in her eighty-fifth year. She 
was buried in the Robinson river-hill grave- 
yard. On Thursday, June 23, 1836, he died 
of palsy, in his ninety-seventh year, and was 
buried in the same river-hill." 



ROBERT ROGERS, one of the early 
2iioneers of East Wheatfield town- 
ship, came from county Donegal, Ireland, 
to the Conococheague Valley, Pennsylvania, 
and there met George Findley, who had 
had for a few years an improvement in the 
Conemaugh Valley, the same as now occupied 
by George F. Mathews. Together they went 
to this portion of what is now Indiana county. 
The date is unknown, but the warrant of the 
original tract of fifty-seven and one-fourth 
acres is dated September 29, 1772, and was 
surveyed October 28, 1774, and was described 
as situated 'on the north side of Conemaugh, 
on the path leading to Black Lick, two miles 
from Robert Gibbs', in Westmoreland county.' 
Mrs. Martha Rogers, widow of Isaac Rogers, 
a grandson of Robert, the pioneer, is residing 
on the original homestead. Robert Rogers' 
wife was Sarah Kyle, and their only child was 
Isaac, who died in 1822. Mrs. Martha Rogers 
has Robert Rogers' old Bible; it was printed 
at Berwick, England, in 1711. The tract of 
land upon which Rogers' mill is situated was 
warranted March 11, 1786, and the survey w-as 
made September 7, 1786, the number of acres 
being three hundred and thirty -eight and three- 
fourths." 



ALFRED K. STONEBACK. Indiana 
county's future success is largely based 
on her rich farming lands, her wealth of tim- 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



267 



ber and her immense deposits of coal, iron ore 
and limestone. Among tiiose who are earnestly 
engaged in developing her material resources is 
Alfred K. Stoneback, justice of the peace and 
a leading real estate agent of Black Lick. He 
was born at Zieglersville, Montgomery count}', 
Pennsylvania, November 18, 1863, and is a 
son of John and Ottillia (Beerer) Stoneback. 
John Stoneback was born in Montgomery coun- 
ty in 1834, is a son of David Stoneback, who 
was a member of the State legislature, from 
Montgomery county, in 1859-61, and came to 
Black Lick in 1871. He has always been ac- 
tively engaged in business pursuits, and at the 
present time owns several hundred acres of 
valual^le timber and farming land in this and 
adjoining counties. He married Ottillia Beerer, 
daughter of Joseph Beerer, of Montgomery 
county, a native of France. They are the parents 
of five children, one son and four daughters. 

Alfred K. Stoneback was reared in Mont- 
gomery county and at Black Lick. He at- 
tended the common schools of Montgomery and 
Indiana counties, and entered Blairsville acad- 
emy, where he remained for four years. Leav- 
ing school, he engaged in his present business 
of farming and lumbering. He is a democrat, 
has always taken an active part in politics, and 
during 1888 served as mercantile appraiser. 
In 1887 he was elected as justice of the peace 
of Burrell township for a term of five years, 
and so far, in the discharge of the duties of his 
office, has given general satisfaction. In addi- 
tion to five hundred acres of land which he and 
his father own in Indiana county, he owns over 
four hundred acres of choice mineral land in 
Cambria county. He has bought and sold a 
great deal of real estate, making a specialty of 
mineral and timber lands. He has won his 
way to an honorable place in the ranks of the 
progressive and successful business men of this 
part of the State, and is one of the youngest, if 
not the youngest, justice of the peace in Indi- 
ana county. 



POUND FAMILY. 

The Pound family is one of the oldest and 
best families in we.'tern Pennsylvania, and is 
descended from Thomas Pound, of Saxon or 
Scandinavian parentage, from north Holland or 
Denmark, who came in 1635, at the age of 
twenty-one years, from Amsterdam, Holland, 
to London, England, and from thence to Plym- 
outh Colony. He and his wife, one of the 
children who came in the 3Iayjiower in 
1620, had among their descendants Adonijah 
Pound, of Tarrytown, Westchester county, New 
York, who evidently lost his life in the Revo- 
lutionary war. Adonijah Pound was married 
to Hamiah Collier, evidently sister of Sarah 
(Collier) Harper and Thomas Collier, and a 
direct descendant of William Collier, a London 
merchant, who came to Plymouth Colony in 
1633, and was assistant governor for thirty 
years. Adonijah and Hannah (Collier) 
Pound were the parents of Joseph Pound, a 
soldier of distinction in the Revolutionary war. 
Josej)h Pound was born in 1750 and died April 
4, 1813. He married Sarah Tichinger, who 
was born in 1757 and died April 8, 1813. She 
was a sister of Dr. Thomas Tichinger and 
Rachel (Tichinger) Collier, wife of Thomas 
Collier. Joseph and Sarah (Tichinger) Pound 
were the parents of six children : Stephen, born 
in 1777, married to Catherine Stiffitch ; Sarah, 
Hanna, Eunice, wife of John Eggen, Hardin 
county, Ky. ; Elsie, wife of Thomas IMcIntyrc, 
Armstrong county. Pa., and Joseph. At the 
close of the Revolutionary war they came from 
Basking ridge, ^Morris cotmty. New Jersey, to 
Derry township, Westmoreland county, Pa., 
near Salem Presbyterian church, of which they 
became members, and where their youngest son 
was born. They finally located on "Tunnell 
Hill." 

Joseph Pound was born December 21, 1795, 
and died October 2, 1881. He was a man of 
strong character, highly respected and without 



■•68 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



a known enemy. In early life he boated salt 
from the Conemaugh river to Cincinnati, but 
his distinctive occupation was farming. He was 
an ardent democrat of the Jacksonian school. 
Joseph Pound was a member of Salem Presby- 
terian church for nearly seventy years, and per- 
sistently declined to ever hold any office in the 
church. He was married to Mary Drummond, 
who was born in 1807 and died February 26, 
1845. They were the parents of nine children : 
Joseph, born May 12, 1830; Mary, born Sep- 
tember 9,1831, died July 16, 1832; Sarah, 
born May 11, 1833; John D., born December 
13, 1834; Ellen, born September 18, 1836,and 
is the wife of John Drummond ; Hannah, born 
March 10, 1838; Mary, born December 21, 
1839, died January 15, 1889; Stephen G.,born 
July 25, 1841, and William, born April 6, 
1843, died October 19, 1876. Joseph is a suc- 
cessful farmer of Centre township, Indiana 
county. Pa. ; he was married first to Jane Rob- 
bins, daughter of Daniel and Nancy (Reynolds) 
Robbius; second to Julia Wilson, daughter of 
Daniel and Letitia (Henderson) Wilson, and 
third to Ellen Coad, daughter of Henry and 
Diana (Blackler) Coad. Sarah married Alex- 
ander McCurdy, son of Alexander H. and Mary 
(Doty) McCurdy, and among their children are , 
Rev. Irwin Pound McCurdy, pastor of South- 
western Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, 
and Joseph A. McCurdy, a successful lawyer of j 
Greensbnrg. John D. and Hannah still reside 
on the old homestead on " Tunnell Hill." John 
D. is a successful business man and farmer, and 
Avas a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, in 
Captain Weaver's comj)any (A), 54th regiment. 
Pa. Vols. Stephen Collier was a soldier in the 
■war of the Rebellion, and served successfully 
in Capt. H. L. Donnelly's company (G), 135th 



regiment, Pa. Vols., in Capt. William Seanor's 
company (I), 54th regiment. Pa. Vols., and in 
Capt. George Tanner's company (H. D.), 1st 
Pa. A^ols. Mary Drummond, wife of Joseph 
Pound, was a daughter of John and Mary 
(Bullmau) Drummond, and granddaughter of 
Joseph and Theresa (Byard, now Bayard) Bull- 
man, of New Jersey. John Drummond was a 
son of William and Ellen (Cannan, now Ca- 
naan and Keenan) Drummond, of New Jersey, 
the latter a direct descendant of John Cannan, 
who came to Plymouth Colony from London, 
England, in 1621, and his wife one of the ladies 
that came in the " Mayflower." 

William Drummond died of wounds received 
while a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and 
was a direct descendant of the great Drummond 
family of Scotland. AVilliam and Ellen (Ca- 
naan) Drummond were tlie parents of John and 
tieorge Drummond and Nancy Drummond)Cox, 
of Ohio. John and Mary (Bullman) Drummond 
were the parents of William, Gowin and 
Joseph Drummond, Ellen, wife of John McCrac- 
ken^ John Drummond, Sarah, wife of Archibald 
Cunningham, and Nancy Drummond. John 
Drummond manufactured salt for many years 
on the Conemaugh river, was a man of strict 
integrity and owned a large farm in'Conemaugh 
township, Indiana couuty. He was born in 
1763 and died in 1843. 

The Pound.s, Tichingers, Colliers, Bullmans, 
Cannans and Bayards came prior to the Revo- 
liouary war from New England (mostly from 
Plymouth Colony) to northern New Jersey, 
from whence a number of them came to western 
Pennsylvania, among whom was John Pound 
(a nephew of Adonijah Pound), who came to 
Indiana county, where his descendants may still 
be found. 



RAYNE, WHITE, CENTRE, CHERRY HILL, BRUSH VALLEY, 
GREEN, PINE AND BUFFINGTON TOWNSHIPS. 



Historical and Descriptive. — The first five 
townships named constitnte the central part of 
Indiana county, while the last three enumer- 
ated are the eastern townships of the county. 

Rayne township is drained by the waters of I 
Crooked creek and lies within the Blairsville 
liasiu and the Marion and Saltshnrg sub-basins 
of the Fourth Great basin. The larger part 
of the township is in the Marion sub-basin. It 
is situated in the barren measures excepting 
two small areas of the Lower Coal measures on 
Crooked creek — one at Kintersburg and the 
other at Chambersburir. 

In the geological report of 187.S no detailed ! 
account is given of the valley of Crooked creek, j 

Rayne Townshij) was formed from Washing- 
ton and Green in 1847 and received its name 
from Robert Rayne, an early settler on Rayne's 
run. The soil is a sandy loam well adapted to 
farming and stock-raising, and its most valu- 
able minerals are coal and iron ore. There is 
but little account to be had of its early settlers. 
Among those who came in an early day was 
Robert Thompson and Hugh Cannon, who set- 
fled near Kellysburg. The " Old Block Mouse," ' 
in the southwestern part of the township, was 
erected in 1790 and torn down in 1811. Kel- 
leysburg (Home P. O.), a place of about 125 
inhabitants, was laid out in 1838 by Daniel 
Stanard and named in honor of Meek Kelley. 

Chambersburg, with a population of 60, was 
laid out by William Swan in Oct., 1848, and 
named for Elisha Chambers, who purchased in 



1789 the tract of land upon which it is 
situated. 

Kintersburg (Gilpin P. O.) is a town of 100 
inhabitants and was named for Isaac Kinter, 
who opened a store there in 1854. John Bu- 
chanan made the first improvement about 1800 
on the si(e f>f the village. Its population at 
each census from 1850 to 1890 has been : 1184, 
1595, 1735, 1958 and 1924. 

White Township was formed in 1843 from 
Centre, Washington, Green and Armstrong 
townships and was named for Judge Thomas 
White. It contains the county-seat and there 
are said to have been an Indian encampment or 
village within its borders. Geologically it lie.s 
within the same basin as Rayne township, but 
only has one bed of the Lower Coal measures, 
which is in the southeastern part of the township, 
on Two Lick creek. For a description of Two 
Lick creek see Cherry Hill township. The 
[wpulation of White township since 1850 to 
1890 at each census has been: 1288, 1749, 
2146, 1716 and 1612. 

Centre Toirn.ship was formed from Arm- 
strong in 1807 and is irregular in shape, but it 
is an impossibility to trace its boundaries from 
any State, county or geological map of Indiana 
county which we have seen up to this writing. 
It lies in the Marion sub-basin and the Blairs- 
ville basin and contains (in the eastern part) four 
large areas of the Lower Coal measures. Of 
the middle area Prof Piatt says that Tearing 
run affords access to nearly all the coal beds 

269 



270 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and other strata of the Lower Productive j 
group, and its northern slope will be the starting- 
point of extensive drifts, if ever such be estab- 
lished here on these coals. All the seams of 
the lower group run uninterruptedly from this 
point to the Yellow Creek Valley, offering tiius 
an unbroken expanse of coal, above water level, 
of more than one mile in width, while length- 
wise in a northwest and southeast direction the 
coal spreads in great sheets up and down the 
mountain flank. A large part of this section 
of country is owned in fee simple by the Indi- 
ana Coal company, which company holds also 
in addition extensive mining rights. 

The Upper Freeport coal bed is underneath 
the waters of Tearing run, as high up the ravine 
as Coy's saw-mill. But after its emergence 
above the water line it rises rapidly on the 
slopes towards the east and soutiieast, and has 
been explored on nearly every farm in the 
upper part of the valley. 

It is now most extensively mined on the 
property that goes by the name of the " Bracken 
farm." It is there roofed by a high hill, in 
which the Mahoning sandstone as a heavy 
compact rock is the most conspicuous feature. 

As here developed, the Mahoning sandstone 
furnishes excellent building material, nut only 
for heavy foundations, but equally well for pur- 
poses of decoration. Sandotone land has been 
much overworked and often stands in need of 
fertilizing material. The deposit outcrops 20 
feet below the base of the coal on the Bracken 
farm. An outcrop of apparently good fire clay j 
was observed immediately above the limestone. 

The Lower Freeport coal (bed D') is a small | 
and unimportant seam in this neighborhood, 
just as it is along Yellow creek. Its outcrop 
is very distinct on the township road a siiort 
distance east of the Bracken mine, from which 
it is here separated vertically by an interval of 
60 feet. From indications here and also on 
Yellow creek, it would appear that the Lower 
Freeport bed is accompanied throughout this 



region by its usually attendant stratum of lime- 
stone. But this is not certain, the exposures 
being very imperfect at this horizon. 

Below tliis there are no rock exposures along 
Tearing run for an interval of 115 feet, which 
most likely brings us to bed B, this being the 
seam exposed a few feet above water level on 
the Bracken farm. Coals C and D are there- 
fore concealed here, as is also the Johnstown 
Cement bed, nothing whatever being seen of 
these strata anywhere in the valley. But they 
were all found along Yellow creek, and are 
simply hidden on Tearing run, the rock expo- 
sures occurring there being less complete than 
on Yellow creek. 

Bed B on the Bracken farm shows four feet 
of very soft and inferior coal. Only the out- 
crop has been exposed at this place, but ascend- 
ing the run we find this same coal opened and 
mined on Mrs. McAdoo's property, just above 
the forks of Tearing run. From water level at 
the Bracken farm it has risen to a point 50 feet 
above that line at Mrs. McAdoo's. This bed 
is considered identical with the so-called " four 
foot " seam at Fiudlay's and at Lewis', on the 
opposite flank of the anticlinal, but barely two 
miles distant from the exposures above described. 

Along Tearing run bed B is overlaid by 20 
feet of black slates and fissile shale, while at 
only a few feet beneath the coal sandstone shows 
in the bed of run, thus concealing bed A and 
keeping it below water level in this valley 
across the Chestnut Ridge anticlinal. 

The northern areas of Two Lick and Yellow 
Creek are thus described : 

CVossing Black Lick creek to proceed north- 
east along the base of Chestnut Ridge by the 
Homer road from Bell's mills, there is no change 
to record in the general geology of this region 
as compared to that described in the last chapter. 
The Lower Productive Coal measures continue 
to occupy the summit and flank of the ridge ; 
and the same rocks are crossed by all the streams, 
large and small, descending into Two Lick, and 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



271 



also by the Two Lick itself", but only as far 
down the latter valley as the " Two Lick upper 
mills," beyond which to (he west, past Homer, 
and beyond this to its junction with Black Lick, 
Two Lick flows over Lower Barren rocks. This 
latter fact is of considerable importance, inas- 
much as the high Two Lick bluffs overlooking 
Homer are thereby condemned as uou-coal- 
bearing. These bluffs, supporting the rich pas- 
ture lands of western Centre and Black Lick 
townships, have been searched again and again 
by the farmers for coal beds of workable dimen- 
sions, but always without success. They yield 
abundance of good limestone that would serve 
well to enrich the stiff clay soils that sometimes 
overspread the surface in this vicinity. 

The outcrop of the Upper Freeport coal is 
crossed a few hundi'ed yards north of Bell's 
mills, the road then rising quickly above it into 
the Mahoning sandstone, whicli covers the sur- 
face and makes the country rock at the school 
house one-half mile north of the village. At 
Mr. J. Rugh's house the Upper Freeport coal 
bed is only a short distance beneath the surface, 
its outcrop being plainly defined by a high bench 
which rises rapidly on the slopes east of the 
house. 

The coal appears above water level in the 
shallow valley of a small nameless run that joins 
Two Lick at the Lutiicran church. The lower 
part of this ravine is occupied by the Mitchell 
and Col. Shephard properties (Zach farm), on 
both of which the bed has been opened. 

The bed on the mountain flank is six feet. 
In this, however, is included a damaging slate 
parting that ranges within about one foot of the 
roof, and virtually reduces the seam to a bed 
four feet thick, inasmuch as it renders the upper 
bench of coal worthless for all practical pur- 
poses, the slate parting being too thick to be 
profitably taken down. Moreover, this system 
of mining is here rendered obligatory because of 
the great weakness of the roof slates of the coal. 

As on the Conemangh at Bolivar, so along 



the lower waters of Two Lick and Yellow creek, 
this great parting of clay and slate is the most 
conspicuous and distinctive feature of the Upper 
Freeport coal bed. It is so persistent and con- 
tinuous throughout the Homer region as to ren- 
der the bed easily identifiable there. Not a 
single section of the seam as exposed in the 
numerous drifts along the lower waters of Two 
; Lick and Yellow Creek but what shows this 
I [)arting always in the same position and nearly 
always of about the same thickness. 

There were in the township several block- 
houses in olden times, to which the people were 
in the habit of congregating for mutual protec- 
tion from the ravages of the Indians. One was 
on the farm now owned by Peter Fair. The 
logs with marks of port-holes still remain. 
Among the earlier settlers of the county who 
fled to this block-house were Thomas AVilkin, 
Daniel McKesson, James Mitchell, Andrew 
Dixon, Samuel Dixon, G. Doty, Thomas Mc- 
Cray, Samuel Todd — the latter was owner of 
the land on which the building .stood. Thomas 
Wilkins carried apple trees on his back from 
Franklin county and planted them on the farm 
now owned by Robert McGee. The family 
were forced to flee and while they were away 
the Indians came and pulled up all the trees, 
except three, which are still .standing. The 
family returned again several years afterward. 
Thomas Burns settled on the farm now owned 
by Thomas and William Burns in the year 1791. 
He brought apple trees from Chambersburg and 
planted them ; they are yet living. The oldest 
organized church in Indiana county is in Centre 
township. It bears the name of Bethel. The 
Psalm book used by the Rev. J. \Y. Henderson 
is still in existence. Mr. Henderson was the 
first Presbyterian preacher in the county, and 
was made pastor of the Bethel church at the 
time of its organization. The a.s.sociation called 
" The Whiskey Boys " had their headquarters at 
the house now owned by Robert Hamil. John 
Allison built the first grist-mill in Centre town- 



272 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ship, the site of which is located on the laud 
now owned by John H. Devers. 

The following list of taxable inhabitants of 
Centre township was returned in 1807 : 

Adam Altimes, blaclismith ; Andrew Allison, 
John Armitage, Robert Allison, Jr. ; Robert 
Allison, Sr. ; Thomas Allison, surveyor j John 
Allison, miller ; John B. Allison, carpenter ; 
John B. Allison, Robert Allison, carpenter ; 
Gavin Adams, John Armstrong, Robert Adams, 
James Adams, John Arthurs, Beany Adear, 
James Alcorn, James Alexson, miller ; John 
Allison, Sr. ; Peter Brieker, William Brown, 
carpenter ; Thomas Burns, George Byers, Jolui 
Clyde, William Cain, Jacob Cribs, NA'illiam 
Cummins, John Cummins, David Cummins, 
Jean Cummins, Moses Chambers, Solomon 
Chambers, James Canon, mason ; Ann Camp- 
bell, John R. Cummins, mason ; James Dixon, 
Andrew Dixon, William Dickie, blacksmith ; 
Martha Dean, Martha Dean, Jr. ; John Davis, 
James Donald, Moses Donald, William Don- 
ald, Andrew Dickon, Robert Eggy, Jona- 
than Eggy, Daniel Elgin, Jacob Fluke, 
William Fleming, George Frederick, William 
Fulton, schoolmaster; Robert Gordon, John 
GrifSn, Lydia Gibson, Robert Gordon, John 
Gourley, shopkeeper ; James Gardner, tailor ; 
William Hamilton, Esq. ; Robert Hutchinson, 
William Hall, John Hawk, Joseph Henderson, 
minister; Christopher Harold, James Huston, 
Robert Jordon, Meek Kelly, carpenter ; Pati-ick 
Kelly, James Kelly, John Laughlin, James 
Laughery, John Lowery, Samuel Lowery, 
William Lowery, John Lytic, Daniel Leny, 
cooper; Randolph Laurence, Mary Latta, John 
Laughery, mason ; Fergus Moorhead,Sr.; Fer- 
gus Moorhead, tanner; Daniel McKisson, John 
McLanahan, James McLanahan, Robert Mc- 
Lanahan, James McKnight, Esq. ; Charles 
Morrow, James McGenity, John Murphy, 
William McKee, Michael McAnulty, James 
Montgomery, Daniel McGlaughlin, James Mc- 
Laue, prothouotary ; Joseph Moorhead, Esq. ; , 



James Moorhead, carpenter ; Samuel Moorhead, 
carpenter; Thomas Moorhead, James McFarlin, 
Thomas McCartney, sheriff; John Micksell, 
John Matson, carpenter ; Jean McCouaughey, 
James McKisson, Daniel McQuelkiu, black- 
smith ; James O'Harra,' Charles O'Harra, Mary 
Pattou, James Patton, Adam Pilson, John Pil- 
son, Mary Pilson, John Pounds, Adonijah 
Pounds, Benj. Pard, shopkeeper; Armor Phillips, 
Ann Quigley, John Ross, carpenter ; John 
Ross, Alexander Rea, Samuel Rea, John 
Rankin, Philip Rice, Conrad Rice, John Rediek, 
Robert Rea, James Reynolds, schoolmaster • 
James Stuukard, James Simpson, Andrew 
Speddy, John Sines, Charles Stewart, James 
Stewart, Richard Stewart, David Semple, James 
Scrapie, Peter Sutton, innkeeper ; Thomas Sut- 
ton, carpenter; Daniel Stauard, lawyer; William 
Shields, Matthew Steel, William Smith, Alex- 
ander Taylor, William Tremble, Samuel Todd, 
James Thompson, John Thompson, Joseph 
White, Samuel W^iggins, Thoma.s Wiggins, 
William Wiggins, James Wilkins, James Wil- 
kins, Sr. ; William Wilkins, John Wilson. 

The population of Centre township at each 
census from 1850 to 1890 has been: 1193, 
1397, 1555, 1265 and 1277. 

Cherry Hill Township is in the Blairsville 
and Ligouier basins. It is irregular in shape 
and is in the Lower Barren measures, except 
the Yellow and Two Lick creek valleys, which 
carry the Lower Coal measures, and a small area 
of Pottsville conglomerate near Mitchell's Mills 
P.O. 

The developments along so much of the 
valley of Yellow Creek as falls within the 
limits of the present discussion are almost wholly 
confined to the Upper Freeport coal bed, of 
which there are frequent exposures. Some of 
the mines are worked quite extensively, this 
being the nearest point to the county seat of any 
workable coal bed above water level. And 
while large quantities of this coal are yearly con- 
sumed in the country round about, it confessedly 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



273 



does not rank as high as the coal from the Pitts- 
burgh bed, and for domestic use cannot compete 
successfully with the latter in the Indiana mar- 
ket, although the Pittsburgh coal has to be 
brought at a considerable cost of transportation 
from either Blaii'svilleor West Lebanon, near the 
Armstrong county line. In the chemical compo- 
sition of the coals, especially iu the case of that 
coming from the Pittsburgh bed at Blairsville, 
there is little or no diiference. 

Tiie conditions for cheap aud easy mining are 
vei"y favorable along the Yellow Creek 
valley. Gangways could be driven along the 
strike of the rocks, southwest to Tearing run, 
or northeast to Two Lick ; and such gangways 
would command enormous fields of coal. The 
projected Homer and Cherry Tree R. R. would 
furnish the region with an outlet to market. 

Ascending Yellow creek from its mouth, the 
Mahoning sandstone, in the same compact and 
massive condition tliat characterizes it along 
Tearing run, is the county ruck for nearly a 
mile. It is the upper part of this deposit that 
shows in the left bank of the stream at the 
Homer bridge. As the rock slowly rises above 
the water line it grows more and more conspic- 
uous on the slopes, over which fragments and 
boulders of coarse and fine-grained sandstone 
are strewn in great abundance. 

The Upper Freeport coal bed, as exposed in 
this valley by Messrs. McDonald, Markle, Shep- 
hard, Griffith and Porterfield, is a double bed of 
uniform thickness, yielding in all about six feet 
of coal, of which the lower bench makes up nearly 
two-thirds. The section is the same iu all the 
mines, and about identiad with that given for 
the same bed on Tearing run. 

The little valley of Dixon's run leads from 
the Two Lick creek to the top of the divide 
between Two Lick and the Mahoning. Asceud- 
iug the little valley of the run from Two Lick 
we start iu rocks at or near the base of the Low- 
er Productive system, and slowly rise in these 
measures uutil finally the slope of the stream bed 



carries it above them into the Lower Barren 
group. 

The coal mined at present in this valley 
comes entirely from the Lower Freeport bed. 
The scam varies somewhat in thickness at dif- 
ferent points, but invariably yields a good clean 
coal. The existence of other coal beds botii 
above and below that now worked is well 
known, but there is no inducement to further 
investigate them. 

What little limestone has been used by the 
farmers in fertilizing the soil has been taken 
from the Freeport deposit, here an important 
and valuable stratum yielding excellent lime- 
stone, easily raised, and giving oil' its carbonic 
acid quickly iu the kiln. 

The lower part of the valley, that is, from 
the school-house at Woodisou's to the mouth of 
the run, has been very little explored for its 
mineral contents. The developments begin at 
Woodison's and extend beyond Dixonville, 
where the Lower Freeport coal is close to water 
level. 

Bed D was once luicovered near the grist-mill ; 
it showed 18 inches of coal. Underneath it 
was the Johnstown Cement bed, four feet thick, 
and according to Mr. Woodison, who exposed 
these strata, made up of good stone. 

About 50 feet above this exposure the Lower 
Freeport coal outcrops. 

Cherry Hill was formed from Green and 
Brush Valley townships in 1854 and was named 
from "Cherry Hill Manor," which was surveyed 
to the Peuus. The soil is a sandy loam and 
the main minerals are coal, lime and iron ore. 
Among the early settlers were the Mortons, 
Evanses and Hustons. Diamondville (Mitchell's 
Mills P. O.) was laid out by Dr. Robert 
Mitchell between 1823 and 1825. Greenville 
(Penu Run P. O.) was founded in 1838 by 
William Evans, and Hustonville derives its 
name from Robert Huston, who built a house 
and blacksmith shop on its site in 1850. 

The population of Cherry Hill township at 



274 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



each census from 1860 to 1890 has been : 1758, 
1976, 2243 and 1794. 

Brush Valley Township was formed in 1835 
from Wheatfield and derived its name from the 
vallo}' of Brush creek. It lies in the Ligonier 
basin and is included principally in the sub- 
basin between the Nolo and the Chestnut Ridge 
axis. 

The ravine of Brush creek is important as 
unfolding the geology of Brush Valley town- 
ship. The creek heads in the high laud about 
Mechanicsburg and flows south to meet Black 
Lick at Ash's saw-mill, one mile and a half 
above Heshbon. 

It is sufficiently clear that the Lower Pro- 
ductive Coal measures are in the hills at the 
mouth of Brush creek. A portion of these 
rocks, however, but only a small portion of 
them, is there below water level, the tops of the 
ravine being crowned l)y Lower Barren meas- 
ures, in which the Mahoning sandstone is 
prominent. 

As Brush creek is ascended the ravine grows 
rapidly shallower by the slope of the stream 
bed. This gradually conceals the Lower Pro- 
ductive coal rocks as the valley becomes more 
and more narrow, until finally the tops of the 
ravine join and spread out on a wide sheet of 
Lower Barrens, on which the town of Mechan- 
icsburg is built. These same rocks cover nearly 
the whole of the surface of Brush Valley town- 
ship, by which is explained the total absence of 
workable coal beds, not only at Mechanicsburg, 
but everywhere on the uplands of tliis town- 
ship. The sheet of Barrens extends west of 
Mechanics! jurg nearly to the summit of Chest- 
nut ridge, and eastward it sweeps across the top 
of the Nolo anticlinal. But in the deep valleys 
skirting the township on the north and south 
range the Lower Productive coal beds, nearly 
all of which are of workable thickness. 

The few developments made in the ravine of 
Brush creek illustrate what has just been said 
with regard to its geology. 



Thus two coal beds and two limestone bands 
have been exposed near the mouth of the creek. 
The lower of the coals was discovered in sink- 
ing a well on the Mock farm, and is reported as 
a parted seam three feet thick ; it is not else- 
where known in the ravine. 

Ascending the creek to Overdorff's mill, the 
upper seam is at water level. 

Ascending the stream still higher and ad- 
vancing to the Wilson property, about one-half 
mile above Overdorff's mill, two limestone lay- 
ers, thirty feet apart vertically, make their ap- 
pearance on the left side of the ravine. The 
lower of these is a very ferruginous rock, which 
calcines only under the hardest burning and 
yields then au impure reddish lime. The up- 
per stratum, likewise partly opened by Mr. 
Wilson, is, on the other hand, an unusually 
pure limestone for the coal measures ; it is 
streaked with thin veins of calcite, and slakes 
down readily into a white lime. These lime- 
stone bands were identified as belonging to the 
Upper and Lower Freeport deposits, neither of 
which coals, however, have yet been opened 
hereabouts. 

Mechanicsburg was laid out by John Taylor 
for Robert McCormick in September, 1833, 
and as it was a place for mechanics it was called 
Mechanicsburg. Heshbon is a place of 36 pop- 
ulation and Suncliff has 26 inhabitants. Brush 
Valley at each census from 1850 to 1890 con- 
tained the following population: 1481,1733, 
1606, 1365, and 1179. 

Green Toionship was formed from WHieat- 
field about 1816 and was named on account of 
the gi-een color of its heavy forests. It is in 
the Ligonier basin between the Nolo and the 
Chestnut Ridge axis. The Lower Coal meas- 
ures extend along the north fork of Two Lick 
in the western part of the township. 

Cookport was named for William Cook and 
the first house was erected by Lewis Shaw in 
1858. Dixon ville was established in 1860 and 
Kesslerville (Beringer P. O.) was laid out by 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



275 



Peter Kessler in 1871. The first house at Tay- 
lorville (Utah P. O.) was erected by A. T. 
Moorhead in 1854 and the place was named 
for President Taylor. The first house at Pine 
Flat was built in 1860 by Evan Williams. The 
population of Green township at each census 
from 1850 to 1890 has been : 2281, 1723, 2160, 
2606 and 2401. 

Pine Township was taken from Wheatfield 
in 1850 and derived its name from the extensive 
pine forests then within its boundaries. It is 
in the Ligonier basin, and contains a long and 
narrow area of the Lower Coal measures, which 
lie in the Little Yellow Creek Valley. The 
eastern part of the township is between the 
Laurel Hill and the Nolo axis, while the 
western portion is in the sub-basin between the 
Nolo and the Chestnut Ridge axis. The geology 
of Little Yellow Creek received but scant notice 
at the hands of tiie State geologists during the 
last survey. 

James Strong owned the site of Strongstown, 
and some time shortly after 1823 built the first 
three houses of that place. Strongtown has 75 
inhabitants. Nolo was founded under the name 
of the " Stone House, " which it bore until 1858, 
when the post-office of Nolo was established, and 
the place changed its name to that of the post- 
offico. The population of Pine township from 
1860 to 1890 has been: 1860,1788; 1870, 
921; 1880, 1189; 1890, 1003. 

Bujfington Township was formed from Pine 
in 1867, and was named in honor of Judge 
Joseph Buffington. The township lies in that 
part of the Ligonier basin which is between 
the Laurel Hill and the Nolo axis. A small 
area of the Lower Coal measures is in the north- 
western part of the township. 

Among the early settlers were the McCart- 
neys, Clarks, Camerons, Dills, Misners, Stew- 
arts, McPhersons and Campbells. Uilltown 
was laid out in 1850, under the name of Frank- 
lin, but soon received its present name from 
Matthew Dill. The population of Buffington 
17 



township since 1870 has been: 1870, 877 
1880, 819; 1890, 644. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



THOMAS BURNS purchased the Burns 
homestead in Centre township in 1790. 
He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and served 
three years in the British army at the outset of 
the Revolutionary war. He then served four 
years under the noted Paul Jones and other 
American commanders. After his settlement 
in this section he chopped wood and burned 
coal. He died in 1833, at the age of eighty- 
four. He was twice married, first in 1800, to 
Mary Harea, who died in 1816, at the age of 
sixty-four, and second to Sarah Boyle, daughter 
of Robert and Mary (Johnston) Boyle. The 
children were: William, Thomas, Catherine 
and James. William served four months in 
the 105th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteei-s^ 
and seven months in the 177th during the war 
of 1861. He was also in tlie provost marshal's 
department for nine months. William and 
Thomas reside on the old homestead, where 
there is said to have been an Indian village. 
Tradition reporta that for several years the 
dusky woodsmen would return to look for treas- 
ure said to have been buried there. " 



HON. JOSEPH CAMPBELL, of Centre 
township, was born in 1799, at the pres- 
ent residence of his widow, and was the son 
William and Ann (White) Campbell. William 
Campbell was among the early settlers of the 
township, and was engaged in some of the 
Westmoreland furnaces. William White, the 
father of Mrs. Campbell, was an early pioneer 
of Centre township. Both the Campbells and 
Whites migrated from Antietam creek, Mary- 
land, to what is now Indiana county. William 



276 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Campbell died when Joseph was a young lad, 
leaving a widow and two children, with a farm 
in the woods, without horses, implements, or 
the means with which to secure them. Joseph 
worked with Rev. Joseph Henderson, on the 
latter's farm, and the mother and daughter 
took in weaving. Slowly the land was im- 
proved and the necessary stock and appliances 
were obtained. Our subject was married, first, 
in 1836, to Nancy Elgin, a daughter of Daniel 
Elgin. She died in 1838, of consumption, and 
their only child died when three months old ; 
and second, in 1848, to Rebecca Allison, 
daughter of Andrew Allison. Their children 
■were : Sarah Ann, Rebecca J. and Nancy 
Ellen. Mr. Campbell served in the various 
township positions, and as an associate judge 
for five years. He was among the earliest anti- 
slavery reformers in the country, and was 
termed an abolitionist more than fifty years 
affo. He was among the first men in the 
county to sign the total abstinence pledge, and 
was among the earliest champions of the tem- 
perance cause in the county. He died in 1879, 
not long after the above was written, and was 
buried at the Crete United Presbyterian ceme- 
tery. His funeral was attended by over a 
thousand jiersons." 



rUPT. JACOB CREPS, a veteran officer 
v/ of the Army of the Potomac and a pop- 
ular citizen and active business man of Rayne 
township, is a son of Samuel and Eleanor 
(Wolfe) Creps, and was born in that part of 
Washington township which is now Rayne 
township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, March 
4, 1836. His grandfather, Jacob Creps, was a 
native, in all probability, of Centre county. 
He came, in 1837, to what is Rayne township, 
where he died a few years after his arrival. 
He was a lutheran and an old-line whig and 
served in the war of 1812. He married and 
reared a family of three sons and three daugh- 



ters. One of these sons was Samuel Creps, who 
was born in Centre county, in 1807, and died 
near Dixon ville, in 1858. He was a whig and 
afterwards one of the early abolitionists of 
Indiana county. He was active in political 
aifairs and married Eleanor Wolf, daughter of 
John Wolf, a whig and farmer of Centre 
county, who married Susanna Lutes and came 
to Rayne township, where he reared a family 
of six sons and three daughters. Mr. and Mrs. 
Creps were the parents of two sons and one 
daughter, all of whom are dead except the 
subject of this sketch. Mrs. Creps was born in 
1814 and is still living. 

Jacob Creps was educated in the common 
and select and normal schools. Before he 
attained his majority he had assisted his father 
in clearing out a valuable farm of seventy acres 
of land. At eighteen years of age he engaged 
in teaching and taught five terms of school at 
one place and two at another. He displayed 
quite a military taste at a very early age and 
was a drummer and leader of the band in a 
militia company when only twelve years of age. 
At sixteen years of age he was elected first 
lieutenant of the Washington artillery and at 
the time of the Utah troubles offered his services 
to the government, but was not accepted. When 
Fort Sumter was fired on, he was captain of a 
militia company which offered its services for the 
three months' service. It was not accepted as 
the quota was full. Under the call for three 
hundred thousand men the company enlisted, 
and he resigned as captain and enlisted as a 
private, but was unanimously re-elected as cap- 
tain of the company, which became Co. A, 63d 
regiment. Pa. Vols., and served till 1864, when 
they were honorably discharged. Capt. Creps 
served under General Scott and every otlier 
commander of the Army of the Potomac and 
led the advance of that grand old army three 
times across the Rappahannock. The first time 
his company was given the honor of leading the 
advance they crossed on pontoon bridges. This 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



277 



company has a remarkable war recoril and it is j 
said had more men killed and wounded, accord- 
ing to its numbers, than any other company in 
the United States service. Capt. Creps was 
always found at the head of his company and 
participated in all of tiie great battles between 
the armies of the Potomac and Northern Vir- 
ginia from the fall of 1861 to the winter of 
1864. When his term of service expired he 
returnefl home and engaged in farming, stock- 
raising and stock-dealing, which business be 
has followed successfully ever since. 

He married Christiana Bookinmire, wlio is a 
native of Germany. To them have been born five 
children, of whom four are living: Ida, wife of 
William Campljell, an oil broker of Pitt.sburgh ; 
J. Augustus, who lives with his father and 
married Minnie Ray, by whom he has two 
children, Minorica and Ella E. ; John F., of 
Allegheny city, who is a bookkeeper for Clever 
Bros., of Pittsburgh, and married Eliza Pulfer, 
by whom he has one child, Percy ; and Flor- 
ence, who is at home. 

In politics, Capt. Creps was a republican 
until 1877, when he became a greenbacker. In 
1867 he was elected sheriff, and from 1877 to 
1879 was a member of the Pennsylvania legis- 
lature, lu 1886 he was a candidate of the 
Labor party for the legislature and lacked but 
one hundred and ninety-three votes of being 
electetl when the county gave twenty-five hun- 
dred republican majority. In 1890 he was 
the candidate of the Labor party for Congress, 
in the Twenty-first Congressional District. He 
is a member of the Lutheran church, the Pat- 
rons of Husbandry, the Loyal Legion and the 
Grand Army of the Republic. On August 21, 
1887, the surviving members of his company 
presented him with a one hundred dollar gold- 
headed cane, and an address written on parch- 
ment, expressing in glowing terms the high 
esteem in which he was held by those who 
had served under him on many a bloody 
field. 



WILLIAM T. HAMIL, a well-respected 
citizen of White township, and a de- 
scendant of two pioneer families of Indiana 
county, is a son of Robert M. and Jane (Trim- 
ble) Hamil, and was born in Fairfield town- 
ship, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Oc- 
tober 9, 1830. 

The Hamil family is of Irish descent, 
and one of its members, Joiin Hamil (great- 
grandfather), emigrated from Ireland to the 
United Colonies in 1761, and settled in the 
famous Ligonier Valley, some two miles south 
of Palmer's fort. According to the old tradi- 
j tions of Indiana county, he was the tenth set- 
tler who located in the Ligonier settlement. 
He married Elizabeth Gibson, who was a na- 
tive of Ireland. Their sou, Robert Hamil 
• (grandfather), was born in county Antrim, 
Ireland, and came to Pennsylvania with his 
parents. He was a "Seceder," or a inombor 
of the Associate Presbyterian church. During 
I the Revolution his father, John Hamil, was 
drafted; but Robert went in his place, and 
served three years. He participated in the 
battle of Bunker Hill. He died in 1841, when 
in the eighty-third year of his age. He mar- 
ried Jane McKelvey, and reared a family of 
twelve cliildren, five sons and seven daughters: 
Elizabeth, Mary (wife of James Alexander), 
Allan, David, Jane McClain, Robert M., Ann 
Frew, Ebenezer, Hannah, Joseph, Sarah (who 
married Alfred Lameroux) and Rachel (wife of 
David Brown). Robert N. Hamil (father) 
was born in the Ligonier Valley, Westmore- 
land County, in 1805, and in 1831 removed to 
Centre township, and bought the tract of land 
called "Junction." On this farm the " Whis- 
key boys" had an encampment during the 
Whiskey insurrection of 1794. Robert M. 
Hamil was a tanner by trade; but afler he 
removed to Indiana county, he was engaged in 
farming until his death, in March, 1886. lie 
married Jane Trimble, and had nine children : 
' William T., Margaret Jane (wife of William 



278 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Douthet), Samuel, Mary Ann, Susan, Elizabeth 
(wife of R. C. Carson), Sarah (wife of William 
Carson), Washington (who died while serving 
in the Union army at Fredericksburg in 1863), 
and Rachel (wife of William Staley). Mrs. 
Jane (Trimble) Haniill was a daughter of Wil- 
liam Trimble, and a granddaughter of George 
Trimble, a native of the north of Ireland, who 
emigrated from that country to the United 
Colonies in 1789, and located in White town- 
ship, Indiana county. He was soon driven by 
the Indians to the Conecocheague Valley, from 
whence he afterwards returned, in 1797, to this 
county, and settled in Armstrong township, 
where he purchased a tract of land called " St. 
James." 

William T. Hamil was reared on his father's 
farm, and attended the common schools of Cen- 
tre township. He removed in 1 853 to White 
township, where he has been engaged in farm- 
ing ever since. On April 24, 1854, he married 
Keziah Beck, daughter of William Beck, by 
whom he had three children: William P. (who 
died in 1856), Franklin (who passed away in 
1888), and Plymouth (who married Annie 
Campbell in 1884). Mrs. Hamil died in 
1861, and Mr. Hamil, on May 27, 1862, 
married Mary Ann Ray, daughter of Matthew 
Ray. By his second marriage he has five chil- 
dren: Jaue, Quincy Adams, Clara Josephine, 
Robert and Matthew Wilson. 

Squire Hamil owns a valuable farm, besides 
one hundred and ten acres of the old home- 
stead farm in Centre township. He is a mem- 
ber of the United Presbyterian church and a 
republican prohibitionist in politics. He served 
his township acceptably for six years as justice 
of the peace, and is frequently counseled by his 
neighbors in legal matters. He has always 
taken a deep interest in education, and con- 
tributed liberally toward the establishment of 
the Indiana State Normal school at Indiana, 
I'a., from which institution four of his children 
have been graduated. 



" A NDREW LEARN, a pioneer settler of 
•^ Green township, was born in 1809, in 
! what is now Bell township, Westmoreland Co., 
and was a son of John and Elizabeth (Ashbaugh) 
Learn. The former was a native of the Sewick- 
ley settlement, Westmoreland county, where he 
was born in 1785. He was a son of Andrew and 
Susan (Yorkey) Learn. He was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and located at an early period 
on Sewickley creek. His father and wife, their 
son George and wife and family, were killed 
by the Indians near Blue mountains. The 
tradition is that this massacre was committed 
by seven Indians from the Lake Erie country. 
The children of Andrew Learn, the pioneer, 
were, — John, Catherine, Elizabeth, Mary, Su- 
san, George, Sarah, Barbara, Rachel and An- 
drew." 



ADAM H. MIKESELL, one of the comfort- 
ably situated farmers and most substantial 
citizens of White township, is a son of John P. 
and Sarah E. (Holmes) Mikesell, and was born 
in Centre township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania February 20, 1869. The Mikesell family 
is of German descent, and one of its members 
Adam Mikesell (grandfather) was born in 1794, 
and came to Indiana county in early life. He 
purchased 500 acres of land in Centre township, 
upon which he resided until his death, which 
occurred in 1877, when he was in the eighty- 
third year of his age. He was a member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church and an upright 
man. One of his sons, John P. Mikesell 
(father), was born on his father's farm in Centre 
township in 1833. He commenced life as a 
farmer in his native township, where he re- 
mained until the fall of 1879, when he removed 
to White township. He owned one hundred 
and twelve acres of his father's farm, which he 
sold for about one hundred dollars an acre. In 
1890 he retired from farming and purchased 
property at Indiana, where he has resided ever 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



271) 



since. He advocates the principles of the demo- 
cratic party, and is a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church. In 1868 he married Sarah 
E. Holmes, a daughter of George Holmes, of 
Indiana, and to their union were born two sons : 
Adam H., and Torrence, born September 10, 
1876. Mrs. Mikesell was born 1844, and is a 
member of the Lutheran Church. 

Adam H. Mikesell was reared on his father's 
farm, iu Centre township, and received a good 
common-school education. He has been en- 
gaged in farming ever since leaving school, 
except a short period during which he conducted 
a livery stable at Homer City. He lives on 
92J acres of his father's White township farm, 
which he takes great pride in cultivating, and 
which is very productive under his judicious 
management. 

On June 13, 1888, he united in marriage 
with Nettie Ralston, daughter of Samuel Ralston, 
of Cherry Hill township. To their union have 
been born two sons, Johnnie and Walter Gilbert, 
both now dead. 

Adam H. Mikesell is a democrat and believes 
in the principles and practices of the demo- 
cratic party, whose interests and nominees he 
ever supports and whose success he ever desires. 

Well situated in a favored section of his 
township, he devotes the most of his time to his 
farm and justly enjoys the reputation of being 
one of the most throughgoing and successful 
farmers in White township. 



JOHN PILSON, a prudent and industrious 
farmer, and one of the well-respected citi- 
zens of White township, is a son of John, Sr., 
and Nancy (Johnston) Pilson, and was born in 
White township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
December 9, 1803. John Pilson, Sr. (father), 
was born in Ireland, from which he emigrated 
in 1870 to the United States. He settled in 
White township, Indiana county, where he pur- 
chased three hundred acres of land, which he 



cultivated until his death. He died in 1834, 
when he was in the seventy-second year of his 
age. He married Nancy Johnston, a native of 
the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, by whom he 
liad five children, of whom three are still living: 
Susanna, who was born in 1807, and married 
Jesse Griffith, of Indiana county; John and 
Nancy, Itorn iu 1812. Mrs. Pilson was a con- 
sistent member of the Presbyterian church, and 
died in 1851, when in the eightieth year of her 
age. 
i John Pilson was reared on his father's farm 
and attended the subscription schools of that 
period, in which he received a practical educa- 
tion. He has always lived a quiet and peaceful 
life and devotes his time to farming and stock- 
raising. He owns one hundred and sixty acres 
of the homestead farm, which is four miles from 
Indiana. He keeps his farm in fine condition 
and raises good crops of grain and grass. 

He has never married, and Nancy .1. Griffiths 
a daughter of his sister, Mrs. Susanna Griffith, 
keeps house for him. John Pilson is an es- 
teemed citizen of White township, a stanch re- 
publican in politics, and, like his father, is a con- 
scientious member of the Presbyterian church. 
Mr. Pilson has never given time or attention 
to any other business than that of farming and 
.stock-raising. John Pilson is one of the thrifty 
and prosperous citizens of his township, and 
while taking no active part in political life yet) 
he has decided opinions of his own concerning 
public affiiirs, which he has formed by closely 
watching the course of the political parties of 
the United States since Andrew Jackson was 
first a candidate for president in 1824, 



T W. SHIELDS, of Rayne township, is a 
^ , man of sound judgment and tried capacity, 
and as a member of the board of commissioners 
has exercised a conservative and watchful care 
over the finances of Indiana county. He is a 
son of John and Elizabeth (Speedy) Shields and 



280 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



was born in what is now Rayne township, Indi- 
ana county, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1835. 
His paternal grandfather, John Shields, was a 
native of Ireland and settled in what is now 
Black Lick township about 1800. He served in 
the war of 1812 and during part of that time 
was employed by the government as an Indian 
spy and to give notice to the western forts of 
any threatened attack upon them by Indians. 
His wife, a native of Scotland, bore him six 
children ; William, John, Mary McKee, Mar- 
garet Speedy, James and Joseph, all of whom 
are dead. John Shields (father) was born in 
Rayne township, where he owned six hundred 
acres of good farming laud. He was also a 
stock dealer, purchasing droves of cattle and 
drivingthem to the eastern markets. In his early 
life he was quite a successful bear and deer 
hunter, but soon abandoned that dangerous 
pastime for his farm work and stock business. 
He was a member and elder of the Presbyterian 
church. He was a whig and afterwards a repub- 
lican in politics. He was a man of sound judg- 
ment, and served two terms as justice of the 
peace, besides filling several other township 
offices. He was elected county commissioner in 
which office he served with the usual success 
which had attended him in all of his township 
offices and won the reputation of having made 
an excellent county official. He died in 1872; 
aged eighty-four years. His wife was Elizabeth 
Speedy, who died in 1860, when in the sixty- 
fifth year of her age. She was a daughter of 
Andrew Speedy, who was of Scotch extraction, 
came from Scotland when a young man and 
was engaged during his lifetime in farming in 
this county. He was a good teacher of vocal 
music and married Margaret McKee, by whom 
had six children ; Elizabeth Shields, Mary Kin- 
ter, ^largaret McLaughlin, James, Thomas and 
Hugh. He died in 1827, and his wife survived 
him several years. 

J. W. Shields was reared on a farm and 
received his education in the common schools 



which at that time were in the infancy of their 
existence, being looked upon in the light of an 
experiment. Leaving school, he learned the 
trade of blacksmith, which he followed for ten 
years. He then bought a farm adjoining the 
old homestead and engaged in farming, which he 
has continued in ever since. He now resides 
upon the homestead tract and owns in all one 
hundred and forty acres of productive land. 
On March 5, 1865, he enlisted for one year in 
Co. F, 74th regiment. Pa. Vols., as second ser- 
geant, was honorably discharged at Harrisburg, 
Pa., and mustered out as first sergeant at 
Clarksburg, West Virginia, August 29, 1865. 

March 12, 1861, he married Mary Thomp- 
son, daughter of Robert Thompson, of Rayne 
owuship. To their union have been born six 
children, three sons and three daughters : Annie 
M., Wilmer W., Lawrence T., Carlotta, Mary 
B. and Robert C. 

In connection with his farming operations 
Mr. Shields gives considerable attention to 
stock-raising, in which he has met with good 
success. He is a member and trustee of Wash- 
ington Presbyterian church and belongs to 
Indiana Post, No. 28, Grand Army of the 
Republic. In politics J. W. Shields has 
! always been a republican and takes a lively 
interest in politics. In the fall of 1887 he was 
elected county commissioner and his term, which 
commenced January 1, 1888, expired January 
1, 1891. To the work of the commissioner's 
office he gave the same care and attention 
that he gave to his own business affairs. He 
has been conscientious and impartial according 
to the best of his ability in the discharge of all 
public duties, and thus far he has been so suc- 
cessful as to win the commendation and good 
opinion of the public. 



"TAMES SIMPSON, of Centre township, 

^ came to this country from Scotland, locat- 

' ing first at what was called the ' Old Scotch 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



281 



Fort,' or Ligonier, near Laurel Hill. He suf- 
fered all the trials of frontier life in the French 
and Indian wars and the Revolution, and, with 
his brother Andrew and the White brothers, 
served for several years as scouts. His wife 
was Hannah White, and he and the Whites re- 
moved at an early date to the vicinity of what 
is now Blairsville, and built a block-house and 
stockade. They remained there for several 
years. Andrew was killed by the Indians near 
the mouth of Black Lick while going to wnrn 
a settlement below of danger. John White was 
witli him, but escaped with a broken arm. 
Shortly after this they removed to Cherry run, 
on Two Lick creek, just above the mouth of 
the run. They erected a block-house on a 
bluff on the bank of Two Lick, which was 
called the ' Old McConaughey Fort." Simp- 
son built a grist-mill on Cherry run, on land 
now owned by Mr. Lomison, and remained 
there until his death." 



CAPTAIN JOHN STUCHELL, a Union 
^ officer in the late civil war. and proprietor 
of " Traveller's Home," is a son of Christopher 
and Jane (Mahan) Stuchell, and was born near 
Pluraville, in South Mahoning township, Indi- 
ana county, Pennsylvania, September 24, 18.34. 
His great-grandfather, John Stuchell (some- 
times written Stuchal), was a native of Ger- 
many, and settled in what is now White town- 
ship in 1805. He had five children : Abraham, 
Christopher, Jacob, Mary McHenry and a 
daughter who married a Mr. Caldwell. The 
second son, Christopher Stuchell, Sr. (grand- 
father), married Elizabeth Lydick. He was an 
industrious and well-to-do farmer, and .served 
as a soldier in the war of 1812. He had nine 
sons : John, Christopher, Jacob, Abraham, 
James, William, Thomas, Joseph and Samuel. 
Christopher Stuchell (father) was born June 21, 
1800, in Rayne township, and died in South 



1 Mahoning township, September 29, 1867. He 
was engaged in farming during his life-time. 
He was a whig and afterwards a republican, 
and was an influential member and highly re- 
spected elder of the Plumville United Pres- 
byterian church. He niarrie<l Jane Mahan, a 
daughter of John Mahan, a native of Ireland, 
who settled on the site of Newville, on Crooked 
creek. She was born on the Atlantic ocean, 
on board the ship which brought her parents 
to this country, and died in South ]\Iahoning 
township, December 27, 1876, aged seventy- 
two years. Mr. and Mrs. Stuchell were the 
parents of three sons and six daughters. One 
of these sous, Christopher, served in the Union 
army in West Virginia, and is now a resident 
of South Mahoning township. 

John Stuchell was reared on a farm. He 
received his education in the common schools, 
and was engaged in farming until the com- 
mencement of the late civil war. On Novem- 
ber 15, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Co. 
G, 103d regiment. Pa. Vols., was commissioned 
captain December 28, 1861, and commanded 
his company until April 16, 1863, when his 
term of enlistment expired. He served in the 

, Army of the Potomac and participated in the 
battles of Williamsburg and Seven Pines or 
Fair Oaks. Returning home in 1863, he fol- 
lowed farming in South Mahoning township 
for four years, and then embarked in the 
wagon-making business at Plumville, in which 
he continued for seven years. In 1874 he at- 
tempted to work at carpentering, but was 
compelled to quit on account of physical dis- 
ability, which was the result of disease con- 
tracted in the army from exposure. In 1890 
he came to Kelleysburg, where he took charge 
of the " Traveler's Home," and has continued 
in the hotel business successfully until the 
present time. 

On March 22, 1860, he married Jane Mc- 
Cune, daughter of John and Margaret Mc- 
Cune, and a native of South Mahoning town- 



282 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



ship. They have eight children : Mary Eliza- 
abeth, Margaret Ellen, Jeunie Olive, Ora Anna, 
Leah Dean, Harry White, Maud and Mabel. 

In politics Capt. Stuehell is a republican. He 
owns some property at Plumville, and is a 
thorough-going business man. He was a mem- 
ber of Plumville Post, No. 495, Grand Army 
of the Republic. 



R 



ICHARD W. WILLIAMS was born in 
Wales in 1796, and was a native of the 



Isle of Anglesea. He married Jane Davis, by 
whom he had seven children, all born in Wales, 
and all emigrated to this country. After the 
death of his first wife, he married Sarah James, 
of Pittsburg, a native of Wales, now deceased. 
He died in 1876, at eighty-one years of age. 
He came to this country in 1832, and first set- 
tled in Madison county. New York, then in 
Allegheny county, Pa., and from thence to 
Green townshi]). He was one of the men inter- 
ested in the establishment of a Welsh church 
and Sunday-school near the premises." 



BANKS, MONTGOMERY, CANOE, GRANT AND 
THE MAHONING TOWNSHIPS. 



Historical and descriptive. — These eight to wn- 
ship,s constitute the nortiiern part of ludiana 
county and their territory constituted the cele- 
brated " Mahoning Country " of the early set- 
tlers of this county. The territory of these 
eight townships constituted Mahoning township 
from 180.3 to 1834, when the territory of the 
four eastern townships was organized into 
Montgomery township. In 1847, Canoe town- 
ship was formed and in 1868, Banks was taken 
from it, while Grant was organized out of 
Montgf)mery. The western part of the Mahon- 
ing country remained as Mahoning township 
until 1846, when it was divided into North, 
East, South and West Mahoning townships. 

Of the early inhabitants north of the " Pur- 
chase Line" we have but little account prior to 
1807 when the following list of taxables of Ma- 
honing township was returned to the county 
commissioners : Jonathan Ayers, blacksmith ; 
James Brady, Sr., John Brady, Sr., Fergus 
Blackney, John Brady, Jr., John Brown, Robert 
Brady, Arthur Black, David Black, Joseph 
Brady, Hugh Brady, Sr., William P. Brady, 
surveyor ; Joseph Brady, Jr., Asa Grossman, 
wheelwright ; John Carson, doctor ; William 
Cain, Frederick Clingerberger, Peter Croftzer, 
distiller ; Elizabeth Colter, .spin.ster ; John 
Cain, David Coughran, Moses Curry, Bernard 
Cook, Daniel Davis, Joshua Davis, William 
Dilts, Peter Dilts, James Ewing, distiller ; Sam- 
viel Fleming, John Flummer, Ste])hen Gaskin, 
Robert Hamilton, Peter Hoover, William Han- 



nah, constable ; William Hopkins, John Hen- 
derson, John Jamison, James Johnston, John 
Johnston, tailor : Peter Justice, Thomas Jones, 
David Kirkpatrick, John Leashure, Joshua 
Lewis, Esq., Michael Lane, tanner; William 
McLaughlin, Archibald McBride, William Mc- 
Creary, Isaac McHenry, Joseph McHenry, 
James McComb, William McCall, Samuel Mc- 
Henry, James McBride, Thomas Neal, Samuel 
Newcombe, William Neal, George Pierce, Jacob 
Pierce, David Pierce, Joshua Pierce, Job Pierce, 
John Parks, Patrick Porter, mason ; John 
Reary, Samuel Smith, Robert Saddler, William 
Smith, Sr., Henry Stuart, William Smith, Jr., 
William Thompson, John Thompson, Sr., 
John Thompson, Jr., James Thompson, Isaiah 
Vanhorn, John Work, Es(|., John White, John 
Wiggings, William AVarden, Matthew Wyne- 
koop, John AVoodruff, miller ; John Wear, 
Christopher Wells, Robert Walker. 

Banks Township was formed from Canoe in 
1868, and was named in honor of William 
Banks, a member of the Indiana county bar. 
The Chestnut Ridge axis passes through it from 
southwest to northeast and divides its territory 
into two very near equal parts. All of the town- 
ship, excepting a small area of the Lower Bar- 
ren measures in the eastern part, is in the Lower 
Coal measures, yet its coal fields receive no 
mention from the State geologists. 

Outside of coal the principal production is 
lumber, and valuable white pine is found in all 
parts of the township. The waters of the 

283 



284 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Little Mahoning creek and Susquehanna 
river afford convenient transportation for mar- 
keting the lumber. There is a paint bed of 
great but unknown value about one mile and a 
half northwest of Smithport. The farm of 
Mrs. Horton at Smithport divides the waters of 
the Susquehanna from those of the Little Ma- 
honing — the one flowing to the Chesapeake bay, 
and the other to the Gulf of Mexico. Among 
the early settlers were Joseph Stear, James 
Oberu, Simon Uber and George Pierce. 

Smithport (Horton P. O.) was named on ac- 
count of several Smiths who live there and in its 
vicinity. The post-office was established in 
1856 and named for Mrs. E. J. Horton. The 
population of Banks township was in 1870, 
747; 1880, 919; 1890, 1485. 

Montgomery Toivnship was formed from Ma- 
honing in 1834 and was named in honor of John 
Montgomery, a Revolutionary soldier who owned 
a large tract of land within its borders. The 
township lies between the Chestnut Ridge and 
the Laurel Hill axis, and the western part is 
largely covered with areas of the Lower Coal 
measures. 

Cush creek is an important stream draining 
nearly the whole of Montgomery township, and 
a considerable portion also of Banks township. 
It flows in a deep valley which forks near its 
head, both branches extending to the village of 
Gettysburg and there starting in rocks at the 
base of the Lower Barren column. Nearly the 
whole of the valley is unimproved timber 
land ; its mineral resources are confined to the 
coals, limestones and fire clays of the Lower 
Productive measures ; its soil is lean and the 
country rugged because these rocks hold several 
heavy sandstone deposits ; and it is on account 
of these sandstones that the farmers and early 
settlers made their " clearings " and founded 
their settlements in the smoother uplands. 

At the village of Gettysburg there are few 
natural or artificial rock exposures. The lime- 
stone that outcrops in Mr. Ake's fields to the 



west of the village belongs apparently to the 
Lower Barrens, no workable coal bed having 
yet been found there, nor does any such likely 
occur above water level at Gettysburg. 

The Upper Freeport bed is handsomely dis- 
played in the Urey mine, being there operated 
for the supply of the country-side with fuel, the 
fuel extracted from this mine being quite free 
from injurious impurities, and much esteemed 
in the neighborhood. Both benches of the bed 
yield equaljy good coal, the showing in the 
Urey mine being perhaps as fine as is anywhere 
presented by the Upper Freeport bed in the 
Bituminous Coal region. This is certainly the 
case with respect to the thickness of the seam 
which on the Urey property will yield, acre for 
acre, as much coal as the Pittsburgh bed. How 
far it may extend in this superb condition is a 
question easily determinable, but at present isof 
little practical interest to the farmer. Doubtless 
at some time, and perhaps at a day not far dis- 
tant, the bed will receive from capitalists the 
attention it fully merits. 

Gettysburg (Hilldale P. O.) was laid out in 
1851, on land of Hugh Rankin. The popula- 
tion of the township at each census from 1850 
to 1890 has been: 751, 1423, 932, 1211, and 
1079. 

Canoe Township was formed from Montgom- 
ery in 1847, and was named from Canoe Creek, 
whose mouth was the head of canoe navigation. 
The Indiana axis passed from southwest to 
northeast through the township, and large areas 
of the Lower Coal measures are in its northern, 
eastern and southern parts. This township, 
like Grant and Banks, received but little atten- 
tion or notice from the second State geological 
survey. 

Among the early settlers were the Bradys, 
Leasures, Clawsons and Whites. Richmond 
(Rochester Mills P. O.) was originally called 
Simpson's Mill for David Simpson. Roberts- 
ville was laid out by Robert Roberts, and Lo- 
cust Lane was founded by W. G. Lewis in 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



285 



1 860. The population of the township at each 
census from 1850 to 1890 has been : 888, 1470, 
998, 1217 and 1245. 

Grant Toiniship was formed in 1868 from 
Montgomery, and was named after Gen. U. S. 
Grant. It lies principally between the Chest- 
nut Ridge and the Indiana a.xis, and the Lower 
Coal measures extend over nearly all of the 
township. 

Kinter's hill, which affords a fine view, and 
Doty's round top, tiie highest ground in the 
county, are in this township. Decker's Point, 
now Colfax, was laid out in 1867, and derived 
its tirst name from Joiiii Decker. Nashville 
was named in lionor of William Nash Prothers, 
uho made the first improvement there in 1872- 
The population of Grant township at each 
census from 1870 to 1890 has been : 999, 1318, 
and 1.351. 

East Mahonbtr/ Township was organized in 
1846, and lies in the Marion sub-basin. There 
are two areas of the Lower Coal measures in 
tlie townsi)i|j — -one on Little Mahoning and the 
other on Pine run. Of these beds the geolog- 
ical survey of 1878 makes but a very slight, 
and rather disparaging, mention. 

The surface is rolling, the soil fertile, and 
has a mixture of limestone ; in some parts it is 
well watered by the Little Mahoning creek and 
numerous small streams and living springs. It 
is adapted to grain and stock-growing. Coal is 
the principal mineral. Among the early set- 
tlers were John Park, Casper Mogle, John 
Leasure, John Sutton, James Brady, William 
^A''ork, James Craig, William McCreery and 
William McCall. John Park settled on the 
ground where Marion now stands, about the 
year 1800. The principal town is Marion, 
situated in the south part of the township, and 
is a prosperous borough. This town has two 
new churches. 

Georgeville was laid out about 1830, and 
derived its name from George Hoover. 

The papulation of East Mahoning township 



at each census from 1850 to 1890 has been: 
869, 1209, 1139, 1160 and 1085. 

North Mahoning Township was formed in 
1846, and lies in the Marion sub-basin, between 
the Indiana and the Perrysville axis. The soil 
is adapted to grain and stock-raising. 

Davidsville (Trade City P. O.) was laid out 
by David Muterhaugh in the fall of 1852. 
Marehaud is on land purchased in 1822 of the 
Holland Laud company by Archibald Smitten. 
Covode was first known by the name of Kel- 
lysville, on account of John Kelly building the 
first house at that place, about 1840. 

The population at each census from 1850 to 
1890 has been: 840, 1175, 1263, 1317 and 
1251. 

South Mahoyiing Township was formed in 
1846, and lies in the Saltsburg sub-basin of the 
Fourth Great basin. Two small areas of the 
Lower Coal measure are in the township — one 
on Ross's run and the other on Plum creek, 
where a three-and-a-half foot vein of Upper 
Freeport coal has been developed. 

The first settler is said to have been John 
Ross, an Indian trader. Among the early set- 
tlers were A. Weamer, David Pearce, John 
Lewis, S. Fleming and J. Wadding. Plum- 
ville is the largest town in tlie township. 

The population of South Mahoning town- 
ship at each census from 1850 to 1890 has 
been: 1138, 1167, 1131, 1369 and 1313. 

West Mahoning Toionship is in the Fourth 
Great basin, and lies between the Perrysville 
axis and the Port Barnet axis. It has two 
areas of the Lower Coal measures — one on 
Ross's run and the other on Mahoning creek. 

Smicksburg is the largest town in the town- 
ship. It was laid out in May, 1827, by Rev. 
J. George Schmick, on land purchased by 
Charles Coleman, of the Holland Land com- 
pany. 

The population of West Mahoning township 
at each census from 1850 to 1890 has been : 
10.30, 1175, 1131, 1170 and 1055. 



•286 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



CHRISTOPHER McEWEN, M.D., resi- 
^ dent of Plumville for over thirty-five 
years, is one of the widely-known and most 
successful physicians of northern Indiana coun- 
ty. He is a son of John and Margaret (Coch- 
ran) McEwen, and was born in South Mahon- 
ing township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
Oct. 1 7, 1830. The McEwen fanaily is of Irish 
descent, and one of its members, Christopher 
McEwen (grandfather), emigrated to the United 
States from Ireland, and located first in New 
Jersey, where he remained but a short time 
before removing to Plumville, this county. He 
purchased the property on which Dr. McEwen 
now resides, and opened the first general mer- 
cantile store at Plumville, which he conducted 
in connection with the management of his farm. 
He was one of the founders and an elder of 
Washington Presbyterian church. After com- 
ing to this country he joined the whig party, 
which he supported unlil his death. He married 
a Miss Shaw, by whom he had three children, 
two of whom came to America, while the third, 
Dr. James McEwen, was a successful physician 
and surgeon in the British army. One of the 
two children coming to this country was Hon. 
John MjEweu (father) who was a farmer and 
merchant. He was a whig in politics during 
his early manhood, but afterwards became an 
active republican, was twice elected justice of 
peace of Manor township, and represented In- 
diana county one term in the legislature. He 
was a member of the United Presbyterian 
church until his death. He married Harriet 
Campfield, by whom he had two children, both ' 
of whom are dead. After the death of Mrs. 
McEwen he married for his second wife Mar- 
garet Cochran. To this .second union were 
born six sons and five daughters. Of these chil- 
dren : James served in the late war, and now 
is a farmer in Kansas; Dr. William died while 



in active practice in Armstrong county; Dr. 
Christopher is at Plumville ; Dr. Joseph, a 
graduate of Jefferson Medical college, is a suc- 
cessful physician of Philadelphia; John is 
deceased ; and Margaret, married Rev. Nelson 
Davis, a minister of the M. E. church. Mrs. 
Margaret (Cochran) McEwen is a daughter of 
William Cochran (maternal grandfather), who 
was a native and farmer of Armstrong county. 

Dr. Christopher McEwen was reared on his 
father's farm. After attending the public 
school of Plumville and Glade Run academy, 
he read medicine with his brother. Dr. 
McEwen, entered Jefferson Medical college, of 
Philadelphia, and was graduated from that in- 
stitution in the class of 185.5. Immediately 
after graduation he opened an office at Plum- 
ville, where he has remained ever since in the 
successful as well as active practice of his pro- 
fession. He married Elizabeth McCune, daugh- 
ter of John McCuae, of this county. They 
have been the parents of two children, both 
sons : Dr. Charles, a graduate of Jefferson 
Medical college, and a partner of his father in 
the practice of medicine, and John, deceased. 

In politics, Dr. McEwen is a conservative 
republican, but always supports the candidate 
who, in his judgment, is most suitable and best 
qualified for the office. In whatever is for the 
interest of his town, in whatever is for the be.st 
interests of his fellow-citizens, Dr. McEwen is 
always interested and ever willing to aid and 
support. In the enjoyment of an extensive 
and remunerative practice, he is a popular and 
successful phy.sician and an active and leading 
citizen. 



TOHN W. NEAL, one of the popular mer- 
^ chants and prominent citizens of South Ma- 
honing township, is the eldest son of Cortez 
and Rachel (Crissman) Neal, and was born in 
North Mahoniug township, Indiana county, 
Penn.?ylvauia, May 31, 1844. His paternal 



I ^ 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



287 



great-grandparents, William and Catherine 
Neal, were of Scotch-Irish origin. They emi- 
grated from the north of Ireland to Hagers- 
town, Maryland, about 1 760 and at the close of 
the Revolutionary war removed to what is now 
Young township, where William Neal died 
in 1812, aged eighty years, and where his 
widow passed away shortly afterwards, having 
reached her four-score years. They had five 
sons: John, Thomas, Samuel, James and Wil- 
liam, Jr. The youngest son, William Neal, Jr. 
(grandfather), was born in Hagei-stown, Mary- 
land, and removed, in 1806, to North Mahon- ; 
ing township, where he followed farming. He 
died in 1867, aged ninety-two yeai-s. He mar- 
ried Mary Cunningham and reared a respectable 1 
family of children. One of his sons, Cortez Neal 
(father), was born in 1821 and is now a pros- 
perous farmer of Jefferson county. He married 
Rachel Cri.ssmau and owns the farm of one 
hundred and twenty-three acres, in North Ma- 
honing township, which her father, Enoch 
Crissmau, purchased when he settled there in ' 
the early part of the present century. 

John W. Neal was reared on his father's Jef- 
ferson county form and attended the common 
schools. He was engaged in farm work after I 
leaving school, until June 17, 1863, when he ' 
enlisted in Co. C, 2d battalion, Pa. Vols., and 
served six months. On August 25, 1864, he re- 
enlisted in the United States service, and served 
as a member of Co. B, 206th Pennsylvania 
Volunteers until August 26, 1865, when he 
was honorably discharged at Richmond, Va. 
After the close of the war he returned home and 
was steadily and continuously employed in 
farming and lumbering for twenty years in 
North and West Mahoning townships. In 
1886 he embarketl in his present general mer- 
cantile business at Ambrose, which is situated 
in a good section of country in the southeastern 
part of South Mahoning township. 

February 22, 1866, he married Margaret , 
Redding, of Wood county, West Virginia. 



They have five children : Lula M., Maud I., 
Grace A., Books and Clyde. 

John W. Neal is a republican in politics, but 
no extremist, and served as justice of the peace 
in West Mahoning township, from 1879 
to 1886. He is a member of John Pollock 
Post, No. 219, Grand Array of the Republic, 
at Marion. He is in the general mercantile 
business at Ambrose. His room is well stocked 
with everything to be found in a first-cla.ss gen- 
eral mercantile e.stablishment. He has a large 
trade and conducts a very successful business. 
John W. Neal is an active and successful busi- 
ness man and one of the energetic and enter- 
prising citizens of his township. He served 
for six years as a member and secretary of the 
school board of South Mahoning township, and 
on May 3, 1886, was conmii.ssioned as post- 
master at Ambrose. In 1890 he accepted the 
appointment and commission of census enumer- 
ator for South Mahoning township whose enum- 
eration he completed in 14 days. In 1889 Mr. 
Neal was elected by the republicans of Indiana 
county and served as a delegate to the Repub- 
lican State convention of that year. 



HON. N. SEANOR, member of the Hou.se of 
Representatives of Pennsylvania, a popular 
republican leader of South Mahoning township 
and one of the most extensive stock dealers of 
Indiana county, is a son of George and Sarah 
(Aiusley) Seanor, and was born near Seanor's 
church, in Sewickley township, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, May 14, 1844. Tiie 
Seanors are of German descent, and the name 
was originally written Zaner. Michael Seanor 
(grandfather) was born in eastern Pennsylvania 
and came to western Pennsylvania, where he 
purchased a farm on the Pittsburgh, pike, in 
Westmoreland county, at the j^resent town of 
Grapeville. Besides cultivating his land, he kept 
a hotel, and was an active business man. He 
was a member of the Lutheran church, and an 



2SS 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



active whig in politics. He married Elizabetli 
Weible, of German descent, by whom he had 
six chiklren, two sous and four daughters. He 
died in 1871, when he was iu the seventy-eighth 
year of his age. His sou, George Seauor 
(father), was born in Westmoreland county and 
drove a team on the old pike for several years 
in connection with the management of his farm 
and dealing in live stock. He was a whig in 
politics and a class leader in the United Brethren 
church. He died iu 1851, aged thirty-four 
years. He married Sarah Ainsley, of West- 
moreland county, and to their union were born 
four children, two sons and two daughters : 
Mary ; Harrison, who enlisted as a non-com- 
missioned officer in Co. E, oue hundred and 
fifth regt.. Pa. Vols., and was killed May 
31st, at the Battle of Fair Oaks; Hon. N. 
and Sarah, deceased. Mrs. Seanor passed away 
in 1882, when she was in the sixty-third year 
of her age. Her grandfather, Ainsley, was a 
Revolutionary soldier of New Jersey, who ran 
off with and married the daughter of a tory 
who followed them for three days with his gun. 
Their son, Dauiel Ainsley (maternal grand- 
father), removed to Indiana county at an early 
day and cleared out a large farm. He married 
a Miss Fisher, by whom he had nine children, 
five sons and four daughters. Of these sons, 
Daniel was sheriff of Indiana county ; and 
another, Hon. Josiali Ainsley, M.D., is a phy- 
sician in Illinois, where he .served as a member 
of the legislature of that State. 

Hon. N. Seanor was reared ou his father's 
farm near Madison, and attended the schools of 
his native township and county. His father's 
death left him at an early age to do for himself, 
and he worked for some years as a day laborer. 
After marriage he engaged in farming and in 
1864 came to Indiana county. At the breaking 
out of the late civil war he enlisted for three 
months, but liis company was not accepted, and 
in 1862 he enlisted in Co. H,14th Pa. Cavalry, 
but his company soon withdrew from that regi- 



ment and united with the 1 8th regt.. Pa. Cavalry. 
He served until January, 1863, when he was 
captured by the Confederates under Colonel 
Moseby near the battle-field of Chantiily. 
He was sent to Middleburg, where he was pa- 
roled, and as soon as exchanged rejoined tlie 
army. Soon after this, upon the application of 
his mother that he was not of age and her only 
support, he was discharged, but iu 1865, hav- 
ing attained to his majority, he re-entered the 
Union service, and enlisted in Co. F, 28th regt.. 
Pa. Vols. He took part in Sherman's famous 
March to the Sea, witnessed Johnston's surren- 
der, and was discharged at the close of the war in 
1865. In 1867 he began dealing largely in 
live stock, has been very successful in that line 
of business and some years has shipped as high 

! as 100 to 130 car-loads of stock, aggregating 
over 1100,000 in value. In 1877 he purchased 
the farm upon which he now resides, and on 
which he has built a fine dwelling as well as a 
large barn. He also owns two other farms of 
70 acres or more each, in Armstrong and Indi- 
ana counties, and ranks high as a neat, success- 
ful and progressive farmer. 

On December 4, 1860, he married Barbara 
Ellen Kinnan, a daughter of Jonathan and 
Mary J. (Stahl) Kinnan, and whose father (Kin- 
nan) .served three years in a Pennsylvania regi- 
ment as a sharp-shooter. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Seanor have been born seven children, three 
sons and four daughters : Sarah J., married to 
John Ferguson, a farmer of New Bethlehem ; 
Harrison, who married Alice Kroh, is a farmer 
and stock dealer ; Sherraau, married Mary 
Johnson, and is a resident of East Liberty, 

; Pa.; Mary E., who was the wife of Chas. 
Kroh, and now dead ; Emma, wife of G. 
Dinger, of Jefferson county ; Annie, wife of G. 
A. Polliard, of Clarion county, and George W. 
Hon. N. Seanor is a member of the United 
Brethren church, while his wife holds member- 
ship in the Methodist Episcopal church. In 
politics he is an active and prominent repub- 



IXDIANA COUNTY. 



289 



licau, and in the spring of 1 890 he was urged 
to be a candidate for the legislature, and was 
nominated on the Republican ticket by a ma- 
jority of 515 votes. At the fall election he 
was elected by the largest majority of any can- 
didate on the republican ticket for that office. 
During the same year he was nnauinjously elect- 
ed to represent Armstrong county on the State 
Board of agriculture for the term of three 
years, although a resident of Indiana county. 
He was one of the first members of the Dayton 
Agricultural society, of whose board of man- 
agers he is now president as well as one of its 
most active members. He is strictly temperate, 
indulging in neither liquor nor tobacco in any 
form, and by his honesty, enterprise and relia- 
bility has secured the respect and esteem of all 
with whom he comes in contact. He is a man 
of fine personal appearance, being six feet one 
and one-half inches in height, and has a fine 
military record as a brave soldier who never 
flinched from any duty in the camp or on the 
battle-field. 



ARCHIBALD SMITTEN, an intelligent 
citizen and one of the leading farmers of 
North Mahoning township, is a son of Archi- 
bald, Sr., and Hannah (Thompson) Smitten 
and was born in North Mahoning township, 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, December 18, 
1831. Archibald Smitteu, Sr., was born De- 
cember 6, 1780, in Dundee, Scotland, from 
which, in 1820, he came to Indiana county, 
where he purchased land at "Clover Patch," 
near the Clearfield county line, of the Holland 
Land company. He soon abandoned this pur- 
chase and bought a large tract of land, upon the 
western part of which the town of IMarchand 
stands and upon the eastern part of which the 
subject of this sketch resides. He was a stone- 
mason and erected good buildings on the eastern 
part of the land, where he resided until his death, 
in 1856. He was a baptist and democrat and was 



' once the candidate of his party for associate 
judge. He was active and influential in politics 

I and religious affairs as well as being one of the 
prominent business men of his .section. He 
erected most of the old stone dwellings in his 
township, whose inhabitants also depended upon 
him for merchandise which he had hauled in 
wagons from Pittsburgh. He was noted for 
generosity aud haspitality and his house became 
the .stopping-place for many years of all the 
travelers who passed through that part of the 
county. His first wife was a native of Scotland, 
who died in that country and left two daughters 
who did not come with their father to this 
country, but remained there with their mother's 
relatives. He married for his second wife 
Hannah Thompson, who was born at Shirleys- 

j burg, on the Juniata river, and died in 1886, at 
the advanced age of eighty-seven years. They 
had five children, Sarah J., of Indiana county, 
and widow of Isaac Simpson ; John Y., of 
Marchand, married Nancy McComb and en- 
gaged in farming; Evaliue B., wife of George 
S. Hennigh, a blacksmith and farmer of Punxsu- 
tawney. Pa., who was a Union soldier in the 

I late war ; Archibald and Mary A., who married 
John Mitchell and after his death married W. 
R. Mahan, who died from the effects of di.sease 
contracted from exposure while serving as a 

I soldier in the late war. Mrs. Smitten was a 
granddaughter of the Rev. Robert Tliompson, 
one of the early ministers of the Presbyterian 
church we.st of the Alleghenies, and a daughter 
of John Thompson, who was drowned in the 
Juniata river when she was quite young. 

Archibald Smitten was reared in his native 
township, where he received his education in the 
common schools. Upon attaining his majority, 
he engaged in farming on the homestead farm, 
which he now owns. He raises good crops and 
makes a specialty of fine stock. He owns about 
three hundred acres of land which he keeps in 
a good state of cultivation. 

Archibald Smitten married Mary J. Sparr, a 



290 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



daughter of David Sparr, of Westmoreland : 
county, but formerly of Chambersburg, Pa. 
She was born December 7, 1833, and passed 
away June 10, 1883, leaving four children: 
Ida Jane, of Washington City, who married 
James C. Kinsel and has two children, J. Merrill 
and Veida Ruth ; William B., who married 
Laura Shomo, by whom he had one child, Ina 
Maiy, and after her death married for his second 
wife Nannie Smith, of Indiana, Pa.; Hugh W., 
a teacher and farmer, who is now business man- 
ager of the Mahoning Union Cemetery company, 
which was incorporated under a perpetual charter 
on August 21, 1890; and Martha Belle. 

Archibald Smitten is a member of the Inde- j 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Patrons of 
Husbandry and Marchand Methodist Episcopal 
church. He is a democrat, but takes no active 
part in politics and gives his time to his busi- 
ness affairs. 



JOHN F. STITLER, the proprietor of the 
Smicksburg Flouring mill and a reliable 
business man of West Mahoning township, is a 
son of Peter and Elizabeth (Fleck) Stitler, and 
was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember 19, 1815. The Stitler family is of Ger- 
man descent, and John F. Stitler's great-grand- 
father Stitler was a native of Germany, who 
emigrated from the fatherland to Pennsylvania, 
and settled in Chester county. His son, John 
Stitler (grandfather), was born in Blair county, 
where he followe<l weaving until his death. He 
was a stanch, uncompromising democrat of the 
old school. One of his sons, Peter Stitler 
(father), was born on the Chester county farm, 
from which he removed to Blair county. After- j 
ward, about 1830, he came to Indiana county 
where he settled at Smicksburg, and spent the ; 
latter years of his life. He was a weaver by i 



trade and a democrat in politics, and was en- 
gaged in weaving until his death. He married 
Elizabetii Fleck, daughter of John Fleck, and 
to their union wei'e born six children, three sons 
and three daughters, of whom four are still living. 
Mrs. Stitler was a daughter of John Fleck 
(maternal grandfather), who was a native of 
Chester county, where he was engaged in farm- 
ing until his death. 

John F. Stitler received his education in tiie 
common schools of his native county, learned 
the trade of weaver and came with his father to 
Indiana county about the year 1830. For several 
years he was intere.sted in a distillery in this 
county, but the principal part of his time has 
been devoted to farming. He owns a farm of 
200 acres of well-cultivated land adjoining the 
prosperous town of Smicksburg. In 1869 he 
built at Smicksburg a very large flouring mill, 
40 by 60 feet in dimensions, with four sets of 
burrs and all other needed machinery. This 
mill, which is first class in every respect, he has 
operated successfullj' ever .since. Determined to 
keep fully up to the spirit of the times, he intro- 
duced the roller process into his mill in 1885, 
and was the first miller in that section who 
made use of the roller process. 

John F. Stitler married Eliza Smiley, and to 
them have been born four children : Elizabeth, 
deceased ; Maria, wife of George Lewis, of Alle- 
gheny city ; Catharine, married to Albert Davis, 
a farmer in Nebraska ; and James, who married 
Jane Lewis and resides at Smicksburg. Mrs. 
Stitler died, and afterwards Mr. Stitler united 
in marriage with Susan (Lewis) Stear. 

In politics Mr. Stitler has held to tlie faith 
of his father and grandfather and supports the 
principles of the democratic party. Industrious, 
persevering and active in whatever he under- 
takes, he has been successful in business and 
enjoys the resjiect of his neighbors. 



WASHINGTON, ARMSTRONG AND YOUNG 

TOWNSHIPS 



Wasliington, Armstrong and Young are the 
western townships of Indiana county. 

Wdifhington Township \v Air. formed from Arm- 
strong in 1807, and was named in honor of 
Wasliington, under whom many of its pioneer 
settlers had served during the Revolutionary 
war. The township lies in the Saltshurg sub- 
basin, and has two areas of Lower Coal meas- 
ures, one on Plum creek and the other on Sugar 
Camp run. At Five Points, on Plum creek, is 
a workable bed of coal above water-level. This 
bed is three and one-half feet thick, and ranges 
along the valley of Plum creek. 

Five Points receives its name from five roads 
that centre there. Marliu's Mill (Willett P. O.) 
was named for Jesse Marlin, who built a mill 
there in 1834. The post-office was established 
in 1854. 

Newville (Creekside P. O.) was laid out in 
1854 for John Weamer, by David Peelor, who 
gave it the name which it bears. The popula- i 
tion of Washington township, at each census, 
from 1850 to 1890, has been: 1111, 1301,' 
1466, 1668 and 1589. 

The following list of taxables of Washington 
township was returned by the assessment of 
1807: 

John G. Allison, house carpenter; Robert 
Anderson, James Armstrong, Robert T. Alli- 
son, house carpenter ; Samuel Barr, brickmaker ; 
Robert Boyles, Charles Buchanan; John Bu- 
chanan, Samuel Bell, Cornelius Blue, William 
Boreland, John Buchanan, John iBell, con- 
18 



stable, William Coulter, Hugh Cannon 
Adam Carson, Elisha Chambers, Henry Cole- 
man, schoolmaster; John Dennison, store- 
keeper; John Dougherty, shoemaker; Simon 
Davies, Lewis Deckard, Samuel Dixon, Pat- 
rick Di)ugherty, George Dixon, John Evans, 
Esq., William Evans, Margaret Evans, 
weaver ; James Evans, William Evans, super- 
visor ; John Fleming, J:imcs Fairman, weaver ; 
David Fairman, William i'^iltou, Samuel 
Ferguson, Robert Frazer, William Frazer, 
David Fulton, James Galbreath, minister ; 
Peter Gordon, weaver; Peter Gordon, James 
Gamble, Moses Gamble, William Holiday, 
Bartholomew Haddam, Michael Hess, Jacob 
Hess, Sr., Ardiibald Haddam, John Huey, 
joiner ; Thomas Harbridge, Jacob Hess, Jr., 
Robert Hazlet, Edward Hallowell, Nathaniel 
Hitrhlands, William Hazlet, John Ish, Jacob 
Ijydick, Margaret Lydick, housekeeper ; John 
Lydick, Moses Lowers, James Lydiek, Pat- 
rick Lydick, Daniel Morrison, James Moor- 
head, tavern keeper; James McMahon, stone 
mason ; John McAuulty, brickmaker ; Samuel 
Moorhead, joiner ; Robert McClosky, David 
Moses, Robert McKissock, William McHen- 
ry, Samuel McCartney, blacksmith ; John 
Mark, schoolmaster ; James McKce, Robert 
Miller, William McCullo(;h, Alexander Mc- 
Knight, Robert Morrison, Timothy O'Naile, 
David Price, wagon-maker ; Peter Pruner, 
blacksmith ; Josepli Parker, speculator ; John 
Phees, Hugh Phees, Michael Restler, George 

2'Jl 



292 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Rowe, John Ruth, William Riddle, John 
Howe, James M. Riddle, attorney-at-Iaw ; 
Henry Sryock, taveru-keeper ; Robert Stuart, 
brickmakcr ; Abraham Stutchel, Christopher 
Stutchel, Dauiel Swartzwalter, Charles Stuart, 
Jacob Shallaberger, James Spence, John 
Shields, Jacob Stutchel, Robert Simpson, 
James Simpson, Nathaniel Simpson, John 
Simpson, Joel Storet, joiner ; George Trimble, 
weaver; George Trimble, Robert Thompson, 
James Thompson, John Thompson, Hugh 
Thompson, John Thompson, James Thomp- 
son, Hugh Thompson, John Thompson, John 
Talkiugtou, shoemaker; Samuel Young, tav- 
ern-keeper. 

Armstrong Township was formed as early as 
1785, and embraced nearly one-half of Indiana 
county south of the " Purchase Line." It was 
named for Gen. John Armstrong. It lies in the 
Saltsburg sub-basin. Crossing Gobbler's run, and 
proceeding on thence northeast through Arm- 
strong township into the deeper valley of 
Crooked creek, Lower Barren rocks alone are 
seen at the surface. The same measures pre- 
vail at Shelocta, which is almost exactly at the 
centre of the trough, and about 200 feet above 
the Upprr Freeport coal bed. A little more 
than one-half mile below the town there is a 
])artial display of Barren rocks, in wliich the 
Black Fossiliferous limestone, one foot thick, 
makes its appearance in the township road at an 
elevation of 55 feet above the creek. Nearly 
300 feet above this point a fine-grained, greenish 
sandstone, believed to belong to the ( 'o7inellsviIle, 
covers the surface of a high knob; this would 
show how small the margin is, by which the 
Pittsburgh Coal bed misses the hills at the cen- 
tre of the Basin in the Crooked creek region. 
At this exposure below Shelocta the rocks dip 
southeast in obedience to the anticlinal fold 
(Fourth Axis?) running through the eastern 
townships of Armstrong county, which elevates 
Lower Productive rocks above the level of 
Crooked creek, but not until this stream has 



crossed the Armstrong county line. Regarding 
the Upper Freeport coal and limestone at this 
exposure the Final Report of 1858 says: 

" The Upper Freeport coal is nearly three 
feet thick where it is opened from 12 to 15 feet 
above Crooked Creek. 

We give the following list of taxables of 
Armstrong township, 1807 : 

Jacob Anthony, constable; William An- 
thony, single man; James Armstrong, John 
Buckley, Sr., shoemaker; Joseph Buckley, John 
Buckley, Thomas Benson, cabinet-maker; 
Mary Bothwell, spinster; James Bothwell, 
John Black, shoemaker; John Black, Thomas 
Boyd, David Bothwell, John Bothwell, Alex- 
ander Black, John Betty, shoemaker; William 
Coughran, William Cahoun, Robert Cunning- 
ham, John Campbell, Nathan Douthet, William 
Devling, John Donely, tailor; Mary French, 
spinster; Archibald Findley, James Faran, 
Conrad Frederick, cooper; David Gilliland, 
weaver; Daniel Harkius, William Harkins, 
shoemaker; Hugh Harkins, shoemaker; 
Michael Harkins, Samuel Hall, wheel-wright; 
P. Hefflefinger, William Hefflefinger, John 
Harkins, John Johnson, Felty Karr, Joseph 
Lowry, Robert Lowry, wheel-wright; Patrick 
Lucas, Samuel Lucas, weaver; Captain John 
Lucas, blacksmith; John Lucas, tailor; Robert 
Little, Uriah Matson, Thomas McElhoes, shoe- 
maker; John McElhoes, Clements McGery, 
John Mogney, William McNutt, Samuel Me- 
Nutt, Joseph McNutt, Robert McNutt, Alex- 
ander McNutt, John Mitchell, Sr., Robert 
Mitchell, Matthew Mitchell, John Mitchell, 
Jr., David McCullough, Alexander Mclutire, 
Daniel McCoy, James Moat, weaver; Mary 
Neal, spinster; James Orr, Fanny Peter, spin- 
ster; Esther Fatten, spinster; John Patison, 
tanner; Jacob Pelor, John Robison, Sr., Wil- 
liam Robison, John Robison, carpenter; Wil- 
liam Ranking, Barnard Ready, blacksmith; 
Matthew Ranking, Robert Robison, Esq., 
James Smith, Esq., Ann Sharp, spinster; James 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



293 



Stewart, wheelwright; Archibald Stewart, 
peddler; George Scott, Joseph Scott, Michael 
Stewart, Alexander Scott, James Teraplcton, 
weaver; John Trimble, Israel Thomas, Wil- 
liam Tliomas, John Thompson, James Watt, 
Benjamin Walker, Isaac Wahop, Robert 
Walker. 

Among the early settlers were Israel Thomas, 
James McCroight, Jacob Antiioy and William 
Devlin. David Peelor settled in Armstrong 
about the year 1789, Benjamin Walker in 1788, 
on the farm now occupied by his heirs, about 
the first in the township. Shclocta has a pop- 
ulation of 113. 

Stewartsville (Parkwood P. O.) was laid out 
on January 1, 1848, by Thompson McCrea for 
Wm. Anderson, Sr., and named in honor of 
Archibald Stewart. 

Tannery was founded by Samuel McCull- 
ough, who built a tannery in 1839 on the site 
of the town. 

Shelocta was laid out in 1836 by Abner 
Kelly and called Shelocta for an Indian chief 
of that name who resided ou Crooked creek. 
Previous to this (he place was known as Sharps- 
burg or Sharp's Mills, from the grist-mill 
erected there in 1824 by Joseph and Thomas 
Sharp. Shelocta was organized as a borough 
in 1852 and is now one of the prosperous 
towns of the county. The population of Arm- 
strong township at each census from 1850 to 
1890 has been: 1185, 1389, 1435, 1340 and 
1195. 

Young Tmtmsldp was formed in 1830 from 
Conemaugh and Black I^ick and named in 
honor of Judge John Young. It is in the 
Saltsburg sub-basin and the Upper Coal meas- 
ures extend through the western part of the 
township. Tiic population of Young town.ship 
was in 1850, 1510; 1860, 1630; 1870, 1650; 
1880, 1376; 1890, 1238. 

The Great Limestone is known in this Basin 
only on Elder's ridge, where it exists as several 
layers separated by variable intervals of shale. 



the whole deposit being certainly not less than 
twenty-five feet thick. On several rounded 
knolls in this vicinity the limestone makes an 
abundant outcrop, showing as a grayish non- 
fossiliferous rock. It was observed in the fields 
of Mr. J. Smith, near Elder's ridge, the top of 
its outcrop being eighty feet by barometer above 
the Sewickley coal bed, the latter having been 
opened at the foot of the same hill in Mr. 
Smith's orchard. 

In the mine of the Holsten Bros., situated 
about a mile northeast of West Lebanon, in 
one of the small detachal outliers of coal, the 
whole of tlie Pittsburgh bed, including also its 
roof coal, has been exposed, showing a section 
in which all the partings characteristic of the 
seam in this region are present. In this mine 
also is revealed an interesting occurrence, repre- 
senting a line of ancient erosion in the old 
swamps and lagoons in which the vegetation 
for the formation of the coal was collected. 
Only the lower part of the .seam is affected, 
showing that tlie current existed during the 
earlier stages of the development of the bod. 
The depression caused by the running stream 
was subsequently filled up with nuid, which we 
now see as slate and bony coal; it has a 
lateral width of seventy-five feet, and winds 
irregularly along a northeast and southwest 
course, which moreover indicates by its many 
bends and turns that the little stream flowed 
sluggishly. That this " slate bar," as it is 
called by the miners, extends all the way 
through the Holsten and Craig hill there can 
be little doubt, for it has been found in all 
those entries of the Holsten mine that have at- 
tempted to cross the line of its path. 

The soil of Young tosvnship is sandy loam, 
and limestone land. Coal and lime are found 
in large quantities in most parts of the town- 
ship. It is well watered by the Black Legs 
creek and Altman's run, and their tributaries. 
It is well furnished with schools and churches. 
The Elder's Ridge academy is situated in tlic 



294 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



southwest part of the township. In the early 
settlement of the township there was a fort 
erected on the farm now occupied by S. J. 
Craighead, to guard against the Indians. It 
was constructed of logs and the crevices filled 
with mud. The U. S. militia was stationed 
there for several years. The settlers often had 
to flee to the fort for protection, and labored in 
the grain fields with rifles by their side to 
secure their safety. Among the early settlers 
were William McFarland, James Milieu, John 
Ewing, Tobias Long, James Smith, Allen Mc- 
Comb, James Elder, Robert Elder, Matthew 
Watson and David Hutchinson. The old elec- 
tion ground of Couemaugh is on the farm now 
owned by John Neil. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 

ROBERT Y. ELDER. One of the old, 
' highly respected and influential families 
of southern Indiana county is the Elder famil)'. 
Fifth in lineal descent from its founder, Robert 
Eldei", of Dauphin county, is Robert Y. Elder, 
of Elder's ridge. He is a son of Robert and 
Nancy (Douglass) Elder, and was born on the 
farm on which he now resides in Young town- 
ship, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, April 6, 
1840. Robert Elder (great-grandfather) was 
the first settler on Elder's ridge, which was 
named after him. He was of Scotch-Irish de- 
scent, and his grandparents, Robert and Elean- 
or Elder, came about 1780, from Drummore, 
county Down, Ireland, to a tract of land five 
miles north of Harrisburg. Robert Elder 
(great-grandfather) left the home of his grand- 
parents about 1786 and became the first settler 
on Elder's ridge, where he died about 1791. 
He married and his wife died and left him one 
sou, who remained in Dauphin county. After 
the death of his wife he married Mary Taylor 
who died April 15, 1813, and sleeps beside her 



husband in Ebenezer grave-yard. By his sec- 
ond marriage he had four children: James, 
who was an elder of Ebenezer Presbyterian 
Church, married Martha Robinson and resided 
on the first improved part of his father's farm 
until his death, in 1813; David, born in 1764, 
who married Ann Nesbit and removed in 1816 
to Ohio; Robert, Jr., born 1767, married Mary 
Smith and died in 1813, some thirty-four years 
before his wife's death; and Ann, wife of 
Archibald Marshall, an early settler of Cone- 
maugh township. The children of Roberl, Ji-.^ 
and Mary (Smith) Elder (paternal grandpar- 
ents) were : Margaret, Joshua, Mary Ann, 
Hannah and Robert. The last-named sou, 
Robert (father), was born in 1809, and died in 
March 26, 1890. He owned over five hundred 
acres of land, which he kept in a good state of 
cultivation. He was a member of the Presby- 
terian church and a republican in politics. He 
was a man of energy and will, who always took 
an active part in whatever would benefit his com- 
munity. He married Nancy W. Douglass, who 
was born in this county in 1814, and is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church. They were 
the parents of uine children : Maria, Lieut. 
John D., killed at Malvern Hills; Robert Y., 
Cordelia, widow of Dr. Robert Barr; Julia, 
Lyde A., Josephine, Agnes V., and Lizzie E. 

Robert Y. Elder was reared on his father's 
farm and received his education in the common 
schools and Elder's ridge academy. Leaving 
school, he was engaged in farming until he was 
twenty-eight years years of age, when he em- 
barked at Elder's ridge, in the general mer- 
cantile business, which he followed successfully 
for eleven years. He then (1879) disposed of 
his store and resumed farming on the home- 
stead farm, where he has resided ever since. 

April 29, 1869, he married Mary E. Spauld- 
ing, a daughter of Geo. Spauldiug. They are 
the parents of five children, two sons and three 
daughters: Maud W., Robert R., George P., 
Alice M., and Helen D. 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



295 



August 3, 1864, Mr. Elder enlisted in Co. 
C, Fourth Pa. Cavalry, for one year, served 
uutil the close of the war, and was mustered 
out of the service at Arliugton Mills, May 15; 
1865. He is a Republican in politics and a 
member of Elder's Ridge Presbyterian church, 
of whose Sunday-school he is superintendent. 
Robert Y. Elder is one of the most substantial 
business men and reliable citizens of his 
township. 



SYLVESTER C. KENNEDY. A member 
of the present strong and effective board of 
oomniissioners of Indiana county is Sylvester 
C. Kennedy, a representative farmer of Young 
township and an energetic business man of ex- 
tended and successful experience. He was born 
in Lower Burrell township, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1843, and is 
a son of Joseph and Margaret (Coe) Kennedy. 
The Kennedys are of Scotch-Irish descent- 
Thomas Kennedy (paternal grandfather) was a 
native of Allegheny county, this State, served as 
a soldier in tlic war of 1812 under Gen. Har- 
rison, and some time thereafter removed to 
Burrell township, Westmoreland county. Pa., 
where he followed farming until his death, in 
1842, at fifty-six years of age. He married 
Catherine Flick, who was born in 1793. Ben- 
jamin Coe (maternal grandfather) was of Scotch- 
Irish extraction and lived and died in Alle- 
gheny county, this State. Joseph Kennedy 
(father) was a native and life-long resident of 
Lower Burrell township, in Westmoreland 
county. He was a farmer by occupation, a 
democrat in political opinion and a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he 
had served as class leader and steward, as well 
as filling all of its other local offices. He was 
a man of very good judgment, took an active 
part in politics, served for many years as a 
school director and died in 1877, aged sixty-five 
years. He married Margaret Coe, who was 



reared as a Presbyterian, but is now a member 
of the M. E. church at Springdale, Allegheny 
county, Pa., where she resides. She is in 
the seventy-second year of her age and is very 
sprightly and active for one of her years. 

Sylvester C. Kennedy was reared on his 
father's Westmoreland county farm. He re- 
ceived iiis education in the common and in 
select schools. On August 9th, 1862, he left 
the farm and enlisted in Co. I, 123d regiment, 
Pa. Vols., and served until May 13, 18(53, 
when he was honorably discharged at Pittsburgh, 
Pa. He was in the iiotly contested battle of 
Antietam and the fearful charges at Freder- 
icksburg. During 1864 he worked on the farm 
and went to school. In 1865 he tauglit one 
term of school and during the next year he at- 
tended and graduated from Duff's Business 
college of Pittsburgh, Pa. He then returned to 
his farm equipped with a first-class business 
education, and was successfully entjaged in 
farming until 1879, when he removed to Young 
township, where he purchased his present fine 
and well cultivated farm of one hundred and 
thirty-five acres of land. He is an active and 
working democrat, who has been honored with 
various offices of trust and responsibility by his 
party both in his native and his adopted county. 
He served for three years in Westmoreland and 
for nine years in Indiana county as school di- 
rector. He also served two terms as justice of 
the peace in Young township. In 1887 he 
was nominated and elected by his party as 
county commissioner. On January 1, 1888, he 
went into office, and by attention to business 
and faithfulness to the true interests of the 
county is making a creditable and meritorious 
record. He is a member of Post No. 28, 
Grand Array of the Republic, Arcadia Grango, 
No. 176, Patrons of Husbandry, and Jackson- 
ville Methodist Episcopal church, of which he 
is a trustee. In agricultural affairs he takes a 
deep interest, labors steadily for the promotion 
of the farmers' liest interests, and believes in 



296 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



the Grange organization as the most potent 
factor of tlie day to secure the advancement of 
the laboring and farming classes. 

He was married, on May 6, 1868, to Melissa 
E. Simons, daughter of William Simons, of Al- 
legheny county. Pa. They have eight chil- 
dren, five sons and three daughters: Albert 
C, Nellie G., Nannie J., William J., Edwin K., 
Silas Clark, Mary Stella and John E. 

He has become well known by his advocacy 
of grange principles and his desire that no in- 
judicious movement should be allowed to alien- 
ate the farmer from his true interests. 



I)EV. JOHN CREE TELFORD, of West 
^ Lebanon, an efficient minister and pastor 
of West Union United Presbyterian church 
since 1867, was born in Washington county, 
New York, August 22, 1821, and is a son of 
Stephen and Mary (Cree) Telford. His pater- 
nal grandfather, John Telford, came from 
Ireland to Washington county, New York, 
where he afterwards died. His son, Stephen 
Telford (father), was a prosperous farmer and 
died April 5, 1851, aged fifty-six years. He 
was a whig in politics, a member of the Asso- 
ciate Presbyterian church and became a noted 
opponent of slavery and whiskey. He banished 
licpior from his harvest, and was strict in his 
family and all of his business dealings. He 
married Mary Cree, of Rockbridge, Virginia, 
who was of the same religious belief as himself 
and who died in 1872, when in the seventy-fifth 
year of her age. 

John C. Telford was reared on a farm and 
received his education in Cambridge academy and 
Jefferson college, from which he graduated in 
1844. He then entered the United Presbyterian 
seminary at Cannonsburg, Pa., and was gradu- 
ated from that institution in 1848. He was 
licensed to preach June 20, 1848, ordained Jan- 
uary 1, 1850, and had charge of the East 
Mahoning United Presbyterian church until 



May 15, 1867, when he liecarae pastor of West 
Union church and has held that charge until the 
present time. 

November 6, 1850, he married Martha, 
daughter of James Oram. He has five children, 
one son and four daughters : Stephen J., a 
prominent member of the Indiana county bar 
(see his sketch) ; Prudence J., wife of J. H. 
Henderson, a farmer of near Elder's ridge ; 
Mary A., Sarah E. and INIaggie B. 

Rev. Telford is independent in political opin- 
ion. He is logical and convincing as a minister, 
and under his charge West Union church has 
increased in membership until it now numbers 
one hundred and ninety members. Rev. J. C. 
Tel fori! resides at West Lebanon, where he is 
highly esteemed by the citizens of that place. 



DAVID EDWARD CARNAHAN, one 
of the progressive young business men 
of Shelocta and a member of the leading mer- 
cantile firm of that borough and section of 
the county, is the son of Thomas M. and Mary 
E. (Hamilton) Carnahan, and was born on a 
farm about one mile from Indiana, in White 
township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Sep- 
tember 2, 1860. Thomas Carnahan was reared 
on a farm and was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits near Indiana, until he came to his 
present farm in Armstrong county. Since 1890, 
Mr. Carnahan has been engaged in the general 
mercantile business at Shelocta, being the senior 
member of the firm of Thomas M. Carnahan & 
Son. He has prospered in his various enter- 
prises, and is known as a man of conservative 
and safe business methods. He married Mary 
E. Hamilton, and they have had eight children, 
of whom seven are living. 

D. E. Carnahan was reared on his father's 
White township farm, where he was carefully 
trained in the work and management of a farm. 
He attended the public schools, in which he 
obtained a good business education. Leaving 



INDIANA COUNTY. 



297 



school, he was engaged in farming and stock- 
raising until 1889, when he concluded to embark 
in the general inercautile business. He tbrmed 
a partnership with E. G. Orr, and they pur- 
chased the mercantile establishment of G. J. 
Jones, at Shelocta, which they successfully con- 
ducted until February, 1890, under the firm- 
name of E. G. Orr & Co. He then purcliasid 
Mr. Orr's share in the store and associated liis 
father with himself in the business, under the 
firm-name of Carnahan <K: Son. They have a 
large and conveniently arranged establishm^ent 
which is well filled with a stock of goods worth 
in the neighborhood of $7,000. Their trade is 
such that their yearly sales average $12,000 
and are constantly increasing. They study the 
wants of their customers aud aim to select goods 
to suit the tastes of the public, which they 
have been very successful in satisfying since 
entering into the mercantile business. 

D. E. Carnahan is a prominent and active 
member of the Junior Order of the United 
American Mechanics and was principally instru- 
mental in starting the council of that order, 
which was organized at Shelocta in the summer 
of 1800. He has won commercial success and 
the position he holds in the confidence of the 
public, through his own efforts and his correct 
business methods. 

In September, 1890, he united in marriage 
with Belle Ralston at Niagara Falls, Xew 
York. 




Jif/Z^/-? ^'iTT-^^ 



TJON. JOHN YOUNG, after whom Young 
-»-i- township was named, was the fii'st pres- 
ident judge of the courts of Indiana county. 
He was born in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, j 
July 12, 17(32, and was a member of an ancient 
Scottish family, distinguished for its wealth, 
learning and high rank, branches of it having 
been ennobled before the reign of the unhappy 
Mary, Queen of Scots. His father, John 
Young, was a wealthy merchant of Glasgow, 



and gained a re[)utation for great liberality and 
kindness of heart, which (|ualities his son, 
Judge Young, inherited in an eminent degree. 
John Young bailed his brother for a large 
amount, for which debt his property was all 
sold, and he died in ten days afterwards in 
consequence of the anxiety of mind which that 
event caused him. He had five children : 
Judge John, Thomas, Douglas, William and 
Mary. 

At the time of his father's death. Judge 
Young was a student at law and clerk in the 
office of Sir Walter Scott's father. After pro- 
curing places for his younger brothers, he came 
to Philadelphia, where he I'cad law with Judge 
Wilson, and was admitted to the bar January 
8, 178(5. The high character of the Scotch and 
Scotch-Irish settlements in this part of the 
State and their great prosperity induced Judge 
Young, iu 1789, to leave his practice in I'hila- 
delpliia and open an office at Grcensburg, 
Westmoreland county. He soon gained a large 



298 



BIOGRAPHIES OF INDIANA COUNTY. 



practice in that and adjoining counties by rea- 
son of his ability as a lawyer and his absolute 
integrity of character. His participation in the 
negotiations between the contesting parties in 
the " ^Vhiskey Insurrection " added largely to 
his popularity and materially increased his cli- 
entage. In 1791 he served as captain of a 
company that was raised to protect the western 
frontier from Indian raids; but when the dan- 
ger was past he declined all further offer of 
militaiy command, and returned to the prac- 
tice of his profession, which he pursued with 
eminent success until 1805. In that year a 
vacancy occurred in the presideut-judgeship of 
the Tenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, 
then composed of the counties of Somerset, 
Cambria, Indiana, Armstrong and Westmore- 
land, and Gov. McKean appointed Mr. Young 
to fill that vacancy on March 1, 1806. Judge 
Young held the office until the latter part of 
1837, when, admonished by bodily infirmities, 
he resigned and retired to private life, to enjoy 
the repose appropriate to advanced age, and 
sweetened by the retrospections of a long and 
sijccessful career of distinguished activity and 
usefulness. He survived his resignation but a 
little over three years. He died October 6, 
1840, and his remains lie entombed in the old 
St. Clair cemetery at Grcensburg, Pa. 

In 1794 he married Maria Barclay, by whom 
he had eight children : Hetty, who married E. 



N. Clopper, and whose daughter is the wife 
of William M. Stewart, of Philadelphia 
(see his sketch); Frank B., Ellen M., wife of 
Ephraim Douglass, of Uniontown, Pa. ; Sta- 
tira, Joseph J,; Elizabeth Forrester, wife of 
J. F. Woods; Mary Y., wife of E. C. Bur- 
gess; Edward D., and a daughter who died in 
infancy. Mrs. Young died in 1811, and Judge 
Young married, some two years later, Statira 
Barclay, who bore him two children: Mary J., 
wife of Hon. Henry D. Foster, and Ste- 
phen B. 

Judge Young was well versed in many lan- 
guages, speaking some seven tongues, one of 
! which he acquired after retiring from the 
f bench. Of him are existing many pleasing 
legends, going to demonstrate his possession of 
the attributes of an unusually lofty and tender 
character. After coming to this country. Judge 
Young became the hereditary laird of For- 
rester, succeeding to the entailed estate of 
Ester Culmore, in the county of Stirling, Scot- 
land, and thereafter in that country was known 
as Hon. John Young Forrester, while in the 
United States he was Hon. John Young. A 
romantic interest is attached to the story of 
this inheritance, uniting as it does in the same 
individual the republican simplicity of a new 
world and the ancestral pride of the old, and 
thus John Young was an American judge and 
Scottish laird at the same time. 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH 



AEMSTRONG COUNTY. 



Boundaries and area — Geology — Surface features — 
Indians — Armstronff's expedition — Battles of Kit- 
tanninf; and Blanket Hill — Brady's fight at the mouth 
of Big Mahoning ereek — Early settlers — County 
formatio/i and official lists — Assessment lists 0/ 1807 
— Vislilleries, salt wells and furnaces — Railroads — 
Great civil war — Religious — Educational — Jour- 
nalism — The bar — Political history — Census statis- 
tics — Oil excitement — Progress and development — 
Miscellaneoxcs. 

ARMSTRONG COUNTY, Pennsylvania 
lies between the seventy-nintli and eighti- 
eth meridians of west longitude and the fortieth 
and forty-second parallels of north latitude- 
It is an irregular pentagon in shape and con- 
tains six hundred and twenty-five square miles 
of territory, which is divided into twenty-four 
townships. Armstrong county is bounded on 
tiie north by Clarion county ; on the east by 
Jefferson and Indiana counties ; on the south by 
Westmoreland county and on the west by Butler 
county. 

The Kiskiminctas river is its southern bound- 
ary from Indiana county to the Allegheny 
river— 1.5 miles in a straight line; whence to 
Butler county, two miles more, the Allegheny 



river is the boundary. The western boundary 
line is a straight line running due north from 
where it crosses Buffalo creek at Freeport, to 
where it intersects the Allegheny river near 
Foxburg, a distance of 33| miles. The north- 
ern boundary line follows the Allegheny river 
from Butler county to the month of Red Bank 
creek, 14i miles in a dire(^t line, but nearly 
double that distance as the stream runs; thence 
up Red Bank creek to Jefferson county — 18 
miles. The east boundary line runs due south 
from Jefferson county 18 miles to the top of the 
divide overlooking the north fork of Plum 
creek; whence to the Kiskiminetas river, 20J 
miles. 

Armstrong county was a part of the foIlo\^i- 
ing counties for the respective times specified : 

Chester, from 1682 to INIay 10, 1729. 

Lancaster, May 10, 1720, to Jan. 27, 1750. 

Cumberland, Jan. 27, 1750, to March 9, 
1771. 

Bedford, March 9, 1771, to Sept. 26, 1773. 

From 1773 to 1800 its territory was parts of 
the counties which are named ou page 307 of 
this work. 

299 



300 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



Geology. — Prof. Leslie describes the geologi- 
cal structure of Armstrong county as follows : 

" The whole surface is sculptured in all di- 
rections by the erosion of the Barren measures, 
lying almost horizoutally, although several wide 
and gentle rolls traverse it from northeast to 
southwest, bringing the Lower Productive coal 
measures above water level along the Allegheny 
river and its great branches from the east, the 
Kiskiminetas, Crooked, Cowanshannock, Pine, 
INIahoning, and Redbank creeks; and on the 
western side, along Buffalo creek, Glade run 
and other small streams descending from Butler 
county. The Pittsburgh coal bed occupies 
only a short and narrow basin in the southeast 
corner of the county. The Barren measures are 
600 feet thick, including the Mahoning sand- 
stone at the bottom, the long horizontal out- 
crops of which edge all the "valleys of the 
county with cliffs, and rough their steep slopes 
with fallen rocks. Two coal beds, each with 
a limestone bed beneath it, are rained near 
water level at Freeport, and rise slowly north- 
ward until they merely cap the highest hills. 
The three next coals are mined at Kittanning, 
the highest one having a limestone bed under it, 
and the lowest one overlying the Ferriferous 
Limestone, which appears at the surface in 
southern Armstrong only where Crooked creek 
is crossed by the Paddy's Run axis. It has 
isolated outcrops from three to five miles long 
at Greendale on Cowanshannock; on both forks 
of Pine creek from Echo to Pine P.O., and near 
Goheeuville ; and an unbroken outcrop along 
both .sides of the Allegheny river and Mahoning 
and Redbank creeks from Kittanning north- 
ward. It varies from 4 to 18 feet in thickness, 
and carries the famous " buhr.stone " brown 
hematite iron-ore on which ran in early years 
the old Rock, Bear Creek, Allegheny, Buffalo, 
Ore Hill, Cowanshannock, Mahoning, America, 
Phcenix, Pine Creek, Oluey, Stewardsou, Mon- 
ticello, and Great Western cold-blast charcoal 
furnaces (with their forges and rolling-mills), 



some of which were changed to hot-blast coke 
furnaces. The two Clarion coal beds (beneath the 
limestone) only appear above water level in the 
northern townships; and the Pottsville con- 
glomerate No. XII shows its upper massive 
layers where the anticlinal lines cross the prin- 
cipal river valleys, but nearly the whole forma- 
tion (300 feet thick) has been cut through by the 
river at Parker City, where the Clarion oil belt 
crosses the valley. Here on the flat beneath its 
vertical cliffs and on the terraces above, hun- 
dreds of derricks once stood, thick as trees in a 
forest, draining the Third Oil sand from a 
depth of 800 feet beneath the river. At Brady's 
Bend this third oil sand lies 1,000 feet beneath 
the river. In all other parts of this county the 
wells, some of them 2,000 feet deep, have 
yielded no petroleum." 

The carboniferous system occupies the whole 
surface of the county. The Upper Productive 
Coal measures are in the southeastern corner of 
the county, the Lower Barren measures spread 
over the uplands and the Lower Productive 
Coal measures are in the sides of the valleys, 
while the Pottsville conglomerate comes to 
daylight in the deep and rocky ravines. 

The geological structure of Armstrong coun- 
ty consists of a series of anticlinal and synclinal 
flexures arranged in nearly parallel order from 
southwest to northeast. By the geologists of 
the First Survey, nearly the whole of Arm- 
strong county was includeii within what was 
(tailed the Fifth Great basin, which had for its 
southeast boundary the Fourth Great axis, cross- 
ing the Kiskiminetas at the mouth of Roaring 
run; and for its northwest boundaiy, the Fifth 
Great Axis, which, coming southward from 
Clarion county, was thought to cross the Alle- 
gheny river between the mouths of Red Bank 
and Mahoning creeks. This great basin is 
twenty miles wide. 

The anticlinal axes and synclinal basins from 
the southeast to the northwest corner of the 
county are as follows : 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



301 



I Li 



sbon Basin. 



1. Lisbon West Lebanon Synclinal 

2. Maysville Anticlinal 

3. Perrysville Anticlinal 

4. Smicksburg Synclinal. 

5. Wayneisburg Anticlinal (Fourth Axis of 
the First Survey). 

6. Port Baniet Anticlinal. 

7. Waynesburg or Apollo Synclinal. 

8. Apollo Anticlinal. 

9. Glade Run Anticlinal. 

10. Leechburg Synclinal. 

11. Pinhook or Brookville Auticliual. 

12. Fairmont Synclinal. 

13. Anthony's Bend Anticlinal. 

14. Centreville Synclinal. 

15. Kellysburg Anticlinal. 

16. Lavvsonham Synclinal. 

17. Brady's Bend Anticlinal (Fifth A.xis of 
the First Survey. 

18. JNIillerstown Anticlinal. 

Surface Features. — Of the topography of 
Armstrong county, Prof Piatt says : 

" The topography of Armstrong county con- 
sists of easy-rolling hill and valley surface, in 
great variety of aspect, but without especially 
commanding features. There are here no 
ridges of mountain land, and uo extensive 
gorges similar to (hose which control the to- 
pography in the counties to the east and south- 
east. It belongs, in fact, to the open country 
of Western Pennsylvania — a region of deep 
valleys with broad, undulating uplands be- 
tween ; a broken table-land, u^ion which the 
erosive agencies have acted unceasingly since 
Palffiozoic times. 

" The main valleys are, for the most part, 
narrov/ and tortuous. Their sides range from 
300 to 600 feet in height, sometimes steep and 
precipitous, and having long lines of cliffs; at 
other times the slopes are gentle, and rise slow- 
ly towards the dividing water-sheds. In this 
respect, moreover, the topography often unmis- 
takably reveals the geological structure ; but 
only in the valleys. There the steep and nar- 



row stretches of surface indicate the anticlinals, 
and the more open country with gentle declivi- 
ties, the synclinals. On the uplands this dis- 
tinction is obliterated, and the arrangement of 
the hills fails, in every case, to give expression 
to the geology. 

" The glacial age, whose effect upon the topo- 
graphical features of the northwest counties 
was to exert a radical change there, straighten- 
ing the valleys and planing down the hills, 
modifietl but little if any of the then existing 
outlines of Armstrong. The great sheet of 
southward-moving ice, which, coming from far- 
distant northerly regions, crossed northwest 
Pennsylvania during that time, passed close to 
Armstrong county, but wholly west of it. No 
marks of glacial action therefore appear in any 
of its valleys ; and no rolled pebbles on its up- 
lands; the crystalline pebbles of the northern 
drift in the bottom lands of the Allegheny 
river have come from the abundant masses of 
morainic matter which the receding ice left 
about the heads of that stream at the close of 
the glacial age. 

" Referred to ocean level, the elevation of the 
upland region ranges from 1500 to 1600 feet. 
Occasionally an isolated knob or 'round top,' 
as, for example. Concord Hill, rises from 75 to 
100 feet still higher, and stands forth then as a 
prominent feature in the landscape. The ele- 
vations along some of the principal lines of 
drainage are shown in the following tables : 

1. West Pennsylvania R. R. ; KiaUminetat Valley. 

Feet above 
Tide. 

Helena 1017 

Salina 955 

Norlh-West 894 

Roaring Run 827 

Apollo 823 

Townsend's 887 

Grinder's 827 

Bagdad 780 

A. V. R. R. crossing 791 

Freeport 770 

(Note. — The elevations are of the top of the rail, 



302 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



which is located on the left bank of the river, from 
20 to 30 feet above the channel of the stream.) 

2. Allegheny Valley R. R.; Allegheny Valley. 

Feet above 
Tide. 

West Penn Junction 791 

Aladdin Station 793 

White Rock 782 

Kelly 781 

Logansport 785 

RoBSton 788 

Manorville -798 

Kittanning 810 

Cowanshannock 809 

Pine creek 812 

Templeton 824 

Mahoning 824 

Reimerton 837 

Red Bank Junction (B. B. R. R.) 851 

Phillipsburg 855 

Brady's Bend 857 

Catfish • 859 

Sarah Furnace 861 

Hillville 865 

Montery 875 

Parker City 889 

3. Bennett's Branch E.vtension R.R.; Red 
Bank Valley. 

Feet above 
Tide. 

Red Bank Junction (as above) 851 

Mortimer run 848 

Lawsonham 919 

Buck-Lick run 939 

Rock run 964 

Leatherwood 1027 

Anthony's Bend (west end of tunnel) 1051 

Bostouia Junction (Bostonia Branch R.R) . . .1074 

New Bethlehem 1080 

Fairmount 1086 

Indiantown run 1090 

Millville 1093 

Pine run 1101 

Maysville 1108 

Patton's 1131 

4. Bostonia Branch R. R.; Bostonia Valley. 

Feet above 
Tide. 

Bostonia Junction (as above) 1074 

Bridge 1075 

2000 feet 1100 

3000 feet 1122 



4000 feet 1143 

5000 feet 1153 

6000 feet 1186 

The Allegheny river, flowing from north to 
south through Armstrong county, and dividing 
it into two unequal parts, receives all of the sur- 
face water. The drainage system of the county 
is thus greatly simplified, consisting in brief, of 
two sets of tributary streams, of which one 
flows west, and the other east to join the main 
river flowing south. 

The eastern tributary streams are Kiskimin- 
etas river and Crooked, Cowanshannock, Pine, 
Mahoning and Red Bank creeks; while its 
western affluents are Buffalo creek. Glade run. 
Limestone run, Sugar creek and Bear creek. 

The soils of the county are good, and are the 
product of the disintegration of local rocks, ex- 
cepting the Allegheny river bottom lands, which 
were formed from drift material. 

Indians. — The Delaware and Shawanee tribes 
settled on the Allegheny river as early as 1719. 
Their principal town or village was Kittanning, 
from which war parties went foi'th to harass 
the white settlers east of the Alleghenies, but it 
is unnece.ssary to speak further of this town, as 
a full description of it will be found in the ac- 
count of Gen. Armstrong's expedition. 

The Delawares and Shawanees were tenants 

at will of the Six Nations (see page 23) and had 

I few villages in the county which will be noticed 

in the history of the township.s. They had one 

great trail or war path which ran from the forks 

of the Ohio up the Allegheny river and pa.ssed 

into New York. This path was sometimes called 

the " AVarriors' Road." An eastern trail was the 

i noted "Kittanning Path," which run from Kit- 

1 tanning to Huntingdon. There were many 

I branch paths of which to-day all trace seems to 

be lost. 

Arinstrong's Expedition. — After examining 
several accounts of this campaign we have 
fouud R. M. Smith's description to be the most 
accurate and give it below in full : 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



303 



"Eight companies of soldiers, constituting 
the second battalion of the Pennsylvania regi- 
ment, under the command of Lieut.-Col. John 
Armstrong, were stationed at the forts on the 
west side of the Susquehanna. For the purpose 
of carrying out the expedition against Kittau- 
ning, planned as above stated, Col. Armstrong, 
with a part of the force assigned to him, consisting 
of three hundred and seven men, inarched upon 
Fort Shirley, Monday, September 3, 1756, and 
joined his advanced party at Beaver Dam, near 
Frankstown, which they left on the 4th and 
advanced to within fifty miles of Kittanning on 
the 6th, whence an officer, one of the pilots, 
and two soldiers were sent forward to recon- 
noiter the town. These men returned on the 
7th and informed Col. Armstrong that the roads 
were entirely clear of the enemy, but it appeared 
from what else they said that they had not ap- 
proached near enough to the town to learn its 
situation, the number of persons in it or how 
it might be most advantageously attacked. The 
march was continued on the 8th with the inten- 
tion of advancing as near as possible to the 
town that night. A halt was, however, made 
about nine or ten o'clock on account of infor- 
mation received from one of the guides that he 
had seen a fire by the roadside a few perches 
from the front, at which were two or three In- 
dians. The pilot returned again in a short time 
and reported that from the best observations he 
could make there were not more tiian three or 
four Indians at the fire. It was determined not 
to surround and cut them oif immediately, lest, 
if only one should escape, he might communi- 
cate their preseuce to his people in the town, 
and thus their well -laid plan of attack would 
be, in a measure at least, frustratetl. Lieut. 
James Hogg, of Capt. Armstrong's company, 
with twelve men and the pilot who first discov- 
ered the fire, was ordered to remain, watch the 
enemy until the break of day, on the 9th, and 
then cut them off, if possible, at that point, 
which was about six miles from Kittanning. 



" The tired horses, the blankets and other bag- 
gage were left there, and the rest of the force 
took a circuit off the road, so as not to be heard 
by the Indians at the fire, which route they 
found to be stouy. That condition of the route 
and the fallen trees along the way greatly re- 
tarded their march. Still greater delay was 
cau.sed by the ignorance of the pilots, who, it 
seems, knew neither the real situation of the 
town nor the paths leading to it. 

"After crossing hills and valleys, the front 
reached the Allegheny river shortly before the 

! setting of the moon on the morning of the 9th, 
about a hundred rods below the main bo<ly of 
the town, or about that distance below Market 

, street, at or near the present site of the poor- 
house, on lot number 241, in modern Kittan- 
ning. They were guided thither by the beat- 
ing of the drum and the whooping of the In- 

I diaus at their dances, rather than by the pilots. 
It was neceasary for them to make the best pos- 
sible use of the remaining moonlight, but in this 

I they were interrupted for a few moments by 
(he sudden and singular whistling of an Indian, 
about thirty feet to the front, at the foot of a 
cornfield, which was at first thought by Col. 
Armstrong to be a signal of their approach to 
the rest of the Indians. He was informed by a 
.soldier by the name of Baker that it was the 

I way a young Indian called his squaw after the 
dance. Silence was |)as.sed to the rear and they 
lay quietly until after the going down of the 
moon. A number of fires soon flashed up in 
various parts of the cornfield, which, Baker said, 
were kindled to keep off the gnats, and would 

i soon go out. As the weather was warm that 
night, the Indians slept by the fires in the corn- 
field. 

"Three companies of Col. Armstrong's force 
had not, at daybreak on the 9th, passed over 
the last precipice. Their march of thirty miles 
had wearied them and mo.st of them were asleep. 

I Proper persons were dispatched to rouse them ; 

' a suitable number, under several officers, were 



304 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



ordered to take the end of the hill at which they 
then lay, and to march along to the top of it at 
least one hundred perches, and so much farther 
as would carry them opposite the upper part, or 
at least the body of the town. Col. Armstrong, 
presuming that the Indian warriors were at the 
lower end of that hill, kept the larger portion 
of his men there, promising to postpone the at- 
tack eighteen or twenty minutes, until the de- 
tachment along the hill should have time to 
advance to the point to which they had been 
ordered. They were somewhat unfortunate in 
making that advance. The time having elapsed, 
a simultaneous attack was made as expeditiously 
as possilile, through and upon every part of the 
cornfield. A party was dispatched to the houses, 
when Capt. Jacobs and several other Indians, 
as the English prisoners afterward stated, 
shouted the war-whoop and yelled : ' The white 
men are come at last and we will have scalps 
enough,' at the same time ordering their squaws 
and children to flee to the woods." 

Battle of Kittanning. — "Col. Armstrong's 
men rushed through and fired into the cornfield, 
where they received several returns from the 
Indians in the field and from the opposite side 
of the river. A brisk fire commenced soon 
after among the houses, which was very reso- 
lutely returned from the house of Capt. Jacobs, 
which was situated on the north side of Market 
a short distance above McKean street, on 
Jacobs' Hill, in the rear of the site at the north- 
ern end of the stone wall in the garden, on 
which Dr. John Gilpin built, in 1834-35, that 
large two-story brick mansion now owned and 
occupied by Alexander Reynolds. Thither 
Col. Armstrong repaired and found that several 
of his men had been wounded, and some had 
been killed from the port-holes of that house 
and other advantages which it afforded to the 
Indians within it. As the returning fire upon 
that houses proved ineffectual, he ordered the 
adjoining house to be fired, which was quickly 
done, the Indians seldom failing to wound or 



kill some of their assailants when they presented 
themselves. Col. Armstrong, while moving 
about and giving the necessary orders, received 
a bullet-wound in his shoulder from Capt_ 
Jacobs' house. It is stated in ' Robinson's 
Narrative ' that Col. Armstrong said : ' Ai-e 
there none of you that will set fire to these ras- 
cals that have wounded me and killed so many of 
us ? ' John Ferguson, a soldier, swore he 
would. He went to a house covered with bark 
and took a strip of it which had fire on it, and 
rushed up to the cover of Jacobs' house and held 
it there till it had burned about a yard square. 
Then he ran and the Indians fired at him. The 
smoke blew about his legs and the shots missed 
him. That house contained the magazine, 
which for a time caused it to be observed, to 
see whether the Indians, knowing their peril, 
would escape from it. They, as we say now-a- 
days, ' held the fort ' until the guns were dis- 
charged by the approaching fire. 

" Several persons were ordered during the action 
to tell the Indians to surrender themselves prison- 
ers. On being thus told, one of them replied : ' I 
am a man and I will not be a prisoner.' Being told 
in his own language, that he would be burned, 
he said : ' I don't care, for I will kill four or 
five before I die.' Had not Col. Armstrong and 
his men desisted from exposing themselves, the 
Indians, who had a number of loaded guns, 
would have killed many more of them. As the 
fire approached and the smoke thickened, one of 
the Indians evinced his manhood by singing. 
A squaw being heard to cry was severely re- 
buked by the Indians. But after awhile, the 
fire having become too hot for them, two Indians 
and a squaw sprang out of the house and started 
for the cornfield, but were immediately shot by 
some of their foemen. It was thought that 
Capt. Jacobs tumbled out of the garret or cock- 
loft window when the houses were surrounded. 
The English prisoners who were recaptured 
offered to be qualified that the powder-horn and 
pouch taken from him were the very ones which 



ARMSTROXG COUNTY. 



305 



Capt. Jacobs had obtained from a Frencli officer 
iu exchange for Lieut. Armstrong's boots, which 
he had brought from Fort Greenville, where the 
lieutenant was killed. Those prisoners said they 
were perfectly assuretl of Capt. Jacobs' scalp, 
because no other Indians there wore their hair 
in the same manner, and that they knew his 
squaw's scalp by a particular bob, and the scalp 
of a young Indian, called the king's son. 

" The report of the explosion of the magazine 
under Capt. Jacobs' house, says Patterson's ' His- 
tory of the Backwoods,' was heard at Fort Du 
Quesne, whereupon some French and Indians, 
fearing an attack had been made on the town 
(Kittauuing), instantly started up the river, but 
did not reach the place until the day after the 
explosion and battle, when the troops had been 
withdrawn. They found among the ruins the 
bodies of Capt. Jacobs, his squaw and his son. 

" Capt. Hugh Mercer, who was wounded in 
the arm early in the action, had been, before the 
attack on Capt. Jacobs' house, taken to the top 
of the hill above the town, where several of the 
officers and a number of the men had gathered. 
From that position they discovered some Indians 
crossing the river and taking to the hill, with 
the intention, as they thought, to surround Col. 
Armstrong and his force, and cut them off from 
their retreat. The colonel received several very 
pressing requests to leave the house and retreat 
to the hill, lest all should be cut off, which he 
would not con.sent to do until all the houses 
were fired. Although the spreading out of that 
part of the force on the hill appeared to be 
necessary, it nevertheless prevented an examina- 
tion of the cornfield and river side. Thus some 
scalps, and probably some squaws, children and 
Euglish prisoners were left behind, that might 
have otherwise been secured. 

" Nearly thirty houses were fired, and while 
they were burning, the ears of Col. Armstrong 
and his men were regaled by the successive dis- 
charges of loaded guns, and still more so by the 
explosion of sundry bags and large kegs of 



powder stored away in every house. The Eng- 
lish prisoners, after their recapture, said that 
the Indians often told them that they had ammu- 
nition enough to war ten years with the English. 
The leg and tliigh of an Indian and a child 
three years old were thrown, when the powder 
exploded, with the roof of Capt. Jacobs' house, 
.so high that they ap[)eared as nothing and fell 
into an adjacent cornfield. A large quantity of 
goods which the Indians had received from the 
French ten days before was burned. 

" Col. Armstrong then went to the hill to 
have his wound tied up and the blood stopped. 
Then the English jirisoners, who had come to 
his men in the morning, informed him that on 
that very day two batteanx of Frenchmen, witli 
Delaware and French Indians, were to join 
Capt. Jacobs at Kittanning, and to set out early 
the next morning to take Fort Shirley, and that 
twenty-four warriors who had lately arrived 
were sent Ijefore them the })revious evening, 
whether to prepare meat, spy the fort, or make 
an attack on the frontier settlements, these pris- 
oners did not know. 

" Col. Armstrong and others were convinced, 
on reflection, that those twenty-four warriors 
were all at the fire the night before, and began 
to fear the fate of Lieut. Hogg and his party. 
They, therefore, deemed it imprudent to wait to 
cut down the corn, as they had designed. So 
they immediately collected their wounded and 
forced their way back as well as they could, I)y 
using a few Indian horses. It was difficult to 
keep the men together on the march, because of 
their fears of being waylaid and surrounded, 
which were increased by a few Indians firing, 
for awhile after the march began, on each wing, 
and then running off, whereby one man was 
shot through the legs. For several miles the 
march did not excee<l two miles an hour." 

Blanket Hill.— "On the return of Col. Arm- 
strong and his force to the place where the 
Indian fire had been discovered the night be- 
fore, they met a sergeant of Capt. Mercer's 



306 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



company and two or three others of his men [ 
who had deserted that morning immediately 
after the action at Kittanniug, who, in running 
away, had met Lieut. Hogg, lying by the road- 
side, wounded in two parts of his body, who \ 
then told them of the fatal mistake which had 
been made by the pilot in assuring them that 
there were only three Indians at the fireplace i 
the previous night, and that when he and his ' 
men attacked the Indians that morning, accord- \ 
ing to orders, he found their number consider- 
ably superior to his own. He also said that he 
believed he had killed or mortally wounded 
three of the Indians at the first fire; that the 
rest fled, and he was obliged to conceal himself 
in a thicket, where he might have lain safely if 
' that cowardly sergeant and his co-deserters,' 
as Col. Armstrong stigmatizes them in his re- 
port, had not removed him. When the)' had 
marched a short distance, four Indians appeared 
and those deserters fled. Lieut. Hogg, not- 
withstanding his wounds, with the true heroism 
of a brave soldier, was still urging and com- 
manding those about him to stand and fight, 
but they all refused. The Indians then pur- 
sued, killed one man and inflicted a third 
wound ujjou the gallant lieutenant — in his 
belly, from which he died in a few hours, hav- 
ing ridden on horseback seven miles from the 
place of action. That sergeant also represented 
to Col. Armstrong that there was a much larger 
number of Indians there than had appeared to 
them to be; that they fought five rounds; that 
he had seen Lieut. Hogg and several othei's 
killed and scalped; that lie had discovered a 
number of Indians throwing themselves before 
Col. Armstrong and his force, which, with 
other such stuff, caused confusion in the colonel's 
ranks, so that the officers had difficulty in keep- 
ing the men together, and could not prevail on 
them to collect the horses and baggage which 
the Indians had left, excejrt a few of the 
horses, which some of the bravest of the men 
were persuaded to secure. 



" From the mistake of the pilot in underrat- 
ing the number of Indians at the fire the night 
before, and the cowardice of that sergeant and 
the other deserters, Col. Armsti'ong and his 
command met with a considerable loss of their 
horses and baggage, which had been left, as 
before stated, with Lieut. Hogg and his detach- 
ment when the main force had made their 
detour to Kittanniug. 

"Many blankets were afterward found on 
the ground where Lieut. Hogg and his small 
force were defeated by the superior number — 
about double — of their Indian foes. Hence 
that battle-field lias ever since borne the name 
of ' Blanket Hill.' It is on the farm of Piiilip 
Dunmire, in Kittanniug township, to the right, 
going east, of the turnpike road from Kittan- 
ning to Elderton and Indiana, about four hun- 
dred and .seventy-five rods, a little east of south 
from the present site of the Blanket Hill post- 
office, and two hundred and seventy-five rods 
west of the Plum creek township line. 

" Various other relics of that fight have been 
found from time to time, among which a 
straight sword with the initials ' J. H.' on it, 
which is owned by James Stewart, of Kittan- 
niug borough, was on exhibition with otlier 
relics at the Centennial exposition, Philadelphia. 

" It was imj)ossible for Col. Armstrong to 
a.scertain the exact number of the enemy killed 
in the action at Kittanniug, since some were 
burned in the conflagration of the houses and 
others fell in different parts of the cornfield; 
but he thought there could not be less, on a 
moderate estimate, than thirty or forty eitiier 
killed or mortally wounded, as mucli blood was 
found in various parts of the cornfield, as In- 
dians were seen crawling from several parts 
thereof into the woods, whom the soldiers, in 
their pursuit of others, passed by, expecting 
afterward to find and scalp them, and as several 
others were killed and wounded while crossing 
the river. 

" When the victors commenced their I'eturn 



ARMSTROXG COUNTY. 



307 



march they had about a dozen scalps and eleven 
English prisoners. Part of the scalps were 
lost on the road, and some of them and four of 
the prisoners were in the custody of Capt. 
Mercer, who had separated from the main body, 
so that on the arrival of the main body at Fort 
Littleton, Sabbath night, September 14, 1756, 
Col. Armstrong could report to Governor 
Denny only seven of the re-captured prisoners 
and a part of the scalps." 

Brady's Fight. — In 1780, Capt. Samuel 
Brady, with five men and his pet Indian, inter- 
cepted, at the mouth of the Big Mahoning creek, 
a war j)arty of Indians who were returning 
from a murdering and plundering expedition 
in the Sewickley Creek region of Westmore- 
land county. He surprised the Indians in their 
camp at break of day and killed five of them 
besides securing all of their plunder and a val- 
uable horse which they had stolen. 

Early Settlers. — The early settlers were 
chiefly of Scotch-Irish and German descent. 
The former came from Westmoreland county 
and the Cumberland Valley, while the latter 
were mainly from Lehigh and Northampton 
counties. One of the pioneer settlers was Capt. 
Andrew Sharp, who dietl from wounds received 
in a fight with Indians, which will be de- 
scribed in the history of Plum Creek township. 
In the histories of the townships will be given 
the few names of all the pioneers which we 
have been enabled to secure, although it is fair 
to presume that a respectable number of those 
residents given in the assessment lists of 1807 
were pioneer settlers. 

" Armstrong county was formed out of parts 
of Allegheny, Westmoreland and Lycoming 
counties by act of March 12, 1800. All that 
portion west of the Allegheny river was taken 
from Allegheny county; all that portion on the 
east side of that river, between the Kiskimi- 
netas river and the then northern boundary of 
Westmoreland county, viz., a line due west from 
the purchase line at the head of the Susque- 
19 



hanna, striking the Allegheny river a short 
distance below the mouth of Cowanshannock 
creek, was taken from Westmoreland county, 
east of the Allegheny river and Clarion river 
was taken from Lycoming county which had 
been formed out of Northumberland county by 
act of April 13, 1795. 

"The original boundaries of Armstrong 
county were: 'Beginning on the Allegheny 
river, at the mouth of Buffalo creek, the corner 
of Butler county,' " which was also erected by 
act of March 12,1800; "' thence northerly along 
the line of said county of Butler to where the 
northeast corner of the said county of Butler 
shall strike the Allegheny river; thence from 
the said corner, on a line at a right angle from 
the first line of the county of Butler, until the 
said line shall strike the Allegheny river; 
thence by the margin of said river to the mouth 
of Toby's creek' — Clarion river — ' thence cross- 
ing the river and up said creek to the line 
dividing Wood's and Hamilton's districts: 
thence southerly along said line to the present 
line of Westmoreland county ; thence down the 
(Kiakiminetas) river to the mouth thereof on 
the Allegheny river; thence across the said 
river to the westwardly margin thereof; thence 
down the said river to the mouth of Buffalo 
creek, the place of beginning.' 

"By act of March 11, 1839, that part east of 
the Allegheny river and between Red Bank 
creek and the Clarion river was detached from 
Armstrong and annexed to Clarion county. 
Thus it appears that the territory of Armstrong 
county has been successively included in the 
counties of Chester, Lancaster, Cumberland and 
Bedford, wholly, and in Northumberland, West- 
moreland, Allegheny, and Lycoming, partly." 

While the above is correct in regard to the 
legislative acts creating the different counties 
named, yet the Legislature prohibited settle- 
ments in that part of the county south of a 
straight line from Kittanning to the Indiana 
county line (Purchase Line) and east of the 



308 



OEOLOQICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



Allegheny river, until the purchase of 1768, 
and the remainder of the county until the suc- 
ceeding purchase from the Indians, of 1784. 

We endeavored to compile a list of senators 
and assemblymen from Armstrong county, from 
1860 to 1890, from " Smull's Legislative Hand- 
Book." We found several errors in names and 
dates, and were compelled to drop the list for 
want of time to correct it. 

We give the county roster as found in 
Smith's history of the county. 

CIVIL ROSTER FROM 1805 TO 1880. 

-Stote .Senators.— Robert Orr Jr., 1822-25 ; 
Eben Smith Kelley, 1825-29 (dii^d in the dis- 
charge of his duties at Harrisburg, Saturday, 
March 28, 1829); Philip Mechling, 1830-34; 
William F. Johnston, 1847, until he was inaug- 
urated Governor in January, 1849; Jonathan 
E. Meredith, 1859-62. 

Members of Asaemhhj. — James Sloan, 1808-9; 
Samuel Houston, 1817-18-19; Robert Orr Jr., 
1818-19-20-21; James Douglass, 1834-5-6 ; 
William F. Johnston, 1836-7-8 and 1841 ; 
John S. Rhey, 1850-1-2; J. Alexander Ful- 
ton, 1853; Darwin Phelps, 1856; John K. 
Calhoun, 1857-8; Philip K. Bowman, 1872-3 ; 
And. W. Bell, Wm. G. Heiner, 1877-80; W. F. 
Rumbcrger, Lee Thompson and Frank Martin, 
1880; Thompson and A. D. Glenn, 1882. 

President Judges. — John Young, Westmore- 
land county ; Thomas White, Indiana couirty ; 
Jeremiah M. Burrell, Westmoreland county ; 
JoI)n C Knox, Tioga county ; Joseph Buffing- 
ton, Armstrong county ; James A. Logan, West- 
moreland county ; John V. Painter, Armstrong 
county ; Jackson Boggs and James B. Neale. 

Associate Judges — Robert Orr, Sr., James 
Barr, George Ross, Joseph Rankin, Robert Orr, 
Jr., Charles G. Snovvden, John Calhoun, An- 
drew Arnold, Hugh Bingham, Robert Wood- 
ward, Michael Cochran, George F. Keener, 
John Woods, Josiah E. Stephen.son, H. A. S. 
D. Dudley, John F. Nulton, Robert M. Beatty, 
James M. Stephenson. 



Sheriff's. — John Orr, Jonathan King, James 
McCormick, Joseph Brown, Philip Mechling, 
Robert Robinson, Thomas McConnell, Jacob 
Mechling, James Douglass, Chambers Orr, 
Samuel Hutchinson, Job Truby, George Smith, 
John Mechling, William G. Watson, Joseph 
Clark, Hamilton Kelly, George B. Sloan, Jon- 
athan Myers, Robert M. Kirkadden, George 
W. Cook (appointed vice Kirkadden, deceased), 
David J. Reed, Alexander J. Montgomery, 
John B. Boyd, George A. Willi.^ms, James G. 
Henry, James H. Chambers. 
! District Attorneys. — John W. Rohrer.Frank- 
i lin Mechling, William Blakely, Henry F. 
j Phelps, John V. Painter, John O. Barrett, Jef- 
ferson Reynolds, Joseph R. Henderson, M. F. 
Leason, R. S. Martin. 

Deputy Attorneys- General. — Deputy attor- 
neys-general were appointed by the attorney- 
general until by act of May 3, 1850, the name 
was changed to district attorney, one of whom 
was thereafter to be elected by the voters of 
each county. Thomas Blair, William F. John- 
ston, Michael Gallagher, J. B. Musser, John B. 
Alexander, John Reed, George W. Smith, John 
S. Rhey, Thomas T. Torrey, Daniel Stanard, 
Hugh H. Brady, Ephraim Carpenter, J. G. 
Barclay, John W. Rohrer, James Stewart. 

Prothonotarics and Clerks. — Paul Morrow, 
James Sloan, George Hiccox, Eben S. Kelley, 
James E. Brown, Frederick Rohrer, Simon 
Torney, W. W. Gibson, James Douglass, Jon- 
athan E. Meredith, Samuel Owens, Simon 
Truby, Jr., James S. Quigley, John G. Parr, 
James G. Henry, A. H. Stitt. 

Registers and Recorders. — Paul Morrow, 
James Sloan, George Hiccox, Eben S. Kelley, 
David Johnston, Philip Mechling, Frederick 
Rohrer, John Croll, John Mechling, John R. 
Johnston, Joseph Bullman, William Miller, 
David C. Boggs, Philip K. Bowman, William R. 
Millron, James H. Chambers and H. J. Hayes. 
County Treasurers. — Appointed annually by 
the county commissioners, as provided by acts of 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



309 



April 11, 1799, and April 15, 1834; Adam 
Elliott, Robert Brown, Samuel Mattliews, Guy 
Hiccox, Thomas Hamilton, James Pinks, Alex- 
ander Colwell, David Johnston, Jonathan H. 
Sloan, Samuel McKee, Andrew Arnold, James 
Douglass, Samuel Hutchinson, John F. Nulton. 
Some of them were reappointed once or twice. 

County Commissioners.— Ayii^ointed : James 
Sloan, James Matthews and Alexander Walker. 
Elected : Jonathan King, Adam Ewing, James 
Jackson, Thomas Johnston, John Henry, 
George I^ong, Alexander IMcCain, John David- 
son, David Johnston, Philip Clover, Isaac 
Wagle, David Reynolds, Joseph Rankin, 
Joseph Waugh, Daniel Reichert, Philip Tem- 
pleton Sr., Joseph Siiields, Hugh Reed, James 
Barr, George Williams, Jcfhn Patton, Samuel 
Matthews, James Green, Job Johnston, Jacob 
Allshouse, James Reichert, Alexander A. 
Lowry, John R. Johnston, William Curll, 
Jacob Beck, George W. Brodhead, Lindley 
Patterson, James Stitt, Joseph Bullman, Wil- 
liam Coulter, Amos Mercer, Philip Hutchinson, 
John Boyd, Robert Mcintosh, Arthur Fleming, 
Andrew Roulston, John Shoop, William Mcin- 
tosh, Archibald Glenn, Wilson Todd, Thomas 
H. Caldwell, James Douglass, David Beatty, 
George B. Sloan, William W. Hastings, John 
M. Patton, William H. Jack, James Blair, 
Thomas Terapleton, James Barr, Daniel Slagle, 
George H. Smith, Augustus T. Pontius, Peter 
Heilman, William P. Lowry, Thomas Mont- 
gomer)', Thomas Herron, William Buffiugton, 
Brice Henderson and Owen Handcock, Lewis 
Corbett, John Murphy, James White, John 
Alward, T. V. McKee. 

County Surveyors. — James Stewart, Robert 
S. Slaymaker, John Steele, Robert H. Wilson. 

Assessment Lists of 1807. — The following 
lists of taxables were returned in the above- 
named year for the towiishijw of Kittanning, 
Toby, Sugar Creek, Red Bank, Allegheny, and 
the borough of Kittanning : 

The following is a list of the taxables of 



Kittanning township in 1807 : Peter Altmau, 
Frederick Altman, John Allison, James Bark- 
ley, Bleakley, Hugh Brown (store-keeper), 

John Beer (s), George Beer (gunsmith), Samuel 
Beer (saw and grist-mill), George Beek, John 
Bachman, William Brinigh, William Boyd, 
Jacob Baumgarner, Jonathan Bouser (s), James 
Cogley, Joseph Claypole, James Claypole (s), 
Conrad Cook, George Cook, Jeremiah Cook, 
Joseph Clark, James Carson (s) (saw and grist- 
mill), James Clark, William Clark, Andrew 
Craft, John Caldwell, John Coon, James Cun- 
ningham, John Cohun, James Cohuu, Samuel 
Cohun, Heniy Davis, Williann Doty, James 
Douglas, Patrick Dougherty, John Davis, An- 
drew Dormoyer, Robert Duncan, Peter Eg- 
inger, John Ekey, Robert Ekey (s), James El- 
gin, Ephraim Evans, McKnight Elliott, Dan- 
iel Fichard, Abraham Fiskus, Thomas Fitz- 
hard, John Golde, Daniel Golde, James Gaff, 
Samuel George, James Guthrie, Sr., John Gross, 
George Hoover, Chris. Hoover, -lames Henry, 
Michael Hardraan, Peter Hyleman, John Hyle- 
mau, Jacob House, Samuel Hill (s), James Hall, 
George Helfried (.saw-mill), William Hookes, 
Robert Jordan, John Irvin, Peter Kealer, Jon- 
athan Killgore, Ezekiel Killgore, George King, 
John Kirk, John T. King, Daniel Kimmel, 
William Kirkpatrick (distillery), James Kirk- 
patrick, Sr., James Kirkpatrick, Jr., James 
Kean (s), Adam Lowry, Benjamin Lowry (.s), 
Jacob Lafferty, Abraham I^ee (s), Daniel Long, 
John Mufley, Alex. McGache, Thomas Mc- 
Gache, Hugh Martin, James Miller, George 
Miller, Joseph McKraken, John McKraken, 
John McMilleu, Sr., John McMillen, Jr., 
Smith McMillen (tailor), Arch. Mcintosh, Jon- 
athan Mason, John Munroe, William McAdoo 
(s), Thomas McMillen, James Moore (s) (school- 
master), Thomas Miller (s), Jacob McFuse, 
William Marchel, Joseph Marchel, John Nol- 
der, John Nolder, Jr., Henry Neas, Henry 
Xeas, Jr., John Neas, Peter Neas, Peter Neal- 
ich, John S. Oliver, Chris. Oury (distillery), 



310 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



Adam Ouiy, Robert Patrick, John Patrick, 
Lewis Pears, Williaro Pears, Abe. Parkisou, 
Henry Ruftner, Jolin Roley, Jacob Robey, 
David Robson, Peter Rubert (weaver), Peter 
Rubert, Jr., John Rubert, Patrick Rabb, Philip 
Rearight, John Ruff, Chris. Rupp, Francis 
Rupp, George Rupart, Fred. Rupart, Peter 
Richard, George P. Shaffer, William Sheenes 
(s), William Simrcl, Richard Smith, Sr., George 
Smith (distillery), John Steel, Samuel Sloan, 

Smith, George Smith, Jr., Robert Sloan, 

Philip Shaffer, George Shoemaker, George 
Shall, Jr., Thomas Swan (s), James Simpson, 
David Shields, Conrad Shrackencost, George 
Smith, John Smith, James Sloan, James 
Shall, Jacob Shrackencost, Henry Shracken- 
cost, John Shrackencost, George Shrackencost, 
John Thomas, Peter Thomas (grist and saw- 
mill), John Templeton, John Thomas (mulatto), 
David Todd, Peter Terney, Parker Truett, 
Anderson Truett, John Willis, Abraham Wood- 
ward, Jacob Weamer, Peter Wearaer, Adam 
Waltenbach, Thomas Wilson, Wolf (wid- 
ow), Thomas Williams, Jacob Wolf, George 
Wolf, (s) Adam Wilhelra, Jacob Willyard, Philip 
Wheitzel, Isaac Wagley (grist-mill), Robert 
Walker (s), James Walker (s), Abe Walker, 
Robert Work, David White, John Wilson, 
Rolin Weldon, John Wagle (s), George Wil- 
liams, Robert White, Daniel Younts, Jonathan 
Younts, Fred. Yackey. 

Tax list of the Town of Kittanning for 1807. 
— Robt. Beatty (surveyor), James Brown (s), 
(joiner), Muthias Bouser (mason), Eli Bradford 
(joiner), Francis Bell (hatter), Thomas Beatty 
(s), John Bellark (mason), Alex. Blear, John 
Caldwell (tailor), Robt. Cooper (joiner), Pat- 
rick Daugherty, James Gibson, James Guthrie 
(joiner), S. M. Harrison (atty. at law), James 
Henry, James Hanegan (hatter), William Han- 
egan (tailor), Daniel Lemon (s), Joseph Miller 
(store- keeper), Barnard Mahon (shoemaker), 
Alex. Moore, James Metheny (wheelwright), 
Samuel Miller (shoemaker), Samuel Massey 



(atty. at law), Michael Machlen, Paul Monroe, 
Jacob Nealish (saddler), James Pike (joiner), 
Abe Parkeson (mason), David Ronalds (store- 
keeper), William Ronalds (tanner), James Sloan, 
Walter Sloan (s), John Shafer (joiner), Dewalt 
Shafer (cai-penter), Erastus Sands (joiner), Mi- 
chael Starr, John Thomas (shoemaker). 

List of taxables in To% township in 1807. — 
Thomas Guthrie & Co., William Love, Thomas 
Miller and John Mortimer (grist and saw-mill 
owners), Philip Clover (blacksmith), Francis 
Hillard and James McElhany (wheelwrights), 
John Simpkins (wagon-maker), John Guthrie 
(carpenter), John Wilson (tanner), William 
Kelly (schoolmaster), Absalom Travis (cooper), 
Philip Bigley (shoemaker), Hugh Reed (mill- 
wright), Daniel Boyles (tailor), Tate Allison, 
James Colhoon, William Cochran, John Coy, 
John Love, William Miller, Nicholas Polyard, 
James Smith and Robert Wilson (weavers). 

The following persons were land- owners, and 
principally farmers: Robert Alison, William 
Adams, Williams Adams, Jonathan Adams, 
William Ashton, Samuel Ashton, Robert 
Beatty, George Beck, Joseph Boney, John 
Boney, Joseph Barns, George Baird, Thomas 
Brown, Alex. Brown, James Brown, Jacob 
Bunker, William Bunker, Henry Benn, Wil- 
liam Barr, Thomas Barr, John Brandon, James 
Brandon, John Brown, Jacob Bnmgardner, 
William Booth, John Black (s), Peter Ben- 
ninger, John Bowls, John Bole, John Boney, 
Abe Corsal, Paul Corsal, Philip Corsal (tan- 
ner), John Corbitt, Alex. Cannon, William 
Clark, James Cannon, John Cochran, John 
Crawford, Thomas Connor, Robert Culbertson, 
Samuel Crow, Hugh Cullan, James Cathcart, 
Robert Cathcart, Joseph Craig, Andrew Camp- 
bell, Samuel Colhoon, John Colhoon, John 
Clugh, James Callen, Peter Coy, Benj. Coy, 
James Carson, Fleming Davidson, Peter Dun- 
cle, Isaac David, John Donnel, Lewis Dover- 
spike (s), George Delp (s), George Delp, Sr., 
John Dovei-spike, George Doverspike, John 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



311 



Duntap, Fleming Davis, Joseph Erwin, Philip 

Essex, Wright Elliott, John Eramitt, George 
Emmitt, John Eaton, Samuel Early, Joseph 
Everet, Peter Fidler, Thomas Freeman, Jacob 
Flyfoot, Isaac Fetzer, Henry Fulton (s), Wil- 
liam Frazier (s), James Fulton, Cochran Ful- 
ton (s), Levi Gipson, John Gipson, William 
Guthrie, Sr., William Guthrie, Ah'X. (Juthrie, 
Henry Gist, Joseph Greenawalt, William Grim, 
John Gross, William Henry, John Henry, Pe- 
ter Hilliard, George Hall, John Hepler, Ed- 
ward Hegin, David Hegin, David Hull, George 
Hilliard, Job Joiinston, Hugh Kerr, Moses 
Kirkpatrick, William Kirkpatrick, James Kirk- 
patrick, Francis Kirkpatrick, James Knox, 
John Loge, James Laughlin, John Langhlin, 
Daniel Long, Abe Lee, Peter Lobaugh, Abe 
Lobaugh, Peter Lotshaw, Sr., Peter Lotshaw, 
John Long, William Lattinier, Frederick Miles 
(s), William Meals, Jacob Meals, Jacob Mon- 
ney, Robert Myler, Thomas Meredith, William 
Moorhead, Paul McLean, Jacob McFadden (s), 
Joseph McQuown, Samuel Myers, Alex. Mc- 
Kean, John McGee, John Martin, Robert Mc- 
Call, Arch. McNeel, James McGuire, William 
McKinley, Ezekiel Matthews, Thomas McGa- 
hey, Alex. McGahey, William Marchel, William 
Maft'et, John Mufflee, Alex. Moore (weaver), 
AVilliam Matthew (s), Rev. Robert McGery, 
Arch. McKinney, Jesse McConnell (s), Joseph 
Marshall, Aroh. Monney, John Miller, Charles 
McCoy, Thomas McKibbons, John McKib- 
bons (s), John McKibbons, Valentine Moir, 
Henry Nulfs, John Nulfs, Henry Nees, John 
Nees, Peter Nees, Richard Nesbitt, Samuel C. 
Orr, Samuel Orr, William Orr, Adam Aurey, 
William Oliver, Chris. Over, William Pollock, 
Thomas Pollock, James Potter, James Parker, 
Joseph Pearce, Sr., Joseph Pearce, Thomas 
Patrick, Robert Prather (s), James Parker, 

Peter Price, Robert Patrick, Phillips, 

John Patrick, Edward Pearce, George Peech, 
Francis Rupe, Chris. Richart, Joseph Reed, 
John Rcll, John Ross, Joseph Rankin, David 



Ramsey, Joshua Rhea, Peter Richards, John 
Reed, James Reed (s), David Ramsey, Sr., 
Thomas Riley (s), Andrew Smith, John Stock- 
ton, Francis Stanford, Jacob Silvus, Conrad 
Secongros, George Secongros, John Secongros 
(s), William Stewart, James Shields, William 
Spiney, James Scott, John Standford, Isaac 
Sfaudford, Abe Standford, Chris. Smathus, 
John Sowers, James Shields, John Stockton, 
John Sterrett, Herman Skiles (s), William 
Smith, Samuel Seawright, Steele Semple, Rob- 
ert Smith, Capt. John Sloan, David Shields, 
William Sypes (potter), Peter Sylvis, Michael 
Starr, Lewis Swytzer, Stephen Travis (s), 
Robert Travis, Peter Titus, William Thomp- 
son (s), Michael Trainer, Samuel Thompson, 
William Thompson, Robert Thompson, AVil- 
liam Thomas, John Wilson (s), William Wil- 
son (s), Alex. Wilson, Lewis Wilson, David 
Wilson, William Wilson, John Wishey, George 
Williams, Mark Williams, Robert Walker (s), 
Alex. Walker, Benj. Walker, James Walker 
(s), Abe Walker, Absalom Woodward, Peter 
Wally, Thomas Watson, James Watterson, 
James Wilkins, Robert Warden, David White, 
John Wilkins, William Young, Philip Youk- 
ley, Fred. Youkley. 

List of taxables in Sugar Creek township in 
1807: 

Major John AVeames, distillery owner ; John 
Mounts, William Parker, Leonai'd Silvis and 
Chris. Truby, grist and saw-mill owners ; John 
Wernsel, saw-mill owner ; William Blaney, 
David Huston and M. Sheckley, weavers; 
George Dougherty, tailor ; Robert Galbreath, 
tanner ; Joseph Hall and Andrew Kennedy, 
shoemakers ; Robert Nilson, blacksmith ; James 
Thompson, carpenter. 

The following persons were principally land- 
owners : 

Philip Anthony, Jacob Alimong, James 
Armstrong, Thomas Armstrong, Daniel Ash- 
baugh, Jacob Anthony, John Bowser, Ruben 
Beerfit, Robert Boyd, John Beard, James Blane, 



312 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



Wlliam Blane, George Brown, William Brown- 
field, Melcher Buzzard, Peter Burger, William 
Bell, Andrew Blair, John Bisli, Jacob Bish, John 
Benkert, John Beatty, Johu Brown, John 
Burns, Valentine Bowser, Andrew Blair, Alex- 
ander Blair, Joseph Blair, William Barr, Fred. 
Buzzard, Charles Brian, James Brown, Patrick 
Boil, Andrew Bullman, John Campbell, James 
Cunningham, Lauders Clark, William Coch- 
ran, Henry Chi'isman, Fred. Chrisman, Joseph 
Carroll, Alexander Camjjbell, John Crawford, 
John Cowan, William Cowan, M. Coyle, 
Charles Campbell, John Crawford, John Cur- 
ry, Robert Curry, John Clippinger, Robert 
Core, Daniel Campbell, George Corman, Thos. 
Collins, Thomas H. Cook, Thomas Collins, 
Johu Dun lap, Eben Davis, John Davis, James 
Dunlap, John Donaldson, James Farley, James 
Eminit, Chas. Fllenberger, Samuel Farley, 
Samuel Elder, Johu Eton, John Edinburg, 
Thomas Foster, James Foster, Alex. Foster, 
John Foster, Ubanks Foster, James Foster, 
"William Freeman, William Freeman, Jr., Jo- 
seph Frazer, Michael Fair, Harman Girt, Gid- 
eon Gibson, John Gibson, Alex. Gibson, James 
Gibson, Charles Glover, John Gillespie, Mi- 
chael Geyer, Daniel Henry, Stewart Henry, 
James Hannah, Thomas Hannah, Thomas- 
Herron, Chas. Holden, James Hindman, Thos. 
Hindman, Peter Hauseman, Jacob Hepler, 
Jacob Hepler, Jr., Ciiris. Hepler, James Hun- 
ter, R. Hamilton, Geo. Huckelbeny, David 
Henry, Simon Hovey, Henry Hustley, Peter 
Hustley, Andrew Hallibaugh, Michael Haius, 
John Johnston, David Johnston, Martin Johu, 
William Kerr, Barney Kelly, James Keer, 
Jonathan King, Geo. Knox, Edward Kelly, 
Geo. King, Hugh Kerr, James Kerr, Johu 
Kerr, John Kerr, Sr., Jacob Eighty, Benj. 
Jjcasure, John Leubarger, Ezekiel Lewis, Alex. 
Lewis, Abe Lennington, Jacob Loop, John 
Lewis, Daniel Mortimer, Neil !McBride, 
Clements McKern, James McMauigle, Elijah 
Mounts, Robert MeCutcheon, Adam Mier, 



Conrad Mier, Jacob Milliron, Robert Manough, 
Chas. McCathey, James McCathey, Thomas 
Miller, Chas. McManus, Geo. McManus, Geo. 
Miers, Patrick McBride, Chas. McGinigle, 
David McNinch, Henry McNinch, Arch. Mc- 
Ninch, William McNinch, Joseph McKee, 
Andrew McKee, James McKee, Johu Mont- 
gomery, Audrew Milligan, Robert McDowell 
(s), Johu McDowell, William Moore, Arch. 
Moore, William Moore, William McKee, 
Samuel Morney, Thomas Morrow, William 
McNinch, Jr., James Milleken, Thomas Mil- 

leken, Robert McDonald, McKinley, 

James Nicholson, John Orr, Robert Orr, Sam- 
uel Orr, Robert Orr (s), Chris. Overt, Henry 
Orner, Henry Prumer, Richard Price, Nich 
Pountees, Johu Painter, Jr., Josejjh Philips, 
Adam Peter, Samuel Parker, Peter Pence, 
Owen Queen, John Quigley, Owen Quin, Mi- 
chael Reed, Samuel Robiusou, William Reed, 
Thomas Reed, Henry Rumel, Thomas Riley 
(s), James Red (s), Johu Sloan (s), William 
Sloan, Jonathan Shreader, Joseph Shields, Wil- 
liam Stephenson, Neil Sweeney, Michael Stare, 
Lewis Steelsmith, Jacob Steelsmith, Peter Sny- 
der, Solomon Shoop, Fred. Shoop, Sny- 
der, John Spangler, Conrad Snider, Isaac Steel, 
•Nich. Snow, John Suow, R. Shears, Neal 
Sweeney, Geo. Stewart, Samuel Sanderson, 
Jonathan Streeter, David Sloan, Thos. Thomp- 
son, Francis Thompson, James Thompson, 
Arch. Thompson (s), Chas. Thompson (s), John 
Titus, Leonard Trees, Philip Templeton, Thos. 
Taylor, Jacob Truby, Henry Turner, Samuel 
Taylor, Johu Willey, Edward Wiggins, Robert 
Wallace, John Weeks, Elisha Weeks (s), Jacob 
Wiles, Joseph Wiles, John Wiles, Nicholas 
Wankey, Elisha Walls, Fred. Wilk, William 
White, James W^atterson, Josiah Wliite, Henry 
W^iles (s), Jacob Watterson, John W^euzel, 
Jesse Young, Abe Young, Chris. Yockey, 
Abe Yockey, William Telepliro. 

A list of taxables in Buffalo township in 
1807: General Charles Campbell, John Craig, 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



313 



James Barr, John Orr and George Ross, Es- 
quires ; Rev. John Boyd, minister ; James 
Barr, Jr., schoolmaster; Jacob Weaver, store- 
keeper ; Andrew Patterson, James Clark, Jo- 
seph Galbraith, wheelwright ; John Simon, Jo- 
seph Cogley, John Duffy, and Charles Sype, 
blacksmiths; Charles Boner, Joseph McDon- 
ald, Samuel Richey, E. Erwin, JosC|)h Brown, 
and Robert Colter, millwrights; Samuel Craig, 
fulling-mill owner ; John Painter, Enos JIc- 
Bride and Robert McKinley, distillery owners ; 
Casper Easley, John Harbesou, saw-mill own- 
ers; William Green, David Hall, Robert Mo- 
Cormick, grist-mill ownere ; George Holli- 
baugh, Joseph Hall and Andrew Kennedy, 
shoemakers ; Robert Long, tanner ; James Mc- 
Cormick, ferryman. 

The following persons were chiefly land- 
owners : Philip Anthony, Jacob Alimony, 
James Armstrong, Thomas Armstrong, Daniel 
Ashbaugh, Jacob Anthony (s), William Bar- 
nett, John Beck, Abner Bradford, Robert 
Brown, George Brown, Jacob Bowser, George 
Byers, James Barr, David Barr (s), Samuel 
Bowser, John Bish, Jacob Bish, Nicholas 
Bricker, H. Claypole, James Campbell, John 
Campbell, George Clark (.s), James Cunning- 
ham, Abe Colmer, Conrad Colmer,- John Cal- 
lan, P. Callan, John Crawford, Robert Cogley, 
James Cogley, Jamex Callan, Robert Con, 
George Claypole, David Claypole, Henry Cun- 
ningham, John Crookshanks, Samuel Dickin- 
son, John Donaldson, George T. Doherty (s), 
John Duffy, James Dunlap, Casper Easly, 
Jacob Everhart, Adam Ewing, Andrew Easley, 
Robert Flemmen, John Fish, Robert Fish, 
Thomas Fales, David Fales, James Fish (s), 
Ubanks Foster, John Girt, Harman Girt (s), 
William Gallagher (s), Richard Gazy, John 
Galbraith, John Green, Samuel Green, James 
Green, Daniel Green, Thomas Green, Charles 
Glover (s), James Gibson, Abe Gardner, James 
Gallagher, James Gallagher (s), Jesse T. Glenn, 
Jacob Garver, Jacob Garver, Jr., David Graham, 



Joseph Hancock, Thomas Hook, David Henry, 
Daniel Helm, James Hanna, George Hawk, 
Andrew Hollibaugh, Charles Holder, James 
Hill, Alexander Hunter, William Hook, Geo. 
T. Hall, James Hazlett, Matthew Hopkins, 
William Jack, Nicholas Iseman, Thomas John- 
sou, Thomas Jack, John Jack (s), William Kear, 
Andrew Kear, James Kear, Barney Kelly, Wil- 
liam Kiscaden, Thomas Kiscaden, James Kis- 
caden, Ned Kelly, Robert Kincaid (s), Abe Lea- 
sure, George Long, Timothy Liunington, Abe 
Linnington (s), Hugh Linnington (s), Isaac Liu- 
nington, David Law.son, Adam Maxwell, Wil- 
liam McLaughlin, John INLitthews, James 
Matthews, James Matthews, Sr., P. MeCue, 
Stephen Mahaifey, Joseph Morrison, P. Mc- 
Bride, Archibald Moore (s), Joseph McKee, 
Robert McKee, Henry McEnich, Archibald 
McEnich, William McEnich, James McKee, 
John Montgomery, William Moore, ^Vrehibald 
Moore, Collum McGinley, Daniel MeCue, 
James McCormick, Nicholas Myers, Joseph 
Millen, James Millen, William McKee, Jon. 
Moore, Samuel Murphy, Adam Morrow (s) John 
McKean, James McCullough, Samuel Mooney, 
William Moore, Roger McCue, Henry McEii- 
niuey, William McEnnich, Jacob McGinley, 
William Noble, James Noble (s), John Organ, 
Wm. Park, Henry Prumer, Margaret Peoples 
(widow), Isaac Powell, Richard Price, John 
Pennell, John Quigley (s), Fred Razor, Gilbert 
Right, David Reed, James Rayburn, Thomas 
Riley (s), Samuel Robinson, William Russell, 
William Shields, Wendel Stoup, William Sloan, 
Abe Smith, John Sype, James Sheridan, James 
Steel, James Summeral, James Sloan, Michael 
Starr, James Sloan, Jr., Peter Tie, Samuel Tay- 
lor, Robert Thorusburg, William Thornsburg 
(s), James Stuart, George Van Dyke (s), Jacob 
White, Thomas Willard, Leonard White, 
Thomas Watkins, Jacob Young, John Young. 
A list of taxables in Red Bank township in 
1807 : Captain John Sloan, John Brandon and 
Samuel C. Orr, Esquires ; John Wilson, distil- 



314 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



leiy owner; James and Fred Laughlin, saw- 
mill owners; John Mortimer and Abe Stan- 
ford, grist-mill owners; William Love and ' 
Thomas Guthrie & Co., saw and grist-mill own- 
ers ; James McElhany, wheelwright ; Daniel 
Boyles and William McConnell, tailors; Philip 
Clover and John Wilson, tanners ; Tate Alli- 
son, William Cochran, William Frees, Robert 
Wilson, Alexander Moore and William Miller, 
weavers ; James McGuire owned a slave ten 
yeai-s of age, which was to be free at twenty- 
eight. 

The following persons were principally laud- 
owners : Robert Allison, William Adams, Jon. 
Adams, William Aston, Samuel Aston, George 
Beck, George Beard, Jacob Bumgarduer, 
Thomas Barr, John Brandon, James Buchanan, 
Paul Clover, John Corbit, Abe Corsal, Alex. 
Cannon, James Cannon, John Cochran, John 
Crawford, Thomas Connor, James Cathcart, 
Andrew Campbell, James Carson, I. F. Davids, 
Lewis Doverspike (s), John Emmet, Joseph 
Everett, Samuel Earls, John Grace, John Hind- 
man, Robert Henry (s), Daniel Long, Peter 
Latchaw, Jr., John Long, Robert Myler, James 
McGohauey, Arch. Money, Charles McCo}', 
Thomas McKibban, John McKibban, Henry 
Nulfs, John Nulfs, Adam Oury, Joseph Pierce, 
Sr., James Potter, James Parker, Thomas Pat- 
rick, Edward Pierce, Joseph Reed, John Roal, 
John Ro.ss, Joshua Rea, James Reed, William 
Spivey, Abe Stanford, Robert Smith, James 
Sloan, John Soders, Michael Starr, Freedom 
Stiles, Stephen Travis, Peter Titus, William 
Thompson (s), Samuel Thompson, Michael 
Trainer, Henry Teeter, Thomas Watson, James 
Wilkins, Robert Werdeu, Mark Williams, John 
Wilkins, Benjamin Walker, William Young, 
Philip Youkly, Fred. Youkly. 

List of taxables in Allegheny township in 
1807: John Findley, Esq.; Jacob Hankey, 
wheelright; John Shall, blacksmith; George 
Robinson, weaver; Alex. Walker, grist and 
saw-mill owner. 



The following persons were principally land- 
owners: Michael Anderson, Henry Bolles, 
Philip Bolan, William Beatty, Samuel Beatty 
(s), John Beach, John Barg, Michael Barrick- 
man, John Barr, Jacob Baer, Jonathan Black, 
James Brier (s), John Criswell, Daniel Copley, 
Philip Clingensmith, Johu Clingensmith, Nich- 
olas Clingensmith, Peter Clingensmith (s), 
James Coulter, John Carney, Philip Clinge, 
James Cunningham, William Dickson, Barn- 
ard Devers, Isaac David (s), E. Eakman, 

Findley, James Findley, David Findley, 

Thomas Gallagher, Jacob Grave, James Guthrie, 
John Gist, John Henry, Robert Hannah, Wil- 
liam Hill, James Herold, John Hawk, William 
Heselgazor, Conrad Hawk, Sr., Conrad PLiwk, 

Jr., Jacob Hawk, William Hum, Hancock, 

William Hancock (s), Jeremiah Hancock (s), 
Chris. Hancock (s), Henry Hoover, John House- 
holder, William Hess, tanner; John Johnston, 
Adam Johnston (s), John Jackson, James Jack- 
son, James Jack, Alex. Irvine, William Keer, 
John Laughlin, Peter Lefascar, David Lynch, 
James Lynch, James Littel, Hugh Mullen, 
Adam Marsh, Jacob Miller, Joseph McKee, 
Michael Morehead, John Moore, James Moore, 
Samuel Moore, William Moore, Thomas 
McMillen (s), Simon Marsh, James Ncely, 
Patrick O'Donald, John Postlewait, John Pat- 
ten (s), Peter Risher, John Ritchey (s), John 
Ritchey, Michael Risher, Joseph Shoemaker, 
James Smith, Barnabas Stear, David Shields, 
Ludwick Sheets, Peter Shefar, William Stitt, 
Samuel Stitt, Samuel Stitt, Jr., Solomon Shoe- 
maker, Arch. Smith, Geo. Smith, Mi(;hael Shall, 
Michael Shall, Jr., Geo. Shall, James Scott, 
Johu Stitt (s), William Smith, Theo. Smith, 
Geo. Smith, Michael Smith, Susan Smith 
(widow). Josh Spencer, John Titus, Pater Titus, 
John Titus, John Templeton, Isaac Townsend, 
Elizabeth Winzel, Absalom Woodward, Nich. 
Whitzel, Sam. Walker, Robert Watson, James 
Watson (s), Robert Watson (s), John Watson, 
William Watson, Peter Warner, Peter Waiting, 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



315 



Geo. Winzel (s), Jehu Woodward, John Wilson, 
Andrew Whiteger, David Watson, Jacob 
Yockey. 

Distilleries. — In an early day distilleries were 
plenty, but subsequently decreased in number. 
To-day one of the largest and most important 
group of distilleries in Penns\dvania is the 
Guckenlieiiner plant at Freeport. 

The manufacture of salt along the Kis- 
kiminetas was formerly more extensively car- 
ried on than now. Only one well is at present 
in working order, the others having from time 
to time been abandoned as the business became 
unremunerative. The salt water comes from the 
sandstones of the Pocono formation, the top of 
which underlies the river bed about 250 feet at 
the centre of the Roaring run anticlinal. From 
the same geological horizon tiie water is pumped 
that is used in the manufacture of salt near 
Saltsburg, in Indiana county. 

Farmu^es. — The manufacture of iron com- 
menced as early as 1825 in Armstrong county. 
In that year Rock furnace was built, on the 
Kiskiminetas river, east of Apollo ; although it 
is claimed that Bear Creek furnace near Parker 
City was built a few years earlier. Rock fur- [ 
nace made 20 tons of iron per week and ran 
until 1855, while Bear Creek furnace had a ca- 
pacity of 40 tons per week. Allegheny fur- 
nace, on the west bank of the Allegheny, was 
two miles north of Kittanning and was erected 
in 1827. Buffalo furnace No. 1 was built in 
1839, by P. Graff <t Co., on Buffalo creek, at 
the crossing of the Kittanning and Butler pike. 
It was afterwards constructed to use coke, and ' 
was continued in blast until the close of the 
war, in 1865. 

Following the completion of Buffalo furnace 
was a period of considerable activity in the iron 
industry of Armstrong county, extending for 
nearly twenty years, until the financial crash 
of 1857. Many new furnaces were in that 
time added to the list. AH used charcoal for ' 
fuel. 



In 1840 the first of the Great Western fur- 
naces was built at Brady's Bend by Philander 
Raymond, who subsequently erectetl here three 
additional furnaces, besides a rolling-mill and 
a nail factory. In fact this plant ultimately 
became one of the most extensive in Western 
Penn.sylvania, being among the first in America 
to make iron rails. Financial embarrassment, 
however, in the end wrecked the enterprise, and 
both the furnaces and the mllinfr-mill were dis- 
mantled. The rolling-mill and nail factory were 
built in 1841. 

Great Western furnace No. 2 was an exact 
copy of the first, and was built in 1841. The 
capacity of each was 100 tons of metal per 
week. They employed the hot blast, but were 
chiefly distingushed by the large size of their 
l)0shes (14 feet) the poor success of which estab- 
lished later the 12 foot boshes as the favorite 
size for coke furnaces. 

No. 3 furnace was built in 1843. Its capac- 
ity was nearly as great as that of tiie larger 
furnaces. 

In 1845 three smaller stacks were erected in 
other parts of the county : 

Ore Hill Furnace, on the left bank of the 
Allegheny river, 8 miles northeast of Kittan- 
ning. Its capacity was between 35 and 40 tons 
per week. 

Cowanshannock Furnace (called also Boner 
Furnace) was situated on Cowanshannock creek, 
three miles north of Kittanning. 

^lahoning Furnace, on Mahoning creek, be- 
low Putneyville, was built by Mr. John A. 
Colwell, of Kittanning, by whom it was most 
successfully conducted for more than 30 years. 
The stack originally, like all the furnaces of 
that time in the county, was built of stone. It 
used the cold blast, and made from 30 to 40 
tons of metal per week. In 1860 the furnace 
was remodeled to use coke, at which time, also, 
the stack was not only enlarged, but the stone 
structure was replaced by an iron jacket, lined 
with fire-brick. The hot blast was applied at the 



316 



GEOLOOICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



same time. These alterations more than doubled 
the capacity of the stacii. It went out of blast 
in September, 1878, in consequence of the de- 
jiression then existing in the iron trade. Until 
the completion recently of the new furnace at 
Kittanning, the Mahoning furnace was the best 
arranged iron plant in Armstrong county. 

In 1846 five new furnaces were erected: 

Brady's Bend Furnace No. 4 was completed. 
It made hot blast charcoal iron; was 11 feet 
in the boshes and 4.3 feet in height, and had a 
capacity of about 60 tons of iron per week. 

Buffalo Furnace No. 2 was completed by Mr. 
Graff, on Buffalo creek. It was 8 by 35 ; made | 
hot blast charcoal metal, and had a capacity of I 
from 40 to 50 tons per week. 

America Furnace was built in the same year, 
on the east bank of the Allegheny river near 
the pre.sent village of Rimerton. Its capacity 
was about 40 tons of hot blast charcoal iron per ! 
week. ; 

Phcenix Furnace (coal blast) stood on Mahon- 
ing creek below Milton. Instead of smelting the 
usual "buhrstone" ore which is locally absent 
from that region, the furnace used a loamy hem- 
atite ore found near Milton. The ore being lean 
and poor, the enterprise soon proved a failure. 

Pine Creek Furnace owned by IMessrs. Brown 
and Mosgrove, of Kittanning, is one of the few 
original stacks in Armstrong county that were 
remodeled to use coke after the supply of char- 
coal had been exhausted. It occupies a site on 
the left bank of Pine creek, six miles northeast 
of Kittanning. 

In 1847 little additional capital was invested 
in the iron trade in Armstrong county. 

Olney Furnace alone was built. It occupies 
a position on the left bank of Mahoning creek 
above Eddyville. It was enlarged in 1855 and 
shortly afterwards abandoned. 

In 1848 the Kittanning Rotling-mill was 
built at Kittanning. It had 20 puddling fur- 
naces, 3 trains of rolls, and seven machines 
driven by water. In 1857 it made 2550 tons 



of bar iron, nails and castings.* It was aban- 
doned shortly after the financial break of 1873, 
remaining then idle until 1880, when, after com- 
plete remodeling, operations in it were renewed 
in connection with the new furnace at Kittan- 
ning. It was formerly called Valley Rolling- 
mill, and its annual capacity in 1880 was 7000 
tons. 

Stewardson Furnace was built in 1851. It 
is situated on Mahoning creek, 1| miles from 
the Allegheny river. It is built of stone, and 
its capacity is from 75 to 80 tons per week. 

In 1856 the Apollo Rolling-mill was built at 
Apollo. The primary object of this enterprise 
was the manufacture of nails, which, proving un- 
successful, was abandoned about 1861, when 
tlie production of sheet-iron was commenced. 
The mill was originally erected by the Kiski- 
miuetas Iron Co. but subsequently passed out of ' 
their hands, and in the next ten years changed 
ownership several times, finally passing into 
bankruptcy in 1875; in 1876 it was purchased 
l)y Messrs. Laufman & Co., who have since 
conducted it with marked success and profit. 
The iron made is of excellent quality and finds 
a ready sale in all the markets. 

The mill has seven puddling furnaces, and 
tive charcoal fires for sinking wrought scrap 
iron ; two trains of rolls; one steam hammer 
striking a fifteen ton blow ; one set of bar rolls, 
and one pair of cold rolls. At the present time 
the full capacity of the mill is 65 tons of fin- 
ished iron per week. 

The erection of this mill at Apollo in 1856 
about completes the period of the production of 
charcoal iron in Armstrong county, which, as 
we have seen, flourished witli considerable vigor 
between 1840 and 1850, rising perhaps to its 
maximum height between 1850 and 1856 and 
then rapidly declining. According to the .sta- 
tistics in the Iron Manufacturers' Guide, 20,411 
tons of pig iron were produced here in 1856 
from eight furnaces. 

* Iron Manufacturers' Guide, p. 252. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



317 



The manufacture of iron in Armstrong 
county during the charcoal period was not 
attended financially with much success. 

Abundant railroad facilities, and the recent 
improved appliances for making iron have 
wholly changed the conditions which caused 
the failure of the charcoal furnaces. AVith pru- 
dent and intelligent management there is now 
no reason for the failure of a furnace in Arm- 
strong county. 

Monticello Furnace was built in 1850, at the 
mouth of Cowanshannok creek, by Robert E. 
Brown, and was in operation until 1873 and 
attempted to use high grade lake ores with 
native carbonates. 

The Leechburg Rolling-mill was built in 1872, 
It is distinguished for having been the first to 
successfully employ natural gas in iron-making. 
The iron produced is of excellent quality. 

The Kittanning Furnace, erected in 1880, is 
not only the largest, but Ijy far the most com- 
plete in all its appointments, of any furnace 
plant in the Allegheny Valley, out of Pitts- 
burgh. It stands on the river bank at the 
southern end of Kittanning, close to the rolling- 
mill. 

Iron Ores. — The greater jiart of all the iron 
made in Armstrong county, either in times past 
or recently, has been from the reduction of the 
so-called Buhrstone ore. The Brady's Bend 
furnaces, and those also of Mr. Graff, on Buf- 
falo creek, used some ore from the Freeport 
group, of which, however, the outspread in 
workable thickness in Armstrong county is 
confined to the neighborhood of those furnaces. 
Monticello furnace in its time , as already stated, 
attempted the iinportiition of the lake ore, 
but without success. 

Whatever importations of other ore may in 
future be made into the county, to imj)rove the 
gnule of the iron, the Buhrstone stratum will 
always remain the chief source of supply so ■ 
long as furnaces are operated here. Its range 
of outcrop extends over hundreds of miles in 



nearly horizontal rocks ; its average thickness is 
about 8 inches; its character is singularly uni- 
form ; it can be easily and inexpensively mined ; 
it is always accompanied by the Ferriferous 
limestone stratum which direi'tly underlies it 
and which serves for flux in the furnace; it 
works easily in the stack ; and when proper 
attention is paid to the assortment of the ores 
and their preparation for the stack, this Buhr- 
stone stratum is capable of producing a pig 
metal containing about five-tenths of one per 
cent, of phosphorus. 

Mr. McCreath analyzed samples of the ore, 
.selected from all parts of the county. The 
results as a whole show not only the uniformity 
in the grade of the ore above alluded to, but 
they show the ores also to consist of three 
varieties, according to the amount of decompo- 
sition that has taken place, namely, limestone- 
carbonate ore, brown hematite, and an impure 
variety of red hematite. The carbonates ua- 
roasted average from 33 to 38 per cent, of me- 
tallic iron ; the brown and red ores contain as 
high as 50 per cent, of iron, the average being 
about 45 per cent. All of the ores are compar- 
atively low in phosphorus — two tenths of one 
per cent, being the usual amount, both in the 
ciirbouates and hematites. The sulphur is also 
low, amounting in many cases to scarcely more 
than a trace. The hematites contain none of 
the protoxide of iron. 

Any poor quality of iron made from these 
ores will be due to defective methods of manu- 
facture and not to the impurity of the ores. 

Railroads. — The county is now supplied with 
railroads which carry its products to all the im- 
portant markets of the world. 

The Allegheny Valley railroad with its con- 
nections opens up this county to the region of 
(he lakes and Canada. Southward it connects 
with the Pennsylvania railroad at Pittsburgh. 
Its Bennett's branch exteusion, 110 miles long, 
affords another outlet north and east, as well as 
also southward ; it occupies the Red Bank Val- 



318 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



ley, passing subsequently at easy grades across 
the mountain region of Jefferson and Clearfield, 
and on thence to Driftwood, where it intersects 
with the Philadelphia and Erie railroad. 

The Butler and Karns City narrow-gauge 
railroad starts at Parker City, on the Allegheny 
river, and follows thence up Bear creek across 
the oil fields of northern Butler. 

The West Pennsylvania railroad (standard 
gauge) occupies the valley of the Kiskiminetas 
river, whose lefl bank it follows until it crosses 
the Allegheny river above Freeport. It belongs 
to the Pennsylvania railroad system, and runs 
from Blairsville luterjunction to Pittsburgh. 
The Butler Branch of the West Pennsylvania 
railroad extends from Freeport to the county- 
seat of Butler. 

The question of slack water navigation ou 
the Alleglieny river has recently received some 
discussion, as also that of re-opening the old 
line of water communication between Pitts- 
burgh and the east. 

The Great Oiml War. — Armstrong county 
•was prompt in her response to Abraham Lincoln's 
call for troops when the Union flag went down 
on Sumter's shattered walls. On April 18, 
1861, Capt. Sirwell left with a company of one 
hundred and fourteen men for tiie seat of war, 
and four days later another company left which 
was followed in a short time by a company from 
Apollo, under Captain (afterwards General) S. 
M. Jackson. Camp Orr was soon established 
ou the fair grounds above Kittanning, where 
the 78th and 103d regiments were recruited and 
drilled. The 78th, commanded by Col. William 
Sirwell, left camp on October 14, 1861, and the 
103d, under Col. T. F. Lehman, went to the 
front on February 24, 1862. Citizens of Arm- 
strong county served in considerable numbers in 
the 8th, 9th and 11th Penn.sylvania Reserves, 
the 2d cavalry and 62d, 78th, 103d, 139th, 
155th, 159th (14th cavalry), aud 204th (Fifth 
artillery) regiments, Pennsylvania Volunteers. 
The county was also represented in forty-five 



other Pennsylvania regiments. According to 
an accurate calculation of Col. Sirwell, Arm- 
strong county furnished three thousand six hun- 
dred and fifty-two men to the Union armies 
during the war. Over fifly-seven thousand 
dollars were paid from the county treasury for 
relief of soldiers' families, and thirty-three thou- 
sand dollars were paid for bounties. 

Religious. — In 1802 there were two (Presby- 
terian) churches on the west side of the Alle- 
gheny river, and sixteen years later Sunday- 
schools were organized. By 1850 the churches 
had increased to sixty-five in number. lu 1876 
there were in the county over one hundred 
churches, of which twenty-nine were Lutheran, 
twenty-four Presbyterian, nineteen Methodist 
Episcopal, thirteen United Presbyterian, twelve 
Reformed, ten Baptist, some German Baptist 
and several Catholic. The Armstrong County 
Bible society was formed September 15, 1828. 

Educational. — Armstrong had as good sub- 
scription schools from 1800 to 1838 as any of 
the western counties of Pennsylvania, and her 
public schools since 1838 have continually in- 
creased in number and efficiency, until now they 
will compare favorably with the schools of any 
county in the State. Of the early teachers and 
schools. Superintendent A. D. Glenn, in his valu- 
able centennial school sketch of the couuty, 
states that he could obtain but little information. 
Teachers' institutes were held as early as 1856, 
and the first county institute was held in April, 
1858. Tlie Dayton Soldiers' Orphan school 
was opened November 1, 1866, witli Rev. T. M. 
Elder as principal. The following academies 
in the county were opened at the dates : Kit- 
tanning academy, 1820 (ceased 1866) ; Freeport 
academy, 1 836 ; Glade Run academy, Novem- 
ber 1, 1851 ; Dayton LTnion academy, April, 
1852 ; Leechburg academy, 1855 (burned down 
1876); and Elderton academy, 1864. Slate 
Lick classical institute began its work in 1865, 
and Plum Creek Normal school ran from 1874 
to 1877, while Doeville seminary was a useful 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



319 



institution for several years. Lambeth college 
was incorporated by the court in December, 
1868, and existed until 1876. In May, 1868) 
Columbia university (a continuation of Kittan- 
ning university) was opened at Kittanning, but 
in two years was closed. 

Journalism. — The first paper in the county 
was The Western Eagle, which was estab- 
lished at Kittanning, by Capt. James Alex- 
ander, on September 20, 1810. Twenty-three 
years later William Badger issued the Olive 
Branch, at Freeport, and November 6, 1835, 
the first number of the Laeon was issued at 
Apollo. The Leechburg Enterprise was estab- 
lished in 1873 and the Dayton News made its 
appearance on November 10, 1882. The 
present press of the county comprises the follow- 
ing weekly papers: Armstrong Democrat and 
Sentinel, Armstrong Republican, County Stand- 
ard, Globe, Times and Union Free Pi-ess, of 
Kittanning; Herald, of Apollo; News, of Day- 
ton ; Journal, of Freeport; Advance, of 
Leechburg, and Phenix, of Parker City. 

The Bar. — The Armstrong county bar com- 
pares favorably with the bars of the other 
counties of western Pennsylvania, and will re- 
ceive more extended mention in the history of 
Kittanning. 

Medical Profemio)i. — The medical profession 
is well represented in Armstrong county and its 
prominent members will receive mention in the 
borough and town histories. 

Political History. — In place of township and 
county elections, we give the vote of the county 
cast at every Presidential election since the 
people have had the right to vote for president : 

Popular Vole of Armstrong County at Presidential 
Elections from 1824 to 1888. 

1824. Republican . . Andrew Jackson .... 286 

Coalition . . . John Q. Adama 16 

Republican . . William H. Crawford . . 6 

Republican . . Henry Clay 1 

1828. Democratic . . Andrew Jackson .... 1,133 

Nat. Rep., . . John Q. Adams 169 



1832 


Democratic . 


. Andrew Jackson . . 


. . 1,437 




Anti-Masonic 


. William Wirt . . . 


. . 429 


1836 


Democratic . 


. Martin Van Buren . 


. . 1,528 




Whig. . . . 


. William H. Harrison 


. . 1,014 


1840 


Democratic . 


. Martin Van Buren . 


. . 1,744 




Whig. . . . 


. William H. Harrison 


. . 1,260 




Liberty . . . 


. James G. Birney . . 




1844 


Democratic . 


. James K. Polk . . . 


. . 1,983 




Whig. . . . 


. Henry Clay .... 


. . 1,453 




Liberty . . . 


. James G. Birney . . 


. . 38 


1848 


Democratic . 


. Lewis Ca?s 


. . 2,120 




Whig. . . . 


. Zachary Taylor . . . 


. . 2,030 




Free Soil . . 


. Martin Van Buren . 


. 141 


1852 


Democratic . 


. Franklin Pierce . . . 


. 2,430 




Whig. . . . 


. Winfield Scott . . . 


. 2,093 




Free Dem., . 


. John P. Hale .... 


. 142 


1866. 


Republican . 


. John C. Fremont , 


. 2,963 




Democratic . 


. James Buchanan, . . 


. 2,680 




American . . 


. Millard Fillmore . . 


. 188 


1860. 


Republican . 


. Abraham Lincoln . . 


. 3,355 




Democratic . 


. John C. Breckinridge 


. 2,108 




Cons't Union 


. John Bell 


. 50 




Ind. Dem. . 


. Stephen A. Douglas . 


5 


1864. 


Republican . 


. Abraham Lincoln . . 


. 3,526 




Democratic . 


. George B. McClellan 


. 3,331 


1868. 


Republican . 


. Ulysses S. Grant . . 


. 4,082 




Democratic . 


. Horatio Seymour . . 


. 3,412 


1872. 


Republican . 


. Ulysses S. Grant . . 


. 4,297 




Dem. & Lib. 


. Horace Greeley . . . 


. 2,078 




Democratic . 


. Charles O'Connor. . 






Temperance . 


. James Black .... 




1876. 


Republican . 


. Rutherford B. Hayes . 


. 4,613 




Democratic . 


. Samuel J. Tilden . . 


. 3,821 




Prohibition . 


. Green Clay Smith . . 


. 19 




Greenback . 


. Peter Cooper 


1 


1880. 


Republican . 


. James A. Garfield . . 


. 4,721 




Democratic . 


. Winfield S. Hancock 


. 3,991 




Greenback . 


. James B. Weaver . . . 


. 375 




Prohibition . 


. Neal Dow 





1884. 


Republican . 


. James G. Blaine . . 


. 4,685 




Democratic . 


. Grover Cleveland . . . 


. 3,591 




Prohibition . 


John P. St. John . . . 


. 275 




Greenback . 


Benjamin F. Butler . . 


. 156 


1888. 


Republican . 


. Benjamin Harrison . . 


. 5,030 




Democratic . 


. Grover Cleveland . . . 


. 3,703 




Prohibition . 


Clinton B. Fisk . . . . 


. 193 




Greenback . 


. Alson J. Streeter , . . 


14 



Census Statistics. — Population of Armstrong 
county at each census from 1800 to 1890: 1800, 
2,399; 1810, 6,143; 1820, 10,324; 1830, 
17,701; 1840, 28,365; 1850, 29,560; 1860, 



320 



GEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



35,797; 1870, 43,382; 1880, 47,641; 1890, 



Colored populatiou from 1 800 to 1 890 : 1800, 
0; 1810,4; 1820, 42; 1830, 96; 1840, 112; 
1850, 129; 1860, 178; 1870,179; 1880, 278; 
1890, . 

By the census of 1820 there were in Arm- 
strong county: 1,146 spinning-wheels, 244 
looms, 1 fulling-mill, 4 hatterles, manufac- 
turing 1000 hats; 1 nailery, making 2,500 
])0unds of nails; 16 blacksmith shops, doing 
$8,000 worth of work; 21 distilleries, making 
63,000 gallons of liquor ; 4 potteries, 29 wheat- 
mills, grinding 87,000 bushels of wheat; 11 
saw-mills, cutting 550,000 feet of lumber. 
There were in the county 1,821 horses and 
4,689 neat cattle. 

By the census reports of 1880 Armstrong 
county had 4,026 farms, containing 378,960 
acres. In 1879 the following amounts of 
grain were raised from the number of acres 
given : 

Orain. Acres. Bushels. 

Buckwheat. . . 7,713 87,935 

Rye 9,535 79,165 

Oats 31,370 749,437 

Corn 24,684 753,509 

Wheat 27,967 228,743 

There were 3,463 acres of meadow which 
yielded 27,878 tons of hay and also five acres 
of tobacco which made a yield of 2,730 pounds 
of that article. There were in the county 
10,342 horses, 14,159 milch cows, 18,272 other 
cattle, 34,814 sheep and 30,975 swine. There 
were two hundred manufacturing establish- 
ments with an invested capital of nearly 
$2,000,000 and employing over 1,000 hands. 

Population of Minor Civil Divisions of Arm- 
strong County, from 1850 to 1880. 

Township or Borough I860. 1860. 18T0. 1880. 

Allegheny 2,506 2,406 2,539 

Apollo 331 449 764 1,156 

Aladiu 49 

Bethel 871 



1 Township or Borough 

' Bogga 

Brady's Bend 

Burrell 

Cowanshannock... 

Dayton 

East Franklin 

Elderton 

Freeport 

Gilpin 

Hovey 

Kiskiminetas 

Kittanning (bor.) 

Kittanning 

Leechburg 

Madison 

Mahoning 

Manor 

Manorville 

North BuflFalo 

Parker City 

Parks 

Perry 

Pine 

Plum Creek 

Queens town 

Red Bank 

South Bend 

South Buffalo 

Sugar Creek 

Valley 

Washington 

Wayne 

West Franklin.... 
Worthington 



2,325 
1,31'8 



I860. 

1,890 

833 

1,964 



3,619 

964 

2,246 



1,073 



196 
1,691 



1,451 

235 

1,640 



2,430 
1,561 
1,175 



1,151 
775 
916 



2,080 
1,696 
1,237 
359 
1,440 
1,446 
1,210 



1,175 



1,728 
1,889 
1,504 

368 
1,621 
1,402 
1,071 

330 
1,057 



799 
3,849 
2,215 



1,980 
1,266 
1,266 

1,688 



1,348 



991 
1,521 
1,817 

119 
1,305 
1,571 
1,571 
1,101 
1,552 

988 
1,576 

213 

213 



3,877 
1,642 
1,738 

201 
1,341 
1,633 
1,633 
1,023 
1,821 
1,180 
2,028 
1,098 

216 



1880. 

1,010 
2,340 
1,047 
2,611 

579 
1,695 

299 
1,614 
1,190 

589 
1,698 
2,624 
1 681 
1,123 
1,950 
1,930 
1,508 

327 
1,216 
1,835 

715 
1,309 

728 
1,996 
217 
1.667 
1,151 
1,715 
1,018 
1,861 
1,489 
1,567 
1,129 
186 



Allegheny township and Aladin borough have 
passed out of existence and the census returns 
of 1890 could not be obtained at this writing. 

Population of Early Townships from 1810 
to 1840. 



1810. 

Pine 

Kittanning 1,197 

Buffalo 1,150 

Clarion 

Toby 611 

Perry 

Kittanning (bor.). 309 

Sugar Creek 1,113 

Red Bank 943 



1820. 


1830. 


1840. 






1,227 


976 


1,029 


1,323 


1,597 


2,458 


1,820 




2,067 


2,239 


1,156 


1,362 


1,829 




853 


1,112 


318 


526 


702 


1,482 


1,873 


1,852 


2,042 


1,660 


3,078 



ARMSTRONG COVifTY. 



321 



1810. 

Plum Creek 

Allegheny 820 

Wayne 

Monroe 

Madison 

Franklin 



1820. 

1,340 
1.413 



1830. 

1,456 

2,%6 

878 



1840. 

2,216 
1,839 
1,875 
1,151 
1,305 
1,713 



Villages and Population, 1880. 

Atwood (Cowanshannock)... 149 

Brady's Bend (Brady's Bend) 1010 

Buffalo (West Franklin) 77 

Clayton or Girty (South Bend) 44 

Clinton (South Buffalo) 127 

Cowansville (East Franklin) 77 

Craigsville (West Franklin) 100 

Deauville (Madison) G9 

Duncan ville ( Madison) 30 

Eddyville (Red Bank) 52 

Kellersburg (Madison) 58 

Laneville (South Buffalo) 206 

Meenanville (South Buffalo) 52 

Milton (Red Bank) 100 

Mt. Tabor (Red Bank) 23 

Mouth of Mahon (Pine) 146 

NewSalem (Red Bank) 80 

NorthFreedom (Red Bank) 144 

Rimerton (Madison) 127 

Rural Valley ...(Cowanshannock) ... 183 

South Bend (South Bend) 54 

Stewartaon's Furnace... .(Pine) 299 

Templeton (Pine) 163 

Watersonville (Washington) 144 

Whitesburg (Plum Creek) 60 

Oil exdtememt. — The northwestern part of 
the couuty lie.s in the " Lower Oil Field.s " aud 
the belt of the Third Oil .sand crosses the Alle- 
gheny river from Clarion county, above Parker 
City, stretching thence across Hovey township 
into Butler county. The " Fourth sand " belt 
trending nearly east and west is at Brady's 
Bend. South from this locality and across the 
Brady's Bend anticlinal no oil has yet been 
discovered, either at the horizon of the " Third " 
or " Fourth " sands, or at any other horizon 
within a distance of two thou.sand feet below 
the surface. It would therefore appear that 
the oil-producing area is confined to the region 
west of the Brady's Bend anticlinal axis. 



We quote concerning the first oil well in the 
county from Henry's " History of Petroleum " : 

" In the wiuter of 1864—65 the oil excitements 
of the upper and lower Oil creek regions were 
at their height, and Mr. William D. Robinson 
very earnestly conceived the idea that oil depos- 
its existed in the region of his third of a cen- 
tury's residence. He had examined and care- 
fully noted the then generally received opinion 
of ' surface indications,' and soon reached the 
conviction that oil could be found there. He 
purchased thirty-six acres of the old homestead 
farm, lying on the Allegheny river and now 
forming a portion of Parker's Landing. This 
thirty-six acres of land ho made the basis of a 
stock company. In the spring of 1865 he com- 
menced his first well under the auspices of this 
company, and this was the first oil well drilled 
at Parker's Landing. The embarrassment at- 
tending the first eflbrt to find oil at Parker's 
Landing may be estimated by those familiar 
with new territory. All the machinery for the 
new well had to be boated from Pittsburgh or 
Oil City, and there was neither derrick nor de- 
velopment between these two points, fifty and 
sixty miles from a machine shop, if a break 
occurred. Pittsburgh, Oil City, or Titusville, 
were the nearest points for repairs. It re<juired 
the entire summer of 1865 — nearly .six months 
— to complete this well. In October, 1865, 
the sand pump brought up the unmistakable 
evidence of a ' third ' sand, or oil rock. The well 
was tul)ed and started oif at about ten barrels 
per day." 

Progress and Development. — In the history 
of the territory of Arm.strong county, the pioneer 
period of 1781 to 1800 was a war period full of 
dangers from the Indians. From 1800 to 1825 
was a period of great improvement. The single- 
story round-log cabin of the frontier, standing 
in a deadened clearing, had been succeeded by 
the respectable two-story hewn-log house, sur- 
rounded by cultivated fields and waving grain. • 
The bridle-path aud pack-horse road had been 



322 



OEOLOOICAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF 



transformed into the more commodious emi- j 
grant road, which had in turn given place to 
county and State pikes; while thfe hand-mill 
and tub-mill were replaced with the water-power 
grist-mill. During the days of the pack-saddle 
paths and early roads the necessaries of life 
commanded high prices, a bushel of salt being i 
worth four dollars, and a pound of iron twelve 
cents. Luxuries commanded extravagant fig- 
ures ; a pound of coffee sold for a dollar, and a 
yard of calico for half that amount. 

From 1825 to 1860 was the period of char- 
coal irou manufacture, during which time also 
the salt industry was developed and reached the 
height of its prosperity. Substantial stone and 
good brick dwellings succeeded the hewed log 
houses, and the A.llegheny Valley R. R. was built 
during the latter years of this period. The devel- 
opment inaugurated by the building of railroads 
and the introduction of coke as a fuel in the 
manufacture of irou was checked in 1861 when 
the late civil war commenced. During that 
great struggle the sons of Armstrong county 
won for themselves, under McClellan, Sherman, 
Sheridan and Grant, a highly honorable and 
imperishable war i-ecord. About the close of 
the war came the oil excitement, which was fol- 
lowed some ten years by an era of railroad 
building which will not be completed until the 
great coal, iron ore and fire-clay beds of the 
county are fully developtnl. 

The old log subscription school-house, which 
also answered for a preaching-place, ha.s long 
since disappeared, but, in its stead, on every 
hill and in every valley, the spire and dome of 
church and school appear, indexing the upward 
tendencies and onward progress of the age. 

Armstrong is one of the richest minei'al 
counties in the Union, its great coal beds 
average four feet in extent and underlie almost 
the entire surface of the county, while a very 
rich deposit of canuel coal nine feet thick is 
within its borders. Limestone, building-rock 
and roofing slate wath traces of lead are fouud 



in the northern part where salt-water, oil and 
natural gas are to be obtained. Iron-ore, 
limestone and fire-clay are abundant in almost 
every section of the county and valuable beds 
of mineral paint are said to exist in some of the 
townships. The county, while wonderfully rich 
in minerals, is not backwards in agriculture, for 
it possesses a productive soil and ranks as one 
of the foremost agricultural counties of the 
State. 

The growth of its manufacturing interests 
has been commensurate with the development of 
its material I'esources. The Kittauuiug rolling- 
mill, the sheet-iron and carbonized steel mills 
of P. Laufmau & Co., of Apollo, and the 
rolling-mill at Leechburg are leading iron in- 
dusties of the State as well as of Armstrong 
county. 

The Graff and the Rumberger woolen-mills on 
Buffalo creek will compare favorably with the 
woolen manufacturing establishments of any 
section of the State; while Reese's silica fire- 
brick works and the Wick China-ware potteries 
of Kittanning are the largest works of their 
kind to be found in the United States. Rock 
quarries, cement beds and glass sand deposits 
exist in many places throughout the county. 
The coke industry is in its infancy, but will 
soon attain to respectable dimensions through 
the labors of Capt. Albert Hicks and other 
public-spirited and progressive citizens. A 
detailed account of all these resources and in- 
dustries will be found in the township histories. 

Miscellaneous. — " Gen. Armstrong purchased 
from the proprietors of the then Province of 
Pennsylvania 556J acres with the usual allow- 
ances. The tract wa.s surveyed to him by virtue 
of a proprietary letter to the secretary, dated 
May 29, 1771, on November 5, 1794. The 
patent for that tract bears date March 23, 1775. 
It is thus described : ' A certain tract of land 
called Victory, containing five hundred and 
fifty-six and one-half acres and the usual allow- 
ances, including the Indian town and settle- 



A RMSTR OXG CO UNTY. 



323 



ment called Kittanniug.' That tract of laiul, 
with other property, was devised by the will of 
Geii. Armstrong, proven July 25, 1797, to his 
two sons, John and James." 

The Armsti'ong county Bible society was 
formed at the court-house on Monday, Septem- 
ber 15, 1828, when Thomas Hamilton was 
chosen president and James E. Brown, secre- 
tary. In 1841 it made an effort to distribute 
Bibles and Testaments in every township and 
during the Centennial year it sought to supply 
every family in the county with a Bible. 

In 1850 Armstrong county had : grist-mills, 
21; saw-mills, 1.3; salt-boiling establishments, 
12; carpentering and building establisliment.s, 
5; maiui factories of brick, 9; manufactories of 
tin and siieet-iron ware, 3 ; manufactories of 
woolen f:d)rics, 3; manufactories of nails, 1; 
rolling-mills, 2; furnaces for making iron, 6; 
iron foundries, 2; tanneries, 8. 

" At a Court of General Quarter Sessions of 
the Peace, held at Rol)ert Ilanna's, Esquire, for 
the county of Westmoreland, the sixth day of 
April, in the thirteentii year of the reign of our 
Sovereign Lord, George the third, by tlie grace 
of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, 
King, Defender of the Faith, etc. And in tiie 
year of our Lord one thousand seven iiundred 
and seventy-three, before William Crawford, 
Esquire, and his associate ju.stices of the same 
court. 

" The court proceeded to divide the said county 
into the following townships by the limits 
and descriptions hereinafter following, viz. :• 

"Fairfield . . . Donegal . . . Huntingdon . . . 
Mount Pleasant . . . Ilempfield . . . Pitt . . . 
Tyrone . . . Spring Hill . . . Manallan . . . Ros- 
traver . . . Armstrong. Beginning where the 
line of the county crosses the Conemach" — 
nearly midway between the Conemaugh Fur- 
nace and Sang Hollow, on the Pennsylvania 
Railroad — "then running with that river to the 
line of Fairfield, along that line to the Loyal 
Haunon, then down the Loyal Hauuon and the 
20 



Kiskiminetas to the Allegheny, then up the Al- 
legheny to the Kittanning, then with a straight 
line to the head-waters of Two Lick or Black 
Lick creek, and thence with a straight line to 
the beginnino;. " 

The Holland Laud company owned large 
tracts of land in Armstrong county, as well as 
in Indiana and other counties of Pennsylvania, 
and its history will be found on page 6G of this 
work. 

In 1828 Armstrong county paid $3625 for 
the scal])s of wolves and panthers that were 
killed within the borders of the county. 

Tiie Pensioners for Revolutionary and Mili- 
tary services in Armstrong county in 1840 
were: Peter Yungst, Daniel Davis, Addy An- 
derson, David Shields, John Brown, Thomas 
Meredith, Henry Davis, Sarah Smith, James 
McCaine, James Buchanan, Martha Stone, Jo- 
seph Everet, Gideon Gibson, Hugh Callen, Sr., 
Samuel Austin, John Wilson, Sr., Mary Soli- 
day, Isaac Steel, Sr., Daniel Gould, Ezekiel 
Lewis, Manassas McFadden, Joseph McDonai<l, 
Henry Reefer, William Hill, Samuel Murphy, 
Margaret Laughrey, John Sipe, Eleanor Ray- 
burn, Andrew Daugherty, Killian Briney, John 
Davis, Sr., Michael Hartinan, Sarah Williard, 
Michael Truby, James Walker, Thomas Tay- 
lor, Robert Patrick, Sr. 

The Pennsylvania canal entered Arm- 
strong county nine miles above Apollo, and 
crossed the Kiskiminetas to its north bank, 
which it followed to the Allegheny, and cross- 
ing the latter river by an aqueduct, followed the 
Allegheny for one and one-half miles below 
Freeport, where it left the county. The Indi- 
ana and Kittanning turnpike runs northwest 
through the county to the Butler county line. 

The timber of the county is black, red, white 
and rock oak, chestnut, hickory, ash, walnut, 
sugar maple, elm and cherry. 

By Act of Assembly, March 12, 1800, the 
county-seat was to be located not farther than 
five miles from "Old Kittanning Town," and 



324 



OEOLOaiCAL AND HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



John Craig, James Sloan and James Barr were 
appointed trustees to receive the title for the 
land for the public buildings. In 1803, 
James ^Latthews and Alexander Walker were 
appointed in place of Craig and Barr, and 
Walker having declined to act, it devolved upon 
Sloan and Matthews to locate the county-seat 
and organize the county. They selected the 
present site of Kittauning, and on December 17, 
1804, received a deed for 150 acres of Gen. 
Armstrong's "Victory" tract from his 
sons, Dr. James and John Armstrong. This 
land was given by the Armstrongs in view of 
enhancing the value of the remainder of their 
tract. 

Armstrong was attached to Westmoreland 
county for several years after its organization. 
It was organized for judicial purposes in 1805, 
and the first court was held in a log house on 
the site of the Reynolds house in Kittanning, 
with Samuel Roberts as president and James 
Barr, Robert Orr and George Ross as associate 
judges. 

The scenery of the Allegheny Valley is so 
beautiful and impressive, as to have received 
high praise at the hands of Bayard Taylor, 
Dom Pedro and other noted travelers, who 
have passed over the Allegheny Valley Rail- 
road. 

In 1818 there were only two post-offices in 
the county and seventy years later (1888) the 
following offices were in the county : 

Adams, Adrian, Apollo, Arnold, Atwood, 
Barnard's, Belknap, Blanco, Blanket Hill, 
Brady's Bend, Brattonville, Bryan, Cochran's 
Mills, Cowansville, Craigsville, Dayton, Dean- 
ville. Dime, Echo, Eddy vi lie, Elderton, Foster's 
Mills, Freeport, Girty, Goheenville, Gosford, 



Greendale, Kaylor, Kellersburg, Kelley's Sta- 
tion, Kittanning (c. h.), Leechburg, Logans- 
port, Long Run, McHadden, McVill, McWil- 
liams, Mahoning, Manorville, Muff, North 
Buffalo, North Freedom, Oakland, Oak Ridge 
Station, Olivet, Parker's Landing, Phoenix, 
Pierce, Putneyville, Queeustown, Rimer, Ross- 
ton, Rural Valley, Schenley Station, Shady 
Plain, Sherrett, Slate Lick, South Bend, Spring 
Church, Sydney, Templeton, Top, Walkchalk, 
West Valley, Whitesburg, Widnoon, Worthing- 
ton. 

In 1820 there were 20 stores in the county, 
which had increased to 79 in number in 1840. 
In 1876 there were 358 wholesale and retail 
dealers on the mercantile appraisers' list. 

The Armstrong county Agricultural society 
was organized in 1855, and existed until 1857, 
when it went out of existence after it held two 
very successful fairs. 

By resolutions of Congress two surveys of 
the Allegheny river have been made: one in 
1829 and the other in 1837. 

In 1863 the first telegraph line was erected, 
and now telegraph lines extend along every 
railroad. 

As Armstrong county is rapidly nearing the 
threshold of the second century of her exist- 
ence as a political division of Pennsylvania, let 
not her people forget the obligations which rest 
upon them as individuals, to do each his part in 
the future, to secure the continued prosperity of 
their county and the happiness of their fellow- 
citizens. Let the people of Armstrong county 
rejoice in their arts and industries, in their fields 
and mines, in their homes, their schools, their 
churches, and, above all, in their Christian 
civilization. 




BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



KITTANNING. 



Historical and Descriptive. — Kittanning is 
one of the most important centres of trade and 
industry in the Alleglieny Valley, as well as 
being one of the most attractive towns of western 
Pennsylvania. Around its site and name 
cling romantic memories of Indian and Itevolu- 
lionary times. 

Kittanning is a word of Indian origin de- 
rived from Kithanne, signifying the main 
stream, and aa-ording to the Moravian mission- 
ary Heckewelder, Kittanning is corrupted from 
Kithanniek, which comes from Kithanne. 
Kittanning was the metropolis of the Allegheny 
Valley when it was under Indian rule. When 
the French and Indian war broke out it became 
one of the principal points from which the 
French and Indians sent out war parties to 
harass the white settlers of the Cumberland and 
Juniata valleys. 

Kittanning was a trii)le town of the Dela- 
wares, as their wigwams and cabins were 
divided into the upper, lower and middle vil- 
lages. In 1756, Armstrong burned it and its 
site lay waste until a fort was erected by the 
whites for the protection of the frontier. In 
1791, James Claypoole built a cabin at what is 
now the northwest corner of Arch and Water 
streets, but becoming afraid of Indians aban- 
doned his clearing and went to Pittsburgh. 
Robert Brown, Patrick Dougherty and Andrew 
Hunter were the first permanent settlers of Kit- 



tanning. The town was laid out in 1803, by 
Judge George Ross, was incorporated in 1821. 

In 1804, Samuel Massey located at Kittan- 
ning to practice law, and Joseph Miller, James 
McClurg and David Reynolds had opened 
stores, while David Crawford had a blacksmith 
shop, and Michael Mechling and David Rey- 
nolds were conducting taverns. The post-oflice 
was established in 1807, with Joseph Miller as 
postmaster, and a glance at the list oftaxables 
of the town for that year, which is given in the 
list of early settlers of Armstrong county will 
show thediiferent kinds of business which were 
then carried on in the town. In 1820 there 
were over fifty houses, and ten years later the 
place contained ninety dwellings and ten stores, 
and at the present time has a population of 
over 3,000 inhabitants. 

The town of Kittanning was laid out and 
surveyed by Judge George Ross in 1803 and 
was dividetl into 248 in-lots and twenty-seven 
out-lots. Kittanning was incorporatetl as a 
borough by Act of Assembly, April 2, 1821, 
and its original boundaries were cvteuded May 
4, 1844, March 20, 1849, April 2, 1850, and 
March 31, 1860. The original streets were 
Water, Jefferson, McKean and Back (changed 
in 1868 to Grant), which were intersected l)y 
High, Vine, Arch, Market, Jacob, Mulberry 
and Walnut streets. 

On August 27, 1826, a fire company was 

325 



326 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



formed and a fire-engine was purchased which 
answered until 1854, when the burning of 
Pinney's carriage factory aroused the citizens to 
the necessity of securing a larger engine. The 
new engine cost $2500, but was not adequate 
for the suppression of large fii-es, and in 1 87 1 the 
borough contracted with the Kittanning Water- 
works company to put twenty-three fire-plugs 
down in their water pipes in the borough for 
$2800. This arrangement has enabled the citi- 
zens to cope successfully with tires ever since. 

The Kittanning Temperance society was or- 
ganized August 18, 1830, and existed until 
1854. The Masonic Lodge, No. 244, was con- 
stituted March 12, 1850; Odd Fellows' Lodge 
340, March 31, 1849; and K. of P. Lodge, 
No. 296, May 10, 1871. The independent 
military organizations have been the Armstrong 
Guards, Independent Blues, Washington Blues, 
Armstrong Rifles, German Yagers and Brady 
Alpines. 

Hand-wi'ought nails were made by John 
Miller in 1812 and the first foundry was started 
in 1843. In 1805 Abraham Parkinson built 
a hand-mill, which answered for grinding until 
water-power mills were erected. Arnold's 
steam grist-mill was built' in 1834. 

The chain ferry established in 1834 was 
succeeded in 1856 by a wooden bridge, which 
was blown down on May 12th of the latter year, j 
A second wooden bridge was immediately built 
and lasted until 1874, when it was replaced by 
the present handsome iron bridge which spans 
the river and cost $60,000. The first steam- 
boat which arrived at Kittanning was the 
"Albion", commanded by Capt. Pursall. It came 
on April 11, 1827, and on February 20, 1828, 
the Pittsburgh and Wheeling packet arrived. 
On June 18, 1835, fifty delegates from seven 
counties of the Allegheny Valley met at Kit- 
tanning its an improvement convention, but 
failed in organizing a company to improve the 
Allegheny river. The Allegheny Valley rail- 
road was opened for business to Kittanning on 



January 29, 1856. On October 10, 1871, a 
meeting was held to raise money for the suffer- 
ers of the great Chicago fire and nearly $1500 
was secured and forwarded. In March, 1837, 
and in March, 1875, terrific ice gorges occurred 
on the river and for a short time each of them 
threatened to sweep the town away. The 
highest water flood was on March 17, 1865. 

Between eleven and twelve o'clock Sunday 
night March 9, 1828, Kittanning experienced a 
lively earthquake shock which lasted about two 
minutes. 

From 1806 to 1822 the Presbyterian congre- 
gation was supplied by Rev. Joseph Henderson 
and other ministers. August 31, 1822, the 
Kittanning Presbyterian church was organized 
with twenty-one members. The Lutheran 
church was organized in 1820 and the Method- 
ist Episcopal church about the same time. In 
1824 St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal church was 
organized. The United Presbyterian church was 
organized Sept., 1845; the Associate Reformed 
church, March 23, 1850; St Mary's Catholic 
church about 1851-53; the First Christian 
church (Campbellite) 1853; and the Reformed 
(St. Luke's) church, August 30, 1869. 

Adam Elliott in 1805 opened the first school 
ever taught in the towu. The subscription 
schools were succeeded by the free schools and 
the borough to-day has a very fine school build- 
ing and a well graded public school. Its 
academies and colleges have been noticed in the 
educational history of the county. 

The first court-house was built about 1809 
on the southeast coruer of Market and Jefferson 
streets and was a two-story brick structure 
which cost $7,859.19. In 1852 its successor, 
a two-story brick building, was erected at the 
head of the easterly extension of Market street, 
and was destroyed by fire on the 10th of March, 
1858. 

"The third and present court-house was 
erected by Hulings & Dickey, on the site of 
the burned one, in 1858-60, at a cost of about 




W^A'^^ZIi^^—rr^^ 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



329 



thirty-two thousand dollars. It is a substantial 
building, partly of brick and partly of stone, of 
'the Corinthian order of architecture. Its sides 
front nearly west and east. There is an elegant 
portico on its west front, witii stone columns; 
and capitals, and all parts of that oAler, the 
whole resting on an arcade of cut stone. The 
dimensions of this edifice are 105 feet by 65 
feet. A beautiful cupola or dome, highly or- 
namented, crowns the centre, with a large bell 
therein suspended. The first story, which is 
reached from the western side by a flight of 
stone steps of the same length as the portico, is 
divided into a cross hall, with a floor laid with 
English variegated tile, grand-jury and witness 
rooms, the commissioner's, prothonotary's, regis- 
ter and recorder's, sheriff's and county treas- 
urer's offices, three of which offices are substan- 
tially fire-proof. The court-room is in the 
second story." 

In 1.S05 a good two-story stone jail was erected 
on a lot near the Methotlist Episcopal church. In 
1853 a new two-story stone jail was erected, to 
which was attached a two-.«tory brick structure 
for the jailer's resilience. 

" The jail and sheriff's house are built to- 
gether, the entire length being one hundred and 
fourteen feet by fifty feet in width. The jail 
is two stories in height, contains twenty-four 
cells, each 8x14, thirteen feet in height, hall 
18x68. A cast-iron balustrade, three feet in 
width, projects from the second tier of cells 
and extends entirel}' around the hall. The 
sheriff's house contains nine roinns, including 
dining-room and kitchen ; the jail doors are 
four inches thick, made of oak with boiler- 
iron between, firmly bolted together ; the 
windows are protected by one and one-half 
inches round iron. The foundations — seven 
feet in width — are sunk to the solid rock, 
tw«nty-four feet below the surface. The entire 
structure, including cornice, window-caps and 
tower, are of fine-cut stone from the Catfish 
quarry, in Clarion county. 



"The sheriff's house is furnished with all 
the latest modern improvements — bath-rooms 
on both floors, gas and hot and cold water 
throughout the building. The cupola rises 
one hundred and eight feet from the ground. 
James McCullough, Jr., of Kittanning, was 
the architect, and superintended the erection 
of (he building. It was erectetl in 1870-73, 
at a cost of $268,000. From its cost and color 
it has been euphoniously dubbed the ' White 
Elephant.'" 

Tiie press of Kittanning is progressive and 
ever watchful of the interests of the county. 
Its pioneer was Tlie Western E(i(/le, established 
on September 20, 1810, by Capt. James Alex- 
ander. The next paper was the Columbian and 
Advertiser, which was founded in 1819 by 
Frederick and George llohrer, and was niei'ged 
with the Kittanning Gazette, a sheet that was 
established in 1825 by Josiah Copley and John 
Croli. The Gazette was successively known as 
the Democratic Press (1841) and Kittanning 
Free Press, and in 1864 bet^ame the present 
Union Free Press. In 1830 Judge Buffington 
founded the Armstronr/ Advertiser and Anti- 
Mcmonic Free Press, which passed out of exist- 
ence three years later. The Armstrong Demo- 
crat was established June 4, 1834, and is now 
the Armstrong Republican. The Mentor was 
founded in 1862, and two years later became 
the present Democratic Sentinel. The Centen- 
nial was started in 1874, while the Valley Tiinea 
was transferred from Freeport to Kittanning, 
May 6, 1876. 

Some of the citizens of Kittanning .served in 
the war of 1812, while many soldiers of the late 
war went from the borough. The Kittanning 
Insurance company was organized in 1853, the 
Kittanning Gas company was incorporated in 
1858 and the Kittanning Water company was 
chartered in 1866. The Kittanning Cemetery 
company was chartered February 18, 1853, and 
in 1858 purchased the ground of the present 
Kittanning cemetery, which contains over fifteen 



.•530 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



acres adjoining the borough, and is tastefully 
laid out into avenues and lots. 

" The Kittauning mineral spring is situated at 
the base of the hill, near the court-house. Issu- 
ing from the shales directly above the Buhrstone 
ore, the water contains such ingredients as would 
be liberated by chemical reaction, either from 
the Buhrstone stratum or from the ore masses 
contained in the shale. Lime is its principal 
ingredient, both as bicarbonate and sulphate ; 
and containing also some magnesia, the water is 
said to act in medicine as an alterative. Its iron 
gives to it a mild tonic effect. The physicians 
of the town highly indorse the spring, and by 
some of the residents, who speak from actual 
experience of its properties, it is rated no less 
high. Prof Genth, of the University of Pennsyl" 
vaaia, analyzed a sample of the water which 
had been sent to him for that purpose, by Mr- 
11. AV. Smith, with the following results : One 
gallon of 231 cubic inches : 

"Sulphate of alumina, 1.52753 ; sulphate of 
ferrous oxide, 24.49271 ; sulphate of magnesia, 
26.84937 ; sulphate of lime, 65.12190 ; sulphate 
of soda, 8.72585; sulphate of potash, 0.90762 ; 
phosphate of lime, 0.11036 ; bicarbonate of lime, 
16.05445 ; bicarbonate of manganese, 0.24629 ; 
chloride of sodium, 0.64741 ; and silicic acid, 
1.17201 ; total, 145.85550." 

Kit tanning is forty-four miles from Pitts- 
burgh, and its chief industry is the iron trade. 
The hills surrounding are full of coal and iron 
ore, and its blast furnaces use for power natural 
gas, which is supplied by strong wells. The 
iron ore mines employ 700 men, while it re- 
quires 300 to run the furnaces. The Wick 
China ware works employ a strong force of 
hands and ship their ware to different parts of 
the United States. The town besides these in- 
dustries has two plan ing-m ills, two- fire-clay 
works, two brick yards and two flouring-mills. 
It is lighted with gas, has three banks, four 
hotels, an opera house and a fine union school 
building. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



"riEN. ROBERT ORR. The late Judge 
^ Robert Orr was born in Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania (probably in Hannas- 
town), upon March 5, 1786. His father, whose 
name descended to the subject of our sketch, 
had been one of the defenders of the Pennsyl- 
vania frontier, had enjoyed .some official dis- 
tinction in Westmoreland county, and was one 
of the earliest pioneers of Armstrong county 
west of the Allegheny. His mother's maiden- 
name was Fannie Culbertson. Coming with 
his parents to what was then almost the verge 
of the iniiabited portion of the country while 
still a minor, Robert Orr entered upon his man- 
hood as a pioneer, and had considerable exper- 
ience in that rugged condition of life for which 
the strong alone were fitted. His boyhood had 
Ijeen passed in a region which afforded educa- 
tional and other opportunities scarcely in 
advance of those he found in sparsely-settled 
Armstrong county. The young man resided 
with his parents in Sugar Creek township for a 
few years, and in 1805, when the county was 
organized for judicial purposes, came to Kittau- 
ning to serve as deputy for his brother John, 
who was the first sheriff of the county. Sub- 
sequently he studied and followed surveying, 
and in still later years was appointed deputy 
district surveyor. 

"Gen. Orr inherited from his father the 
strongest spirit of patriotism and a fondness for 
military pursuits. When the war of 1812 broke 
out he was very naturally found among the 
defenders of our country, and renderetl valuable 
services. History states that the second brigade 
of the army rendezvoused at Pittsburgh on 
October 2, 1812, — where the subject of this 
sketch was elected major, — and left that place 
the same fall under command of Gen. Crooks 
to join the northwestern army under Gen. Har- 
rison, on the Miami river, where Fort Meigs 




Jldrnt 



tf-r 




ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



333 



was afterward built. At Upper Sandusky they 
were joined by a brigade of militia from Vir- 
ginia. From that place Maj. Orr, by the di- 
rection of the general, took charge of the 
artillery, munitions, stores, etc., and set off with 
about three hundred men to headquarters of 
Gen. Harrison. While on the march he was 
met by an express from Harrison, Ijringing in- 
formation of the defeat of Gen. Winchester on 
the River Raisin, and requesting him to bring 
on his force as rapidly as possible. After con- 
solidation with the balance of the army from 
Upper Sandusky, they proceeded to the rapids 
of the Miami (Maumee), where they remained 
until the six-months term of duty of the Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia militia had expiretl. 
Gen. Harrison then appealctl for volunteers to 
remain fifteen days longer, until he should re- 
ceive reinforcements from Kentucky. Maj. 
Orr and about two hundred other Pennsylvan- 
ians did volunteer and remained until they were 
discharged, after the battle of Fort Meigs, upon 
April 19, 1813. 

" It was not long after Gen. Orr's return from 
Fort Meigs that he received his first honor in 
civil life. He was elected to the legislature in 
1817. He .served two terms in that body and 
was then (1821) sent to the State senate to rep- 
resent the large, but comparatively thinly-set- 
tled, district composed of the counties of Arm- 
strong, Warren, Indiana, Jefferson, Cambria 
and Venango, the latter county including much 
of the territory now in Clarion. After serving 
one term he was led to enter the contest for 
election to Congress, and doing so, defeated 
Gen. Abner Lacock. He thus became the rep- 
resentative in the nineteenth and twentieth Con- 
gresses of the district composed of x4.rm8trong, 
Butler, Beaver and Allegheny counties. In the 
legislature, in the State .senate and in the Con- 
gress of the United States he served satisfac- 
torily to his people and with unwavering integ- 
rity of purpose. 

"Later in life Gen. Orr was appointed by the 



governor associate judge of Armstrong county 
and .served very acceptably to the people. He 
retained his interest in military affairs and was 
active in the militia organizations of western 
Pennsylvania, thereby acquiring the rank and 
title of general. 

" After all, it was not in official life that Gen. 
Oi r was greatest or that he was most useful to 
his people. He was one of those men who 
needed not the dignity of office to give him a 
name among his fellow-citizens, or to command 
their love or respect. Debtor never had better 
creditor than Robert Orr. When those to 
whom he sold were embarras.sed and could not 
meet their obligation.s, he extended their time 
and gave them easier terms. With many indi- 
viduals this was done again and again, until at 
last they were able to i)ay. Gen. Orr never 
dispossessed a man of property on which he was 
toiling to discharge his indebtedness. Of^en 
the sons of the men who contracted with him 
for lands completed the payment for them. He 
was uno.stentatiously and judiciously charitable 
throughout his life. He did much to advance 
the interests of the school and church, and for 
many years prior to his death was a member of 
the Presbyterian church. 

"Gen. Orr's whole life was identified with 
Armstrong county. For about three years 
(1848-52) he resided in Allegheny city, and 
for a short time, about 1845, he lived at Orrs- 
ville (mouth of Mahoning), but the greater 
number of his years were pas.sed in Kittanning. 
He was interested in and helped to advance 
almost every local public improvement inaug- 
urated during his time. Laboring zealously 
for the construction of the A. V. R. R., he 
lived to realize his hope in that direction and to 
see the wealth of his county practically in- 
crea.sed by its mineral and agricultural resources 
being made more easily available to the ase of 
the world. 

"In politics Gen. Orr was a democrat. He 
used his influence and contributed liberally of 



334 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



his meaus to assist the organization of the mili- 
tary, and the camji where the 78th and the 
103d regiments rendezvoused was appropriately 
named in his honor. His appearance upon the 
ground, when tiie soldiers were encampetl there, 
was always the signal for an ovation, or at least 
hearty cheers, and all who knew him gathered 
round him to shake the hand of the old soldier 
of 1812. 

"Upon May 22, 1876, this grand, good old 
man passed away at his residence in Kittan- 
ning, after a lingering but not severe illness, 
' full of riches, full of honors and full of years.' 

"Gen. Orr was married in 1836 to Martha, 
sister of the late Judge Robert C. Grier, of the 
United States supreme court, who died Decem- 
ber 7, 1881. Two children were the otfsjjrlng 
of this propitious union — Grier C. Orr, Esq., 
and Fannie E. Orr. The last-named, of most 
estceme<l memory, died March 14, 1882, after 
a brief illness. " 



UTJON. JOSEPH BUFFINGTON, for 
J-A many yeare judge of the ' old tenth ' 
district, and whose life was intimately connected 
with the history of Armstrong county, was born 
in the town of West Chester, county of Chester, 
on the 27th of November, 1803, and died at 
Kittanning on the 3d of February, 1872. The 
ancestor's of Judge Buffington were Quakers or 
Friends, who left England several years before 
William Penn, and in 1677, five years before 
the arrival of Penn, we find one of them, Rich- 
ard Buffington, among the list of 'tydables' at 
Upland, which same Richard was the father of 
the first-born child of English descent in the 
Province of Pennsylvania. From Hazard's 
' Annals,' page 468, as well as from the Punn- 
syhrmia Gazette from June 28th to July 5th, 
1 739, we learn that, ' on the 30th of May past, 
the children, grandchildren and great-grand- 
children of Richard Buffington, Sr., to the 
number of 115, met together at his home in 



Chester county, as also his nine sous and daugh- 
ters-in-law and twelve great-grandchildren-iu- 
law. The old man is from Great Marie, upon the 
Thames, in Buckinghamshire, in Old England, 
aged about 85, and is still hardy, active and of 
perfect memory. His eldest son, now in the 
60th year of his age, was the first-born son of 
English descent in this Province.' 

" The second son, Thomas, was born atout 
1680, and dietl in December, 1739. He was 
married to Ruth Cope, and, among other ciiil- 
dren, left a son, William, who was first married 
to Lena Ferrce, as appears in Rupp's ' History 
of Lancaster county,' page 112, and afterwards 
to a second wife, Alice, whose maiden-name is 
unknown. By this .second wife there was born, 
in 1736, a .son Jonathan, who died October IS, 
1801. This Jonathan Buffington was the grand- 
father of Judge Buffington. He owned and 
operated a grist-mill, which is .still standing at 
North Brook, near the site of the battle of the 
Brandywine. At the time of that battle (Sep- 
tember, 1777), his mill was taken jJossession of 
by the British troops, and the non-combatant 
Friend compelled to furnish food for the 
British. 

" .Jonathan Buffington was married to Ann 
(born 1739, died June 16, 1811), daughter of 
Edward and Ann Clayton. Their third child, 
Ephraim Buffington, was born March 23, 
1767, and died December 30, 1832. Ephraim 
Buffington was married to Rebecca Fi-ancis 
March 4, 1790, at the Old Swedes church, 
Wilmington, Delaware. He kept a hotel at 
West Chester, at a tavern stand known as the 
' White Hall,' a venerable hostelry, and well 
known throughout that region for many years. 
It was here that Judge Buffington was born 
and lived until his tenth year, when his father, 
in hopes of bettering his fortunes in the then 
West, left Chester county, came over the 
mountains and settled at Pine creek, about five 
miles above Pittsburgh, on the Allegheny river. 
When about eighteen years of age he entered 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



337 



the Western university at] Pittsburgh, then 
umler the charge of Dr. Bruce, at which place 
he also enjoyed the instructions of the venera- 
ble Dr. Joseph Stockton. After finishing a 
liberal course of studies, he went to Butler, 
Pennsylvania, and for sometime prior to study- 
ing law, edited a weekly newspaper called the 
Butler Eepusitory, and, in company with Sam- 
uel A. Purviance, — afterward a well-known 
memlier of the Allegheny County bar and attor- 
ney-general of the Commonwealth — he engaged 
in keeping a small grocery-store. Soon after- 
ward he entered, as a student of law, the office 
of Gen. AVilliam Ayers, at that time one of the 
celebrated lawyers of western Pennsylvania, 
under whose careful training he laid a thorough 
foundation for his chosen life-work. During 
his student-life he married Miss Catherine 
Mechliiig, a daughter of Hon. Jacob Mechling, 
of Butler county, a prominent politician of that 
region, and for many years a member of the 
House of Representatives and the Senate of 
Pennsylvania. Mrs. Buffington survived her 
husband, <lyiug September 11, 1873. They left 
no children, their only child, Mary, having died 
in infancy. 

" In Jidy, 1826, he was admitted to practice 
in Butler county, and in the Supreme Court ou 
September 10, 1828. He remained at the But- 
ler bar f(jr about a year, but finding that the 
business was largely absorbed by older and more 
experienced practitioners, he determined to seek 
some new field of labor, and finally decided 
upon Armstrong county, to which he removed 
and settled at Kittanning, where he continued 
to reside until his death. Shortly after his 
coming he purchased from his preceptor, Gen- 
eral Ayres, the lots on Water street, which 
afterward became his home, and on which he 
built the old home.stead. 

" Though the first years of his professional 
life were full of hardship and narrow means, 
yet his industry, integrity and close application 
soon brought him to the front of the bar. He 



was con.stantly in attendance upon the courts of 
Clarion, Jeifenson, Armstrong and Indiana, and 
his services were often in demand in other coun- 
ties. He was connected with all the important 
land trials of these regions, and his knowledge 
of this intricate branch of the law was thorough 
and exhaustive. 

" Upon coming to manhoinl. Judge Buffing- 
ton took a strong interest in politics. At the 
inception of the anti- masonic party in 1831, or 
thereabouts, he became one of its members, and 
served as a delegate to the natioual convention of 
that body, which met at Baltimore in 1832, and 
nominated William Wirt for the presidency. In 
1840 he became a whig, taking an active part in 
the election of Gen. Harrison and serving as 
one of the presidential electors on the whig 
ticket. 

" In the fall of 1843 he was elected a member 
c)f Congress as the whig candidate in the district 
composed of the counties of Armstrong, Butler, 
Clearfield and Indiana, his competitor being Dr. 

: Lorain, of Clearfield county. In 1844 he was 
again elected in the same district, his com- 
petitor being Judge McKennan, of Indiana 

j county. During his membership of the house 
he voted with the whigs on all important meas- 
ures, among; others voting aiiaiiist the admission 
of Texas on the ground of opposition to the ex- 

• tension of slave territory. 

" His feliow-towusman and warm personal 
friend, Hon. W. F. Johnston, having been 
elected governor, he appointed Mr. Buffington 
in 1849 to the position of president-judge of the 
eighteenth judicial district, composed of Clarion, 
Elk, Jefferson and Venango counties. This 
position he held until 1851, when he was de- 
feated in the judicial election by Ilcm John C. 
Knox, the district being largely democratic. 

"In 1852 he was nominated by the whig 
State convention forthe judgesiiip of the supreme 
court. In the general overthrow of the whig 
party, which resulted in the defeat of Gen. 
Scott for the presidency. Judge Buffington was 



338 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



defeated, his competitor being the late Chief 
Justice Woodward, of Luzerne county. 

" The same year he was appointed by Pres- 
ident Fillmore chief-justice of Utah territory, 
then just organized, but declined to accept the 
proffered honor. 

" In the year 1855, on the resignation of 
Hon. John Murray Burrill, judge of the Tenth 
District, he was appointed to that position by 
Gov. Pollock, with whom he liad been a fel- 
low-member of Congress, In the fall of 1856 
he was elected to fill the position to which he 
hud been appointed, for a term of ten years. 
In 1871 failing health admonished him that 
the judicial labors, already too great for any 
one man to perform, were certainly too severe 
for one who had passed the meridian of life 
and had borne the burden and heat of the day. 
It was, indeed, hard for him to listen to the 
demands of a feeble frame; but, sustained by 
the consciousness of duty well done, and cheered 
by united voices from without, proclaiming his 
life mission to the public nobly performed, he 
left the busy scenes of labor and retired to pri- 
vate life after forty-six years' connection with 
the bench and bar of the Commonwealth, to 
the thoroughness and industry of which the 
State reports of Pennsylvania bear silent, but 
eloquent testimony. Surrounded by friends 
and every comfort of life, the following year 
passed quickly; but, as in the case of many an 
overworked professional man, the final sum- 
mons came without warning. On Saturday, 
February 3, 1872, he was in his usual health, 
and, rising from dinner, he went to an adjoin- 
ing room, across which he commenced walking, 
as was his custom. His wife, coming in a few 
moments later, found him lying peacefully upon 
the sofa in the sleep of death. He was buried 
according to the services of the Episcopal 
church, of which he had been an attendant, 
ofiScer and liberal supporter for many years. 
He was buried in the cemetery at Kittanning, 
where his resting-place has been marked by a 



substantial granite monument, — a fitting em- 
blem of the completeness of his own life." 



MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN ARMSTRONG, 
the hero of Kittanning, was one of Wash- 
ington's bravest and most successful generals. 
He was born in the north of Ireland in 1725, 
and some time between 1745 and 1748 he be- 
came a settler in the Kittatinny Valley, west 
of the Susquehanna river, then the frontier of 
Pennsylvania and on the confines of civiliza- 
tion. He was well educated, and followed his 
profession of surveyor in his new-world home. 
In 1750 he and a Mr. Lyon laid out Carlisle, 
and four years later he was sent by Gov. 
Morris as a commissioner to Connecticut in 
regard to a land trouble between the Indians 
and Connecticut settlers in Wyoming Valley, 
Pa. In 1765 Mr. Armstrong surveyed and 
opened a road from Carlisle to the " Three 
Forks" of the Youghiogheny river, over which 
supplies were to be carried to Braddock's army. 
After Braddock's defeat he enlisted as a private 
in a frontier comjiany, but in January, 1756, 
was elected captain, and on May 11th of the 
same year was commissioned lieutenant-colonel. 
In the summer of 1756 he comanded the 
exjieditiou against the Indian village of Kit- 
tanning, which has made his name famous for 
all time to come in American history, and 
which is given in detail in the historical sketch 
of the county. In 1757 he served on the fron- 
tier, was commissioned colonel on May 27, 
1758, and commanded the advanced division 
of the Pennsylvania troops in Forbes' expe- 
dition against Ft. Duquesne. He was a tower 
of strength on the frontier during Pontiac's 
war, and on the 30th of September, 1763, led 
a very successful expedition against the Indian 
towns on the west branch of the Susquehanna. 
He was the first brigadier-general commis- 
sioned (March 1, 1776) by (he Continental 
Congress. He served at Ft. Moultrie, in 



AEMSTRONG COUNTY. 



339 



Charleston harbor, and on April 5, 1877, was 
com missioned major-general by the Supreme 
Council of this State. He commanded the 
Pennsylvania Militia at the battles of Brandy- 
wine and Germautowu. He was sent to Con- 
gress in 1778, and again in 1787. His public 
career closed with his last term in Congress, 
and he spent the remainder of his life at Car- 
lisle. 

His son, Major-General John Armstrong, 
Jr., was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, No- 
vciiilH'r 25, 1758, and died at Red Hook, New 
York, April 1, 1843. He served in (he Revo- 
lutionary war, was the author of the celebrated 
" Newburg Letters," and was secretary of war 
in 1814, but was obliged to resign because he 
did not prevent the capture of Washington 
City by the Britisli, in August of that year 
Another of his .sons, Col. Henry B. Armstrong, 
fought gallantly in the war of 1812. 

Gen. John Armstrong was a member of the 
Presbyterian church, and was largely instru- 
mental in establishing the first church which 
was organized at Carlisle, in 1757. On Marcli 
9, 1795, the spirit of the grand old hero left 
its tenement of clay, and passed into the great 
beyond. His remains lie entombed in the old 
cemetery at Carlisle as yet without a suitable 
monument. 



HARRY A. ARNOLD. One of the most 
active and best business men of Kittanning 
is Harry A. Arnold, a prominent member of the 
Masonic fraternity and a leading representative 
of the most reliable fire insurance companies of 
the ITnited States and England. He is a son of 
Harry J. and Mary (Mechling) Arnold, and 
was born on Jefferson street, at Kittanning, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, November 17, 
1852, Prominent among the early business 
men and influential citizens of Kittanning 
borough and Armstrong county was Major 
Andrew Arnold, the grandfather of the subject 



of this sketch. He established an extensive 
tannery at Manorville, had large landed interests 
in the county and ranked as one of the wealthy 
men of his day. He was a man of talent and 
ability, as well as of business enterprise, and 
served with distinction as associate judge of 
Armstrong county for many years. An old- 
line whig and an ardent sui)p()rter of Henry 
Clay, he naturally was drawn into politics and 
became an able leader of the Whig party in his 
Congressional district. His wife was Isabella 
Parks, daughter of Robert Parks, an early 
settler and leading citizen. Their family con- 
sisted of two sons and two daughters. The 
eldest son was born at Kittanning and died there 
in 1862. Harry J. Arnold succeeded his father 
in charge of the Manorville tannery and the 
management of several productive farms. In 
addition to these lines of business he sought for 
a wider field of labor, and accordingly embarked 
in the mercantile business at Kittanning and be- 
came one of the owners and operators of Dudley 
furnace, four miles distant from Parker. He 
inherited his father's financial ability and ranked 
high among the able and successful business 
men of the county. A democrat in politics, he 
was elected treasurer of Armstrong county and 
served most acceptably until the end of his term- 
He was a member of high degree in the Masonic 
fraternity ; was very charitable, and was popu- 
larly known as the poor man's friend. He 
married Mary Mechling, daughter of Philip 
Mechling, a large property holder of Kittanning. 
She died and left two children, Harry A. and 
Belle. For his second wife he married Mary 
Crum, who bore him two daughters. Elizabeth, 
the eldest, is the wife of T. W. Young, a large 
oil producer, and the younger daughter married 
C. N. Royce, superintendent of the Green Line 
Oil road. 

Harry A. Arnold received his literary educa- 
tion in the public .schools of Kittanning and 
Princeton college, and to thoroughly fit himself 
for a business career in life he attended and took 



340 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



the full commercial course of Duff's college, 
Pittsburgh, from which he was graduated in 
1870. His first employment was as a clerk for 
Campbell, McConnell & Sou, with whom he re- 
mained for three years. He then went to Parker^ 
Pa., where he had an interest in several oil wells, 
and was a successful oil producer for six years- 
At the end of that time he came to Kittanning, 
where he was in the employ of J. A. Gault in 
tlie mercantile business for two years. He then 
(spring of 1880) embarked in his present life 
and fire insurance business. He is agent for the 
Equitable Life Insurance company, but makes a 
specialty of fire insurance and represents many 
of the old line and standard companies of both the 
(lid and the new world in this important branch 
of insurance wliich renders its patrons safe from 
less by fire. Mr. Arnold is a republican in 
politics, a member of the First Presbyterian 
church of Greensburg, Westmoreland county 
Pa., and is a Royal Arch Mason in Masonry 
He is secretary of his chapter, is well up in the 
work of the lodge and chapter and has fre. 
cpiently been deputized to give instructions in 
the beautiful, beneficent and moral teachings of 
Masonry in lodges and chapters of the order. 
He is conducting bis present business with skill, 
honesty and success, and large nu tubers of the 
prudent householders of the county are his 
patrons. 

Harry A. Arnold on April 19, 1882, united 
in marriage with Ida B. Luker, daugliter of 
Benjamin Luker, of Kittanning, and a former 
mei'cantile partner of J. A. Gault. To their 
union has been born one child, a son named Ben- 
jamin Luker Arnold, born in 1888. 



county, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1848, and is 
a son of George and Barbara (Shaffer) Aye. 
His pai'ents were natives of the Kingdom of 
Bavaria, now a part of the great German em- 
pire, and were life-long members of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran churcli, in whose faith they 
had been reared. They came to the United 
States about 1830, and located in Allegheny 
city. The father, George Aye, followed team- 
ing for ten years and then came to Manor 
township where he followed farming until his 
death, in 1870, at sixty-two years of age. The 
mother, Barbara Aye, who was a consistent 
Christian, died in March, 1890, when she had 
attained to her three-score and ten years. Mr. 
and Mrs. Aye were the parents of eleven chil- 
dren. 



FREDERICK AYE. Among the success- 
ful grocery firms of Kittanning is the firm 
of Fred. Aye & Co. The senior member of the 
firm, Frederick Aye, is one of the successful 
young business men of his town. He was born 
in the Third ward of Allegheny city, Allegheny 



WC. BAILEY, a member of the present 
• efficient and courteous board of commis- 
sioners of Armstrong county, and a substantial 
and influential farmer of Manor township, is 
a son of Jackson and Jane(Cunningham) Bailey, 
and was born on the old Bailey homestead, in 
Manor township, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, October 22, 1849. The Bailey family 
of Armstrong county traces its ancestry back to 
the Bailey family of Centre county, of which it 
is a branch. 

Richard Bailey, the paternal grandfather of W. 
C. Bailey, was born and reared in Centre coun- 
ty. Late in life he came to Armstrong county, 
where he purchased a tract of four hundred 
acres of land on the Allegheny river, three 
miles below Kittanning. He spent the re- 
mainder of his days in clearing and improving 
his land. He married a Miss Johnson, of 
Centre county, who bore him seven children, 
all of whom grew up to years of maturity. 
One of the sons was Jackson Bailey (father), 
who was born in Centre county, and came with 
his father to this county when a young man. 
He followed farming and stock-rais?ng, was 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



341 



one of the thrifty and substantial farmers of 
his community, and possessed many of those 
qualities of character which contribute to his 
success. He was a republican in politics and a 
presbyterian in religious faith, and died after a 
life of activity and usefulness. The record of 
his life is uneventful indeed so far as stirring 
incident or public position is concerned, but is 
still distinguished by the most substantial (juali- 
ties of character, and exhibits a long and honest 
career of private industry pursued with mod- 
eration and crowned with success. He was 
popular in his neighborhood for his many good 
qualities of head and heart. He married Jane 
Cunningham, a daughter of William Cunning- 
ham, a well-to-do farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Bai- 
ley were the parents of ten children, of whom 
nine are living. 

W. C. Bailey was reared on his father's farm, 
where he was trained to habits of industry and 
economy. He received his education in the 
common schools of his native township, and 
was successfully engaged in farming until 1885. 
In that year he was nominated for county com- 
missioner by the republicans, and was elected 
by a very respectable majority. At the end of 
his term of office, in 1887, his course of action 
in taking care of the county's financial interests 
had been so commendable to his own party, and 
so satisfactory to the public, that he received a 
re-nomination from the hands of the former 
and an increased majority over the previous 
election from the vote of the latter. He is now 
serving on his second term with every manifes- 
tation of continued popularity with the public. 

In 1881 he united in marriage with Mary 
Speer, daughter of Alexander Speer, a druggist 
of Sharpsburg, Allegheny comity. Their union 
has been blessed with one son and three daugh- 
ters: Ida, Florence, Laura and Richard. 

In politics Mr. Bailey has always been a 
republican. In religious belief he is a presby- 
terian, and is a member and trustee of his 
church of that denomination, in Manor town- 



ship. He is a member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, and the Junior Order 
of United American Mechanics. Active indus- 
try has been and continues to be with W. C. 
Bailey the habit of his life. His time is well 
occupied and equally well-ordered, and his 
work is done with due moderation, l)ut also 
with every preparation for success. 



JOSEPH & ORR BUFFINGTON. Josepii 
^ Buffiiigton, the senior member of the law 
firm of BufEngton & Butfington, of the Kit- 
tanning Bar, is a son of Ephraini and Margaret 
C. (Orr) Buffington and was born at Kittanning, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, September 5, 
185.5. The Buffington family is one of the old 
families of Pennsylvania which traces its an- 
cestry into the early days of Pennsylvania's 
colonial history. In 1677, Richard Buffington, 
who was a Quaker, and born at Great Marie, up- 
on the Thauies, in Buckinghamshire, England, 
about 1654, was resident at Upland, near the 
Delaware river. He was the father of the first- 
born child of English descent in the province 
of Pennsylvania. His second son, Thomas 
(born 1680, died 1739), was the father of Jona- 
than Buffington, who was born in 1736, mar- 
ried Ann Clayton, and died in 1801. Their 
third child, Ephraim, was born in 1767 and 
died in 1832. He married Rebecca Francis 
and kept the noted " White Hall Tavern " at 
We.st Chester. About 1813 he left Chester 
county and came west, settling at Pine creek, 
on the Allegheny river about five miles above 
Pittsburgh. One of his sons was Judge Joseph 
Buffington, and another was John Buffington 
(grandfather), who was born about 1799, and 
died March 31, 1832. He married Hannah 
Allison. His son, Ephraim Buffington (father) 
was born at Pine creek, near Pittsburgh, 
August 8, 1821. He received his education in 
Allegheny college, at Meadville, Pa., and Jef- 
ferson college, at Cannonsburg, read law with 



342 



BIOOBAPHTES OF 



his uncle, Judge Buffiugtou, was admitted to 
the Armstrong county bar, and practiced his 
profession for sevei-al years. He then retired 
from active practice in order to devote his time j 
to laud interests which demanded his attention, 
and gave his attention to the coal and oil busi- j 
uess, in which he was interested During the 
late war he served as a provost-mai'shal, and 
afterwards was connected for several years with 
the internal revenue service in which he was 
deputy collector for Armstrong county. He 
has always been a strong republican. He is an 
attendant of the Protestant Episcopal church. 
He married Margaret C. Orr, daughter of ex- 
Sheriif Chambers Orr, of South Bend, on the 
21st of January, 1845. They have six chil- 
dren, all of whom are living. 

Joseph Buffington attended the Lambeth and 
other schools of Kittanning, and in the fall of 
1871 entered Trinity college, from which insti- 
tution of learning he was graduated July 1875. 
He read law with Judge James B. Neale, of Kit- 
tanning, and Judge Logan, of Greensbnrg, was 
admitted to Armstrong county bar, September 
5, 1878, and formed a law partnership with 
Judge Neale, which lasted until the latter took 
his seat upon the bench in 1879. In 1881 he 
and his brother, Orr Buffington, formed their 
present law partnership under the firm- name of 
Buffington & Buffington. This firm is recog- 
nized as one of the foremost in practice in Arm- 
strong county. On January 29th, 1885, Mr. 
Buffington married Mary Alice Simonton, a 
daughter of Rev. Dr. Simonton, of Emmitts- 
burg, Maryland. As a lawyer, he has e.stab- 
lished a reputation for ability and success. His 
political connections have been with the repub- 
lican party, and he has taken an active part in 
advocating the measures and men of that organ- 
ization. 

Orr Buffington, the junior member of the 
firm, and a promising young member of the 
Armstrong county bar, was born at Kittanning, 
April 29th, 1858. He received his academic 



education in private schools of his native town, 
and entered Trinity college, from which he was 
graduated June, 1879. He read law with his 
brother, Joseph Buffington, was admitted to the 
bar in 1881 and immediately entered into part- 
nership with him in the practice of law, to 
which he devotes his time and close attention. 
He married, in 1882, Charlotte M. Hyde, a 
daughter of S. T. Hydo, a prominent lawyer of 
the New York city bar. They have three 
children : Morgan, Margaret and Sydney. 



AUSTIN CLARK, of Kittanning, is one who 
stands in the front rank of the many able 
and prominent lawyers of Armstrong county 
and western Pennsylvania. He is a son of Jo- 
seph and Pauline (Kelley) Clark, and was born 
in the then sherift's residence at Kittanning, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 20, 
1854. The founder of the Clark family of 
western Pennsylvania, of which the subject of 
this sketch is a member, was Capt. James Clark, 
a brave Revolutionary officer. After participat- 
ing in the battles of the great struggle which 
won the independence of the thirteen colonies 
or " seashore republics," he came to Westmore- 
land couuty about the time of the burning of 
Hannastown (1782) and helped to win the soil 
of western Pennsylvania from the power of the 
merciless Indian. He reared a family of chil- 
dren, among whose descendants are many honor- 
able and distinguished citizens of the great com- 
monwealth of Pennsylvania. One of his sons 
was William Clark (grandfather), who lived 
uear South Bend, in Armstrong county, where 
Clark's block-house or station once stood in In- 
dian times and was so named in honor of his 
father. William Clark was born in 1778 and 
died in 1823. He married Sarah Woodward, 
who was born in 1786 and died in 1821. One 
of their sons was James, the father of Judge Silas 
M. Clark, a justice of the]Supreme Bench of 
Pennsylvania, and another was Joseph Clark 



ARMSTRONQ COUNTY. 



343 



(father), who was born at South Bend, this 
county, March 3, 1813. He resided for a short 
time at Slielocta, where he built a hotel. In 
1842 he removed to Kittanning, kept the Prit- 
ner liotel and Nulton liouse and in 1850 went 
to Freeport as supervisor of the Pennsylvania 
canal. In 1852 he was elected sheriff of Arm- 
strong county, in wliich office he served for 
three years and then, iu recognition of his abil- 
ity, firmness, honesty, high standing with the 
people and useful services for his party, he was 
appointed by Gov. Packer in 1857 as revenue 
inspector of the port of Philadelphia. The ap- 
pointment gave general satisfaction and he dis- 
charged the duties of the office in a very com- 
mendable and praiseworthy manner. In 1865 
he returned to Kittanning, where he resided till 
his death, which occurred October 26, 1885. He 
was prominent in political life, was a life-long 
democrat, served as delegate to several State 
conventions of his party and possessed in a 
large degree the elements of political leadership. 
His name was above the breath of suspicion 
and never was coupled with bribery or corrup- 
tion. He was a member of the M. E. church 
and the Ma.sonic fraternity. He married Pau- 
line Kelley, who was born March, 1819, and 
died July 18, 1881. She was a daughter of 
Hon. Meek Kelley, who served as State sena- 
tor, afterwards was associate judge of Indiana 
county and married Jane Moorhead, a daugh- 
ter of Absalom Moorhead. Hon. Meek Kelley 
was an excellent surveyor and ran the boundary 
lines and laid outPotter and McKean counties, 
this State, into townships. Two of his sons, 
James and Pliny, were iu the Mexican war 
and the latter served as captain of a California 
company under Sheridan in the late war. Jo- 
seph and Pauline (Kelley) Clark were the par- 
ents of four sous and two daughters: Meek, 
Emma, who died in infancy; Sai-ah, died at 
seventeen years of age; Joseph, of Pittsl^urgh, 
who was the youngest enlisted soldier of the 
late war, being but twelve years and three 



months old when he was sworn into service ; 
Ney and Austin. 

Austin Clark received his education in the 
public schools of Kittanning, Blairsville acad- 
emy and the State Normal school at Indiana, 
Pa. He taught school for several terms, served 
as assistant principal of Blairsville academy and 
left the profession of teaching to engage in the 
study of law. He passed the preliminary 
examination and registered iu 1878 as a law 
student with his cousin, Silas M. Clark, of In- 
diana, Pa., who became, in 1882, a judge of the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In 1879 he 
came to Kittanning, where he completed his 
legal studies with Judge James B. Neale and 
was admitted to the bar of Armstrong county, 
on September 20, 1880. Immediately after ad- 
mission he entered upon the active practice of 
his profession, which he continued successfully 
until the present time, when he has a well estab- 
lished and extensive patronage. 

In politics he follows in the footsteps of his 
honored and respected father, and has always 
been an active advocate of the princi[)les of the 
Democratic party. He possesses judgment, de- 
cision and energy, the all-powerful qualities of 
political leadership and success. In 1888 he 
was a delegate to the National Democratic Con- 
vention of St. Louis that nominated Cleveland 
for prasident. Austin Clark has rapidly won 
his way to a prominent position in his profes- 
sion. He is a fluent and polished speaker, who 
wins attention by his well-chosen words, a log- 
ical and earnest reasoner who disarms prejudice 
by the fairness of his propositions and a deter- 
mined and persistent worker who wins success 
by his fertility of invention as well as the mas- 
terful array of his facts. 



HON. SAMUEL B. COCHRANE, prom- 
inent iu civil and educational affiiirs of 
Armstrong county, a member of the House of 
Representatives of Pennsylvania and one of the 



344 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



founders of the teachers' Review and Training 
school of Kittauuing, was boru ou his father's 
farm in Pine now Boggs (township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1860, and is 
a son of William and Mary S. (Quigley) Coch- 
rane. Samuel B. Cochrane is a lineal descend- 
ant of one of England's titled houses, through 
his paternal great-grandfather, William Coch- 
rane, who was the son of Sir John Cochrane. Wil- 
liam Cochrane was born in an eastern Penns}^- 
vania count}' and settled shortly after the Revo- 
lutionary war in wliat is now Armstrong coun- 
ty, where his son, James Cochrane (grandfather), 
was born. He owned a considerable l)ody of 
land and was an iron manufacturer. He was 
the leading member of the company who pro- 
jected Ore Hill Furnace, in 1845, and gave a 
fifty acre tract of land, upon which the above- 
named furnace was erected. He was a strong 
presbyteriau, a prominent man in his day and 
married Esther Gibson, a member of the large 
connection of Gibsons living in Armstrong and 
Indiana counties. One of their sons was Wil- 
liam Cochrane (father), who was born in Pine 
township, December 10, 1813, and died Febru- 
ary 6, 1876. He was a farmer by occupation 
and timght school for fifteen winters. He was 
a member and elder of Mt. Zion Presbyterian 
chui'ch, from the time when it was founded 
under the name of Lower Pine church. . He 
was a democrat until Lincoln's election, when 
he became a republican and strong anti-slavery 
man. He served nearly continuously as school 
director from the establishment of the Free 
School system until his death. He was a suc- 
cessfid business man and commanded the re- 
spect and esteem of the community in which he 
resided. He married Mary S. Quigley, a daugh- 
ter of William Quigley. Mr. and Mrs. Coch- 
rane were the parents of si.v sons and five 
daughters, of whom eight are living: James 
L., an extensive silver miner, in Montana; John 
Q., a member of the Armstrong county bar 
and justice of the peace at Apollo; C. C, 



formerly a teacher, but now with the Standard 
Oil company; H. K., in the U. S. railway mail 
service between Pittsburgh and New York; 
Jennie, wife of S. W. Hamilton, of Apollo ; 
Hon. Samuel B., and Nannie, a 

teacher in the Parker City schools. 

Samuel B. Cochrane was reared on a farm. 
He received his education in the common 
schools, Dayton academy, P^dinboro' Normal 
school, and Central college, Indiana, Pa., from 
which latter educational institution he was grad- 
uated in the scientific department in 1883. 
From 1877 to 1883 he taught in the common 
schools to obtain the means to educate himself. 
After graduating he became principal of the 
Cumberland schools of Indianapolis, Indiana, 
and in the year 1885 was elected principal of 
Ihe Freeport public schools of this county, 
which position he held for three years. In 
1888 he helped found the teachers' Review, and 
Training school of Kittanning, which opened 
its career of usefulness in 1889 with an attend- 
ance of two hundred and fifty students. 

He was elected as a member of the Pennsyl- 
vania legislature and served in that body on the 
important and hard-working committees on edu- 
cation, railroads and manufactures. His course 
as a legislator was so satisfactory to his party 
that he was re-norainated as the republican 
candidate in 1890. He resides with his 
mother, who lives one mile from Kittanning. 
Hon. Sanmel B. Cochrane is a member of the 
Jr. O. U. A. M., the I. O. H. and Master of 
Lodge No. 239, F. and A. M. He is an earnest 
republican and an active school man. He has 
made his own way in the world and has 
achieval honorable success and his present high 
standing by his own efforts. 



GEORGE T. CRAWFORD, a prominent 
and influential business man of Kittan- 
ning, and one of the successful oil producers of 
western Pennsylvania, is a descendent of the 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



34-5 



old and well-known Crawford family, which was 
one of the substantial and conspicuous Scotch- 
Irish families of Westmoreland county. He was 
born in Allegheny township, Westmoreland 
county, Pa., July 28, 1822, and is a sou of 
Major George Thompson and Elizabeth (Parks) J 
Crawford. The Crawfords are descended from 
George Crawford (grandfather), who came to 
Allegheny county, Pa., and purchased a fine 
body of farming land, which was iieavily un- 
derlaid with coal, along the Monongahela river, 
below McKeesport. He afterwards removed to 
Westmoreland county, where he bought the 
Pine Grove lands in Allegheny township, and 
erected a grist and saw-mill. He was a demo- 
crat, served as justice of the peace, and married 
Jane Beatty, by whom he had two sons and five 
daugliters. John, the eldest son, iidierited the 
Allegheny county estate, and Major George T. 
became heir to the Westmoreland county lands 
and mills. Major George T. Crawford was 
born January 17, 1799, and died September 13, 
1839, when in the very prime of life, with 
every indication of a long career of usefulness 
and lionor befi)re him. In addition to his farm 
and mills he operated a carding-machine and 
conducted a store. He was a Jacksonian demo- 
crat, served as justice of the peace and held a 
commission as major in a militia regiment. He 
was elected as a delegate from Westmoreland 
county to the constitutional convention which 
gave Pennsylvania the Con.stitution of 1838. 
In religious belief Major Crawford was a prcs- 
byterian, and a member and trustee of old 
Warren church of that denomination. He was 
a tall and shapely man of commanding appear- 
ance. His first wife was Elizabeth, daughter 
of Robert Parks, by whom he had six children : 
George T., Robert P., near Parnassus, Pa. ; 
Samuel, of Kittanning ; Sarah J. (deceased), 
wife of Hon. John V. Painter; John T. and 
James B. (dead). Mrs. Crawford died in 1833, 
and he afterwards married Louisa Cochran, 
daughter of Samuel Cochran, of Allegheny 
21 



Co., by whom he had one child, which died in 
infancy. Major Crawford was of Scotch-Irish 
descent, and possessed all the praiseworthy 
characteristics of that iron and self-willed race. 

George D. <Jrawford was educated in the old 
subscription schools, Dr. Kilpatrick's select 
school, and Jefferson college, at Cannonsburg, 
Washington Co., Pa. Leaving college, he 
taught school for one year and then engagetl in 
farming, which he followed for several years. 
He then, while retaining the general manage- 
ment of his farms and milling interests, em- 
barked in the mercantile business in Clarion 
county. Pa. Removing from Clarion county in 
1852, he became a partner with A. & H. J. 
Arnold in merchandising at Kittanning. He 
successfully pursued these ditferent lines of 
business until 1865, when the ever-flowing 
fountains of petroleum in Venango and Butler 
counties, of this State, began to attract the at- 
tention of capital and enterprise. He visited 
the last-named county, which is the greatest 
coal-oil region of the world, and being favor- 
ably impressed with its then newly-developed 
petroleum territory, he made investments and 
became one of its successful oil producei's. He 
is superintendent of the Branch Creek Oil com- 
2>any, has an interest in the Bear Creek Refin- 
ing company, and owns considerable stock in 
other fields. In 1852 he removed to Kittan- 
ning, where he has resided ever .since, and taken 
a deep interest in its welfare and prosperity. 
He is secretary and treasurer of the Kittanning 
Gas company, and treasurer and superintendent 
of the Kittanning Cemetery association. His 
time is principally devoted to the management 
and supervision of his various and extensive 
business enterprisa", from his farming interests 
in Westmoreland to his oil investments in But- 
ler county, this State. 

On Octol)er 5, 1859, he married Mary Eliza 
Portsmouth, daughter of John and Eliza Ports- 
mouth, who arc now residents of Kansas. Mr. 
and Mi-s. Crawford have three children, two 



346 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



sons and one daughter : James B., who is with 
the Oil Well Supply company of Pittsburgh, 
Pa. ; John Portsmouth, who is engaged in 
farming in North Dakota ; and Elizabeth 
Agnes. 

In politics Mr. Crawford is a republican, and 
very seldom fails to vote for all the nominees of 
his party. He is a member of the Masonic Frater- 
nity, and is a Royal Arch and Knigiit Templar 
Mason. He is a member and trustee of the 
First Presbyterian church of Kittanning, and 
served as a member of the building committee 
which erected the present splendid church edi- 
fice, which is fully in accord with "the festhetic 
taste of this age of progress and improvement." 
It is said to be one of the finest church struc- 
tures in Pennsylvania, and reflects great ci-edit 
on the fine taste and good judgment of its 
building committee. For over thirty-eight 
years Mr. Crawford has been a resident and 
respected citizen of Kittanning, with whose 
business interests he has been identified for 
many years. 



GEORGE B. DAUGHERTY. One of the 
most important branches of industry at the 
present day is tliat of the manufacture of fire- 
brick, and a deservedly popular as well as a 
leading plant in that line of business is the Av- 
enue brick-works of Kittanning. Its energetic 
proprietor, George B. Daughcrty, is a man of 
excellent business qualifications. He is a son 
of James and IMary (Elienger) Daugherty and 
and was born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, September 3, 1835. His pater- 
nal grandfatiier, Patrick Daugherty, came during 
the last years of the eighteenth century from Ire- 
land to the site of Kittanning. He was a flirmer 
and a catholic and traded considerably with 
the Indians. During the war of 1812 he en- 
listed in the American army, was stationed at 
Black Rock, N. Y., and witli four other 
soldiers crossed the lake, where he was shot and 



killed by the Indians. His remains were 
brought home and interred at Kittanning. He 
was the first soldier ever buried there with the 

1 honors of war. His nicely-made and finely- 
engraved steel-box, in which he carried flint 

1 and punk for kindling fires, is now in the posses- 
sion of the subject of this sketch. He had four 

1 daughters, whose combined ages were nearly four 
hundred years. James Daugherty (father) was 

, born on the site of Kittanning about 1800 and 
died March, 1855. He was a brick-layer by oc- 
cupation, but was largely engaged in brick-mak- 
ing and manufactured most of the brick used for 
building purposes at Kittanning for many years. 
He married Mary Ehenger, a native of Lancaster 
county, and reared a family of several sons and 
daughters. Mrs. Daugherty was a member of 
the Protestant Episcopal church and died in 
1880, at the advanced age of ninety -two years. 
George B. Daugherty was reared at Kittan- 
ning where he received his education in the 
public schools. Leaving school he assisted his 
father in the brick business until the death of 
the latter in 1855. In 1860 Mr. Daugherty 
established his presefnt Avenue brick-works and 
has been successfully engaged in the manufac- 
ture of brick ever since. 

In 1868 he married Agnes Hilberry, a 
native of Indiana county. They have eight 
children, four sons and four daughters : Wil- 
iam B., Alexander R., George H., John, Dora 
B., Lettie, Emma and Dellie. 

In politics Mr. Daugherty is a republican 
and besides serving several terms as a member 
of the town council has been overseer of the 
poor at Kittanning for the last thirty years. 
He is a member of Lodge No. 244, Free and 
Accepted Masons. He was instrumental in 
building the first county home tor the poor in 
Armstrong county and in various ways has con- 
tributed to the improvement of Kittanning. 
The Avenue brick-works cover quite an area 
and are equipped with first-class machinery. 
Mr. Daugherty employs a constant force of 



ARMSTR ONG CO UNTY. 



347 



twenty men and manufactures red-pressed and 
fire-brick, lime, cement, tile and chimney tops. 
He is always crowded with orders as his brick 
are a superior article and have in the market a 
high reputation for durability and excellence of 
manufacture. lu addition to brick juanufac- 
turing he has been largely engaged in contract- 
ing and building. He built the brick work of 
the Arm.strong and Clarion county jails, the 
Indiana couuty court-house and has built most 
of the large brick buildings of Kittaning 
which have been erected during the last twenty- 
five years. Besides his property at Kittanniug, \ 
he owns a farm of one hundred and twenty-nine 
acres of well improved land in Valley town- 
ship. He has always made the most of his op- 
portunities, has achieved success in his different 
enterprises and has been closely and promi- 
nently identified for over a quarter of a century 
with the business interests of Kittanning. 



GEORGE W. DOVERSPIKE, a respected 
and substantial citizen, a careful and re- 
liable business man and the capable and effi- 
cient cashier of the Farmers' National bank of 
Kittanning, is a son of Daniel and Margaret 
(Beck) Doverspike, and was born on his father's 
farm, on Mahoning creek, in Mahoning town- 
ship, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, March 
1, 1844. His paternal grandfather, John 
Doverspike, was a native of Germany, where he 
was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church, 
of which he was a strict member. In early 
life he came to this couuty, where he purchased 
a tract of land near Putneyville and followed 
farming. His wife was Catherine Knight, of 
Clarion county. Pa., who bore him four sons 
and one daughter. He assisted each of his sons 
to secure a good farm. The eldest son was 
Daniel Doverspike (father), who was born 
within one mile of Putneyville, January 9, 
1818, and is one of the prosperous farmers of 



that .section. He is a member and officer of 
the Lutheran church and a democrat, but 
takes no active part in politics. He married 
Margaret Beck, daughter of Daniel Beck, of 
this county. They have had five sons and four 
daughters, of whom eight are living. 

George W. Doverspike was reared near Put- 
neyville. He received his education in the 
common schools and Glade Run academy. 
Leaving school, he was engaged in farming for 
several years, during which time he taught four 
terms in the common schools. 

In 18(38 he came to Kittanning and was em- 
ployed by James E. Brown, and for several 
months was engaged in superintending wharf- 
ing, assisting in surveying of lands, and then 
served eighteen months as a clerk in the store 
known as the old iron store on Water street, 
run then in connection with the Kittanning 
Woolen-mills, and sleeping, while thus engaged, 
at night in " The First National bank building." 
From night watchman he was successively pro- 
moted to clerk, book-keeper and assistant cashier 
in that bank. Upon the organization of the 
Farmers' Bank, in 1884, he was elected as its 
cashier and has .served creditably in that im- 
portant position ever since. He has well im- 
proved his excellent opportunities for studying 
the science of bauking and is considered as a 
safe and conservative financier. 

On June 4, 1873, he married Margaret B. 
Hastings. They have one child, a daughter, 
named Anna B. Doverspike. Mrs. Margaret 
Doverspike is a daughter of William W. Hast- 
ings, who was born near Bellefonte, Pa., in 
1804, removed to Kittanning in 1824, and died 
Sept. 12, 1874. He was a tailor by trade, but 
was principally engaged during his life-time in 
the dry goods business. He was a republican 
and a presbyterian and served for two terms as 
county commissioner, including the time of the 
building of the present court-house. His wife 
was Margaret, daughter of David R. Johnston, 
an early settler at Kittanning and bore him 



348 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



eight children, of whom three are living: 
Susanna, Margaret and William B. 

In politics George W. Doverspike is a repub- 
lican. He is a member and elder of the First 
Presbyterian church of Kittanuing, of whose 
Sunday-school he is the efficient superintendent. 
He was a member of the committee which 
selected the present site of the church and, on 
account of his special fitness for the position, 
was placed on the finance committee, which 
secured the necessary means for the erection of 
the beautiful church structure in which the 
congregation now worships. 



WILLIAM W. FISCUS, the present popu- 
lar sherift' of Armstrong county, a 
wounded veteran soldier of the Army of the 
Potomac, and a well-qualified man for the duties 
of public life, is a son of Abraham and Eliza- 
beth (Martin) Fiscus, and was born on the 
Fiscus homestead, two miles north of Kittan" 
ning, in Valley township, Armstrong county 
Pennsylvania, May 30, 1844. The Fiscus 
family is of French origin and traces its ances- 
try back to France, from which country the 
paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch emigrated to the United States during 
the latter half of the eighteenth century. The 
paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, 
Abi'aham Fiscus, followed farming in West- 
moreland and Armstrong counties of this State. 
He owned a large farm in what is now known 
as Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland county. He 
afterwards removed to Armstrong county, was 
a stirring and active farmer and married Miss 
Aukaman, by whom he had several children. 
His son, Abraham Fiscus, was born in Burrill 
township, this county, in 1791 and died August, 
1858, when in the sixty-seventh year of his 
age. He was a farmer by occujjation, took great 
pride in keeping his farm neat and clean and 
was a popular man in the community in which 
he resided. He was a member of the Lutheran 



church, a republican in politics and served as 
one of the first officers of Valley township when 
it was organized in 1 855. He served as a soldier 
j in the war of 1812 and was on the northwestern 
' frontier under the command of Gen. William 
! Henry Harrison. His first wife was a Miss 
Ourie, of Armstrong county, who bore him 
seven children, of whom six are living. After 
her death he married Elizabeth Martin, who was 
a daughter of John Martin, a well-to-do farmer 
of what was then Allegheny township, this 
county, and died in 1859, aged about sixty -eight 
years. By his second marriage he had eight 
children, of whom the subject of this sketch is 
the fifth in order of age. 

William W. Fiscus was reared in his native 
township and received his education in the com- 
mon schools and a select school near Leechburg, 
which he attended for one year. In 1862, at 
the age of eighteen years, he enlisted in Co. 
\ C, 139tli regiment, Pennsylvania Vols., was 
I wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg and 
after being in the hospital for some time was 
discharged. In the early part of the autumn of 
1864 he enlisted in Co. H, 204th regiment of 
Pa. Vols., and served until the close of the war, 
when he was mustered out of the United States 
service on June 18, 1865. He participated in 
I all the skirmishes and engagements in which his 
regiment was engoged and always discharged in 
a satisfactory manner all duty which fell to a 
. soldier's lot in a camp, during the march or on 
i a battle-field. After the war he was engaged for 
about nine years in mining and then entered the 
rolling-mill at Leechburg, where he was a heater 
for eight years. In 1884 he was a republican 
candidate for treasurer of Armstrong county 
and was elected by a handsome majority. He 
filled that office with satisfaction during his 
term. In 1888 he was nominated for sheriff, 
ran away ahead of his ticket and was elected by 
a majority of nine hundred and forty-five to suc- 
ceed a democratic incumbent of that office. As 
sheriff he has conscientiously endeavored to serve 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



349 



the best interest of the county and its citizens, 
and according to public opinion has made a very 
good record. All public moneys ever entrusted 
in his hands have always been faithfully and 
accurately accounted for by him. A man of 
good judgment and recognized business ability, 
he is active and clear-headed in whatever he 
undertakes, and has made a conscientious and 
successful public official. He is a member of j 
Apollo Lodge, No. 437, A. Y. M., of Mineral 
Point Lodge, No. 615, 1. 0. 0. F., J. A. Hunter 
Post, No. 126, G. A. R., Encampment No. 62, 
U. V. L., and a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. He is a strong republican and an , 
active worker for his party. He has the inter- i 
ests of labor at heart, and always worked for 
the true rights of the laboring class, was for 
many years a member of the Amalgamated Iron 
and Steel association, and was elected a delegate 
to national conventions of that body held in 
Cleveland, 1881, Chicago, 1882, and Philadel- 
phia, 1883. I 

On the 26th day of December, 1865, he united 
in marriage with Mary E. Ross, a daughter of 
Joseph E. and Elizabeth (Beck) Ross, of Arm- ! 
strong county. To Mr. and Mrs. Fiscus have 
been born ten children, of whom eight are living : 
Barbara B., a graduate of Indiana Normal 
school, an artist of considerable ability and now 
a student of medicine; Mary E., a student in 
the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, 
Mass.; William W., Jr., assisting his father; 
Calvin C, Carl P., Ross E.and Moss P. (twins) ! 
and Narka E. 

William W. Fiscus has been the architect of 
his own fortune, and by honorable means has 
ac(juired a competency of this world's goods and 
a prominent place in the confidence and esteem 
of his fellow-citizens. 



GEORGE M. FOX, proprietor of the oldest 
undertaking and embalming establish- 
ment at Kittanning, is one of the undertakers, 



who nobly went to the aid of the Johnstown 
sufferers in 1889, and without pay helped pre- 
pare the dead for burial. He is a son of George 
and Alice (Hildebrand) Fox, and was born at 
Leechburg, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
October 2, 1836. Of the different Fox families 
scattered throughout western Pennsylvania, and 
that were resident west of the Allegheny moun- 
tains prior to the present century, was the one 
from which George M. Fox is descended. His 
grandfather, John Fox, was a native of Ger- 
many, and came to this county, where he fol- 
lowed blacksmithing until his death in 1820. 
George Fox (father) was born in Armstrong 
county in 1800 and died at Clinton in 1869. 
He was a boatman on the Pennsylvania canal 
from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and when the 
oil excitement came he engaged in boating oil 
down the Allegheny river. After some years 
he left the oil region and then spent a portion of 
his time in fishing in the Allegheny and Kiski- 
minetas rivers. He was an old-line whig until 
the organization of the Know-Nothing party 
when he became a democrat. He was an 
attendant of the Presbyterian church, and mar- 
ried Alice Hildebrand, who was born at the 
arsenal in Pittsburgh, in 1808, and died in War- 
ren county, June 14, 1888. They had thirteen 
children : George ]SL, William, May lona, 
George W^., John, Annie, Harriet, Angeline, 
Maggie, Susan, David, Alice and one which 
died young. Mrs. Fox's father, Comey Hilde- 
brand, was a native of England, came early 
in life to Pittsburgh, where he was in the garri- 
son for a while and then settled at Freeport, at 
which place he died in 1845. He spent much 
of his time on the Allegheny river, learned 
several of the Indian languages and served as 
an interpreter for some of the Indian tribes. 
He was a great favorite with the Indians and 
could have been a very large land-holder. 

George M. Fox was reared on a farm and 
received his education in the early common 
schools of Pennsylvania. Leaving school, he 



350 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



HLEE GOERMAN. The press has been 
riglitly called a projjhet of free and beau- 
tiful tlioiight, and it has been appropriately said 
of it that it turns its volumes and papers into 
influences of diffused and illimitable power. Of 
the live and progressive democratic papers of 
Western Pennsylvania is The Kittanning Globe, 
edited by H. Lee Goerman, who is a sou of 
Leonard and Leah (King) Goerman. He was 
born in what is now Gilpin township, Arm- 
strong county, Pa., February 15, 1864. His 



learned plastering, to which he served an 
appi'enticeship of two years. He then went to 
Memphis, Tenn., where he was engaged in the ice 
business for two years, but the commencement 
of the late war caused him to return to Penn- 
sylvania, where he followed boating oil on tlie 
Allegheny river until 1866. Two years later 
he came to Kittanning, where, in 1870, he 
embarked in the undertaking business which he 
pursued successfully until the present time. 
In addition to his large and well-stocked under- 
taking establishment, he has attached an 
embalming department. He does all kinds of 
embalming and has a j)atronage that extends 
over a wide area of surrounding country. 

George M. Fox, on May 5, 1864, married 
Kate H. Lloyd, daughter of Ebeuezer Lloyd, 
who had been his i>redecessor in the undertaking 
business at Kittanning. 

George M. Fox is a member of Ariel Lodge, 
No. 688,1. O. O. F., Lodge No. 493, E. A. U., 
and the Methodist Episcopal church of Kittan- 
ning. He is a republican in politics and has 
served as a member of the town council. Mr. 
Fox owns houses in this borough, besides some 
other property. When the news of the Johns- 
town flood came to Kittanning, he and his 
nephew, Lloyd Green, repaired to the scene of 
the great disaster and gave together five weeks 
of their time, gratuitous, in preparing the dead 
bodies for burial. 



grandfathers, Leonard Goerman, Sr., and Simon 
King, were soldiers in one of the continental 
European wars, and both fought under the im- 
perial eagles of Napoleon Bonaparte, the " man 
of destiny," the latter (King) being a survivor 
of the historical freeze-out at Moscow. Leonard 
Goerman, Sr., came to Pennsylvania, where 
he first settled at Delmont, in Westmoreland 
county, but subsequently removed to Allegheny 
township and purchased a farm on which he 
spent his remaining years of life. His son, Leon- 
ard Goerman (father), was born in Darmstadt, 
Germany, in 1826, and at five years of age was 
brought by his parents to the United States. His 
first employment was farming, which he always 
followed excepting four years that were spent 
in the general mercantile business at Kelley 
station. He is a successful farmer, an earnest 
democrat and a member of the Lutheran church, 
in which he has served in all of its various 
local offices. He is an ardent supporter of 
popular education, has been school director for 
several terms and always labored zealously for 
the advancement of his township's public schools. 
He is au active member of the grange, in 
whose councils his opinion is often sought. He 
married Leah King, who was born in Butler 
county, and is a daughter of Simon King, a 
native of Germany, and one of Napoleon's vet- 
erans, who came to Western Pennsylvania. Mr. 
and Mrs. Georman are the parents of nine chil- 
dren, of whom six are living : John N., en- 
gaged in the mercantile business at Kelley sta- 
tion ; Simon L. (see sketch), H. Lee, Sadie E., 
William G., engaged in farming, and Melissa. 
H. Ijce Goerman received his education in 
the common and select schools of the commun- 
ity in which he was reared. He early displayed 
a taste for the "art preservative of all arts," 
and at fifteen years of age purchased a hand- 
press and opened a small job office. He next 
started the Centre valley Enterprise, but soon 
merged that sheet into the Leechburg Neivs and 
shortly formed a partnership with J. M. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



351 



Schwalm for the publication of the Leechburg 
Albatross (now Advurwe). He sold out his 
interest in the Albatross, in October, 1886, and 
in April, 1888, leased The KManniny Globe, 
which he and his brother purchased in Novem- 
ber following, and have successfully editetl and 
published ever since. The CUobe was founded 
by R. A. McCullough in 1884. 

H. Lee Goerman, on April 3, 1889, united 
in marriage with Amanda Schwalm, a daughter 
of John Schwalm, Sr., of Leechburg. Their 
union has been ble.ssed with one child, a daugh- 
ter, named Vera A. 

In politics he is an aggressive democrat, fully 
believing in the principles of his party, and 
considering no half-way course in their presen- 
tation. He is a member and deacon of St. John's 
Lutheran church. 

The Globe is a quarto sheet, 30 by 44 inches. 
It bears the headline of being the leading dem- 
ocratic paper in Armstrong county, while its edi- 
torials are strong enough to please the most rad- 
ical democrat. With six columns to the page, 
it gives interesting general news, selected miscel- 
lany and crisp items of local interest, gleaned 
by its special reporters and numerous corre- 
spondents. Mr. Goerman has aimed to make 
the Globe a faithful exponent of democratic 
principles as well as a newsy local paper, and 
has succeeded admirably in his attempt. 



SL. GOERMAN. The press to-day has a 
• wonderful influence over the people, whose 
character it moulds to a large extent and who.se 
policy it controls to a great degree. The news- 
papers of Kittanuing are among the important 
educational influences of Armstrong county 
and prominent among them is the Globe. S. 
L. Goerman, one of the proprietors and the 
active business manager of this paper, is tlie 
second son of Leonard and Leah (King) Ghoer- 
man, and was born on the old Goerman Home- 



stead in Allegheny (now Gilpin) township, 
Armstrong county, Penn.sylvania, January 23, 
1862. The Goerman family made its appear- 
ance in this country al)out the close of the 
Napoleonic wars in Europe, when Leonard 
Goerman, Sr. (grandfather), came to Westmore- 
land county, Pa. He aftt^rwards became a res- 
ident of Allegheny township, where he reared a 
family of children, one of whom was Leonard 
Goerman (father). He was an influential citi- 
zen, a consistent member of the Lutheran 
church and a successful farmer. (For a more 
detailed family history see sketch of H. Lee 
Goerman.) 

On the farm where he was reared, S. L. 
Goerman was traineil to agricultural pursuit.?, 
and during that period of time received his 
education in the common schools of the neigh- 

I 

borhood. At twenty-two years of age (1884) 
he became a clerk for his father and elder 
brother in their store at Kelley's station, where, 
I on New Year's Day, 1885, he was commissioned 
po.stmaster, a position which he still holds, not- 
withstanding his pronounced democracy. One 
year later he was appointed ticket and freight 
agent by the A. V. R. R., but only served until 
the fall of 1887, when he resigned in order to 
remove to Butler, Pa., where ho purchased a lot 
and erected a house which he occupied for one 
year. He then bought a half-interest in the 
Globe, of which he became and has remained 
business manager up to the present time. He 
is a member of White Rock Lodge, No. 979, 
I. O. 0. F., and St. John's Evangelical church, 
of which his wife is also a member. 

April 19, 1885, he united in marriage with 
Anne Haney, a daughter of Jacob Haney, of 
Pittsburgh, Pa. They have two children: 
Amy and May. Mrs. Goerman is a graduate 
of the Pittsburgh Central High .school and 
taught for two years in the jiublic schools of her 
native city. She is an accomplished alto singer 
and is a member of the choir of St. John's 
church. At fourteen years of age she sang in 



352 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



the Biugliam street M. E. church of Pitts- 
biirgli, where she led tlie alto part of the music, 
lu politics S. L. Goeriuan is au uuswerving 
democrat. He rauks high as cue of the youug 
progressive business men of Kittauning. Since 
becominor business manager of the Globe he has 
given his time and energy to the improvement 
and upbuilding of his paper, whose wide circu- 
lation to-day is the record of its influence and 
the result of his successful efforts. 



HJ. HAYS. One wiio stands well with his 
• own political party and so high with the 
citizens of this county as to be thrice-honored 
with a nomination for and an election as register 
and recorder of Armstrong county, is II. J. 
Hays, a prominent and leading citizen of Kit- i 
tanning. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania, May 5, 1846, and is a son of J. P. 
and Caroline (Weigand) Hays. J. P. Hays 
was born April 9, 1825, in the kingdom of, 
Bavai-ia, which is now a part of the German i 
empire, and in 1832 accompanied his father, i 
Adam Hays (grandfather), to Pennsylvania ' 
where the latter located near Allentown and 
engaged for some time in the lumber business, 
after which he removed to Punxsutawney and 
then to Pittsburgh. J. P. Hays (father) was a 
man of far more than ordinary business ability ' 
and was soon engaged in several lines of trade 
in Pittsburgh, among which were merchandis- 
ing, lumbering and the tobacconist business. 
He was a republican from principle, who took a 
prominent part in political matters, yet never 
sought any office within the gift of his fellow- 
citizens. He was a plain and unassuming man 
who gave his time chiefly to his different busi- 
ness interests. He was a member of the I. O. 
O. F., Improved Order of Red Men, Knights 
of Pythias and the Lutheran church. He 
moved to Kittanning in 1852, and in 1870 was 
elected coroner for a terra of three years. He 
died August 10, 1887, aged sixty-two years. 



He married Catharine Weigand, who is a daugh- 
ter of Henry Weigand, of Pittsburgh, and re- 
sides now at Kittanning. To their union were 
born six children : H. J., P. W., a physician of 
Humboldt, Nebraska ; Caroline, Anna, who 
died at nine years of age ; W. B., a jeweler and 
watch-maker, and F. E., a clerk for his brother 
in the recorder's office. 

H. J. Hays was reared principally at Kit- 
tanning and received his education in the 
schools of that place. In 1866 he registered as 
a law student with Jackson Boggs, and after 
having completed the required course of read- 
ing he was admitted in 1869 to the bar of 
Armstrong county. From 1869 to 1872 he 
was a clerk in Alderman Strain's oflice of 
Pittsburgh. He then returned to Kittanning, 
where he was elected a justice of the peace, an 
office which he held continuously by election 
and appointment for over ten years. In 1881 
Mr. Hays was elected recorder of records of 
Armstrong county. His legal knowletlge and 
nearly fifteen years of practical experience as an 
alderman's clerk and as a justice of the peace, 
peculiarly fitted him for the office of register 
and recorder. He transacted the business of 
his office in such an acceptable manner as to be 
re-elected in 1884, and losing none of his popu- 
larity during his second term he was nominated 
in 1887 and elected for a third term, which will 
expire during the present year (1890). He was 
elected chairman of the republican county com- 
mittee. He is a member of Kittanning Lodge, 
No. 344, I. O. O. F., Kittanning Lodge, No. 
168, I. O. H., and Washington Grange, of the 
Patrons of Husbandry, Order of Solon, Kit- 
tunning, and Jr. O. U. A. M. 

May 2, 1883, he united in marriage with 
Isabella Hague, a daughter of Frederick Hague 
of Kittanning. 

H. J. Hays has served for an exceptionally 
long period as prothouotary and in that time 
has conducted the business of his office very 
correctly and with satisfaction to the people of 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



353 



the county. But perhaps the best test of the 
public appreciation of Mr. Hays' ability as a 
public official and his high standing in the 
county is to be found in the simple fact that after 
serving one term as register and recorder the 
peojjle elected him for a second and after that 
for a third term. He has filied his office hon- 
orai)ly, is one of the prominent men of the 
county and has a wide circle of friends. 



HEILMAN BROS. James M., William 
M. and John F. Heilman, tlie members 
of the well-known and prominent planing-raill 
and general contracting firm of Heilman Bros., 
of Kittanning, are sous of Peter and Elizabeth 
(Rcmaley) Heilman and were born on their 
father's farm in Kittanning township, Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania. Their patei'nal 
grandfather, Frederick Heilman, was born and 
reared in Pauphin county, this State, and upon 
attaining his majority came to Kittanning town- 
shij), where he was engaged in farming until 
las death, at the age of fifty-six years. He 
was a whig in politics, a lutheran in religious 
belief, and married Margaret Elinger, a native 
of Armstrong county, by whom he had several 
children. His eldest son, Peter Heilman 
(father), was born in July, 1819, on the home 
farm, on which he died February 25, 1878. 
He was a highly successful farmer, operated a 
large brick-yard on his laml and was a stirring 
business man. He was elected county commis- 
sioner in 1871, and was a member of the board 
which erectetl the present handsome and durable 
jail, of which Armstrong county is justly jiroud. 
It is 50x114 feet in dimensions, constructetl of 
stone, brick and iron, and was completed in 1873 
at a total cost of $252,000. Its foundation is 
24 feet deep, down from the surface and seven 
feet wide at the buttom. Those who are com- 
petent to judge have pronouucetl it one of the 
finest and strongest jails in the United States. 
At the expiration of his term as county commis- 



, sioner Peter Heilman returned to his farm and 
resumed his agricultural pursuits, which he fol- 
lowed until his death. He was a republican, and 
served as an enrolling officer during the late 
war. He also served as school director and 
I was an officer for many years in Emanuel 
Lutheran church, of which he was a highly 
esteemed and very liberal member. His first 
: wife was a Miss Hellfrick, by whom he had 
! two children. For his .second wife he married 
I Elizabeth Renialey, who is a daughter of An- 
I thony Remaley,of Kiskirainetas township. They 
reared a family of ten children. Of the.se chil- 
dren are James M., William M., Reuben, a 
hardware merchant; Eliza, Edward, in thehard- 
warebusiness ; John F. and Frank and Curt in 
A., furniture dealers of Greensburg, Pa. 

James M. Heilman was born September 26, 
1848. He received his education in the common 
schools, and became a contractor, in which busi- 
ness he was soon joined by his brother William 
F. In 1878 they admitted their brother, John 
F., and formed the well-known firm of Heil- 
man Bros. In connection with their extensive 
contracting they erected a large planing-mill, 
whose various machinery is driven by a fifty- 
horse-power engine They build a first-class 
grade of houses and do over $100,000 worth of 
business yearly in Armstrong, Allegheny, But- 
ler, Venango and Westmoreland counties. 
James M. Heilman is a republican and a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church and the I. O. O. 
F. He married, on February 22, 1872, Eliza, 
daughter of Sharon tiuigley, of Boggs township, 
and has two children : Sharon P., amediad stu- 
dent, and Arthur M. 

William M. Heilman was born .\pril 7, 1850, 
and is the second partner in the firm. He mar- 
• ried Emma, daughter of Robert Anderson, and 
has five children living : Harry, Frank, Maude, 
Walter and Blanche. He is a republican and a 
member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows fra- 
ternities. 

John F. Heilman, the junior partner of the 



354 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



JOSEPH R. HENDERSON, a prominent 
" and well-known lawyer of the Kittanning 
bar, and a siiecessfnl and popular republican 
leader of Armstrong county, enjoys the proud 
distinction of having been one of the youngest 
boys who servefl in the Union armies durins 
the late civil war. He is a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Fleming) Henderson and was born 
near Dayton, in Wayne township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1848. He 
traces his ancestiy back to the Hendersons of 
the north of Ireland, who were a brave, daring 
and hardy race of people and whose descend- 
ants have been more or less prominent in civil 
and military affairs wherever they have settled. 
Thomas Henderson (paternal grandfather) left 
\^ Ireland on account of the part he took against 
'the English government in his native country. 
One of his friends, an ardent advocate of Irish 
independence, was hanged one day in his pres- 
ence, and he immediately came to America to 
• avoid the certainty of imprisonment and a 
probability of execution. He was married in 
Ireland and his wife was drowned some years 
after their arrival in this country in the Loyal- 
hanna creek, near Saltsburg. He was an old 
time presbyterian, who was devoted to the re- 
ligious faith of his forefathers. He reared a 



firm, was born March 26, 1854. After attend- 
ing the common schools he entered Duff's Busi- 
ness college, and was graduated from that 
institution in 1878. He then joined his 
brothers in the firm of which he has been a 
member ever since. He married, on December 
2.3, 1880, Christina Granninger, of Kittanning, 
and has three children : Mary E., Herbert G. 
and Ruth A. He is a republican in politics j 
and a member of the Reformed church of Kit- 
tanning and the Masonic fraternity. He is a 
man of recognized business ability and possesses 
energy and push, the same as his brothers, 
James M. and William M. 



family of three sons and several daughters. One 
of his sons is Joseph Henderson, of Blairsville, 
Indiana county. Pa., while another was John 
Henderson (father), who was born on Conneaut 
Lake, in Crawford county. Pa. In 1807 he moved 
with his father to Westmoreland county, where 
they settled near New Alexandria and where the 
latter died. Alwut 1 830 John Henderson remov- 
ed to near the site of Dayton, this county, when 
that section of country was a perfect wilderness, 
with but here and there a solitary clearing and 
a lone settler's cabin. By hard labor he cleared 
out a fine farm, on which he resided till his 
death. He was a republican and had been an 
elder in the Presbyterian church for over forty 
years. His wife was Elizabeth Fleming, a 
daughter of Thomas Fleming, who was a mem- 
ber of the old and respected Fleming family of 
Indiana county. They had five children, three 
sons and two daughters : Joseph R., Isabella, 
wife of William Lamb, of Peabody, Marion 
county, Kansas ; and Sophia M., a teacher in 
the public schools of Kittanning, and two who 
are dead. 

Joseph R. Henderson was reared on his fath- 
er's farm. He received his education in the 
public schools and Dayton academy. At thir- 
teen years of age he ran away from home and 
went to Philadelphia, where he enlisted, Febru- 
ary 23, 1864, in Co. K, 14th Pa. Cavalry, but 
his parents demanded and secured his release. 
He afterwards enlisted (1864) in Co. I, 112th 
regiment. Pa. Vols., but was transferred to the 
19th New York Independent Battery, and on 
account of not being able to engage in the 
marches was made powder monkey. He served 
creditably for eighteen days in the Wilderness 
fights and in all the battles from Spottsylvania 
to Lee's surrender at " Appomattox Court- 
House." He was discharged January 20, 1866, 
aud was one of the youngest boys who served in 
the late war. He returned home, attended 
Dayton academy, taught several terms and 
spent one year (1870) at West Point Military 



ABMSTRONG COUNTY. 



355 



academy. But having a decided taste for legal 
pursuits, he abandoned the profession of arras 
and in 1873 entered the law office of Hon. Ed- 
ward S. Golden. At June term, 1875, he was 
admitted to the Armstrong county bar and 
since then has been one of the well-established 
and successful lawyers of Kittanning. In poli- 
tics he is an ardent republican, served as chair- 
man of the republican county committee of 
Armstrong county, and was a delegate to the 
Stale convention at Harrisburg, in June, 1890. 
In 187(5 he was elected district attorney, which 
office he filled efficiently. He is a member 
of the Grand Army of the Republic, Ijodge 
No. 244, F. and A. M., and the First Presby- 
terian church of Kittanning. 

He was married on April IS, 1888, to Sallie 
E. Barnaby, daughter of A. M. Baruaby, of 
Brady's Bend, this couuty. They have one 
child, a son, who is named Marcus Hender- 
son. 

Joseph R. Henderson is very fond of music 
and art and is able to appreciate the finished 
prodnctions of the one and the masterpieces of 
the other. Through life he has met with good 
success. As a lawyer he ranks high at the Kit- 
tanning bar. As a public speaker he is pleas- 
ant, entertaining and eloijiient. He is a logical 
and forcible reasoner, and before a jury always 
makes a strong impression. He is clever and 
generous, is public-spirited and progressive, and 
while not seeking every opportunity to push 
himself forward, yet is popular throughout his 
county and wherever he is known. 



i LRERT G. HENRY. Laurentius pro- 
-tl duccd the germ and started the growth 
of the art of printing, Guttenberg cultivated it 
and Schaeffer beheld it blossom in his hands. 
From that day on its growth has been rapid 
and wonderful. Of the press of this county a 
paper that deserves especial mention is the 
Armstrong Republican, whose editor, Albert G. 



Henry, has been engaged in journalism for over 
a third of a century. He was born at Beaver, 
Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of 
Hon. Thomas and Sarah Henry. Hon. Thom- 
as Henry was born in Ireland, in 1780, and 

I was brought by his parents, in 1783, to Beaver, 
Pa., where he resided until his death, in 1849. 
In the war of 1812 he raised a corapauy of 
which he was elected captain, and which he 
took as far as Erie, where he was taken very 

' ill, and was brought down the Allegheny river 
in a skiff to Pittsburgh. After a long spell of 
sickness he recovered, and in 1818 established 
the Beaver Argtia, which he afterwards dis- 
posed of to his son William, who published it 
for twenty-five years. He was a prominent 
citizen and a man of influence in Beaver county, 
in which he served, at different periods, as reg- 
ister and recorder, prothonotary, treasurer and 

\ sheriff. He represented his county for two years 
in the Pennsylvania legislature, was elected to 
Cimgress in 1836, 1838 and 1840; and at the 
expiration of his last term of service he declined 
are-nomination on account of ill health. While 

■ in Congress he served on several important 
committees, was a personal and intimate friend 
of Joshua R. Giddings, and pursued a course 
that was highly satisfactory to his party. He 
was an old-line vvhig, who advocated a strong 
tariff, and was prominent in the councils of the 
whigs of his county. He was engaged for 
some time in the mercantile business at Beaver, 
where he served for twenty-five years as an 
elder in the Presbyterian church. The family 
consisted often children. 

Albert G. Henry received his education at 
Beaver academy and then learned the printing 
business with his brother William, who was 
then editing the Beaver Argus. He purchased 
a half-interest in the paper, and in connection 
with Michael Weyand, who bought the other 
half, edited it until 1855, when he sold his 
interest. He then went to Pittsburgh, and 
afler two years spent in the mercantile business. 



356 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



he removed to Davenport, Iowa. In 1858 he 
returned to Beaver, which he left eight years 
later to take charge of the Armstrong Deiiwcrat. 
He changed the name to that of Armstrong 
Republican and has continued to publish it until 
the present time. It is one of the two repulili- 
can papers of the county, and while fully alive 
to all the leading political issues of the day yet 
its columns are filled with the latest town and 
county news. It also contains carefully se- 
lected reading matter for the fireside and the 
farm. 

On Sept. 2.3, 18.52, he married Nancy M., 
daughter of William Miles, of Blair county, 
and a granddaughter of Gen. John Mitchell, | 
once prominent in Pennsylvania politics. Of 
the five children born unto them three are liv- 
ing : Frank Dalzel, associated with liis father 
in the newspaper business; William, part owner 
of the Rejniblican and chief of the Indian divi- 
sion of the treasury department in Washington 
City ; and Annie M., widow of P. R. Mere- 
dith. 

A. G. Henry was a whig, and cast his first 
vote for Zuchary Taylor. He is a republican 
and attends the Presbyterian church, and de- 
votes his time principally to the editing and 
management of his paper. 



pHARLES NEWTON HENRY, ex-county 
^ auditor and ex-deputy sheriff of Armstrong 
county, and one of the reliable and energetic 
business men of Kittauning, was born in that 
part of Armstrong which is now included in i 
Clarion county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1830, 
and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Kirk- 
patrick) Henry. Among the natives of Scot- ', 
land who wei-e pioneer settlers of Derry town- 
ship, Westmoreland county, was Ca])t. John [ 
Henry (grandfather), who commanded a com- ! 
pany during the Revolutionary war. In 1849 
he moved to what is now Clarion county, where 
he died. He married a Miss McConnell, of 



near Shippensburg, in the Cumberland Valley, 
this State, and left a family of eight children. 
One of his sons, Charles Henry, served in the 
war of 1812. Another son (the eldest), Robert 
Henry (father), was born in 1785, on his father's 
Derry township farm, and came in 1804 to Red 
Bank township (now Monroe township, Clarion 
county) township, where he followed farming 
until his death, in 1858. He was six feet two 
inches in height, ,owned over seven hundred 
acres of land and raised large cpiantities of grain. 
He was a Jacksonian democrat, a prominent 
elder in the Presbyterian church and an upright 
man who strictly observed the old-time Sab- 
bath. He was twice married. His first wife 
was Elizabeth Kirkpatrick, by whom he had 
eleven children, of whom the subject of this 
sketch is the tenth. She came with her father, 
Moses Kirkpatrick (maternal graudflitlier), from 
Ireland to Westmoreland county. After her 
death JMr. Henry married Nancy McElhany, 
who bore him three children. 

Charles N. Henry was reared in Clarion 
county, where he worked on the farm and at- 
tended the common schools until he was seven- 
teen years of age, when he went to learn the 
trade of tanner. At the end of a two years' ap- 
prenticeship he engaged in tanning and farming, 
which he followed for several years. In 1870 
he came to Kittauning, where he engaged in his 
present livery business. In politics Mr. Henry 
has always been a democrat, and cast his first 
presidential ballot for James Buchanan. He 
acted as deputy sheriff under Sheriffs Alex- 
ander Montgomery, Sr., and John B. Boyd, 
and in 188(3 was elected as one of the audit- 
ors of Armstrong county. He discharged well 
the duties of that office. He was a candidate 
on the democratic ticket once for sheriff, and 
was so popular as to be defeated by only 
seventy-two votes in a county whose republi- 
can majority is seldom less than fifleen hun- 
dred. He has held several important mail 
contracts in the county. He is a member of 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



357 



the Royal Arcanum and the Knights of 
Honor. 

January 2, 1855, he married Susan Turney, 
daughter of Daniel Turney and cousin to Hon. 
Jacob Turney, of Greensburg, and a granddaugh- 
ter of Rev. Michael Steck, who was one of 
the pioneers of lutheranism west of the Alle- 
ghenies. They are the parents of three chil- 
dren : Clara, wife of Irvin Blaney ; John Tur- 
ney, in the livery business at Craigsville; and 
Louisa Caroline. 

In the livery business Mr. Henry has made 
it an object to please his patrons by the best of 
attention, as well as by furnishing them with 
first-class conveyances and fine driving and rid- 
ing horses. All business enterprises of which 
he has had the management have been conducted 
according to correct business principles, and 
with satisfaction to all who were interested. 



BOYD S. HENRY, the present popular and 
successful prothonotary of Armstrong 
county, is the youngest man who has ever been 
honored with an election to that important office 
in the county. He was born six miles west of 
Kittanning, at the village of Worthington, Arm- 
strong county, Pa., February 14, 1858, and is the 
youngest son of David and Mary (Scott) Henry. 
His paternal grand father, James Henry, was born 
and reared to manhood in the historic north of 
Ireland, where he married Sarah Richmond, 
and, two years afterward, came to western Penn- 
sylvania. He was a stonemason by trade, a 
United Presbyterian in religious belief, and a 
republican in political sentiment. He died in 
1882 at an advanced age, having survived his 
wife four years. He had nine children, of 
whom two sous, David and James, enlisted as 
soldiers in the late war. David Henry (father) 
was born in Ireland, August 4, 1824, shortly 
before his parents came to this country. He 
was engaged in farming till 1861, when he was 
one of the first to enlist from this county in 



response to President Lincoln's call for troops. 
He became a member of Company D, 100th 
regiraeiit, Pa. Vols., better known as the 
" Roundhead " regiment, which was so famous 
in the war annals of the Great Rebellion. He 
served with his regiment in all of its numerous 
skirmishes and many battles, until it had 
passetl through the fiery ordeal of the W'ilder- 
derness fights, and was drawn up before Cold 
Harbor. In the magnificent and terrific Union 
charge ujwn the fortified works at that place 
he was among the foremost of his regiment to 
scale the Confederate breastworks, on which he 
was cut down by a sabre-stroke in a hand-to- 
hand encounter. He was a model soldier in 
every respect, and ranked as one of the bravest 
men in the Army of the Potomac. He fell 
nobly in the defence of his coimtry's liberties, 
and his memory will ever be res|)ected and 
honored in his adopted county, while his name 
is inscribed on the roll of fallen heroes whom 
the Republic will honor for all time to come. 
He was a member of the Presbyterian church, 
a man of high standing in his community, and 
one of the early agitators of tli« slavery ques- 
tion in Armstrong county. On June 19, 1845, 
he married Mary Scott, who was born April 
10, 1825, and passed away in 1861, when in 
the thirty-sixth year of her age. She was a 
daughter of Joseph Scott, who was a native 
of Scotland, served in the war of 1812, and 
died in Butler county on March 4, 1866, 
His wife was Elizabeth Boyd, who was born 
January 4, 1801, and died November 9, 1834. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Henry were born seven 
children, of whom five are living : James 
H., a farmer of Republic county, Kau.sas; 
Elizabeth, who resides at Poland, Ohio ; Mary, 
wife of George Kirk, a machinist, of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. ; Sarah, married to John White, 
likewise a machinist of the " Iron City," and 
Boyd S. 

Boyd S. Henry was educated in the Union 
school at Worthington and the public schools 



358 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



at Kittanuing. He afterwards attended the 
Iron City college of Pittsburg, and was grad- 
uated from that noted commercial institution, 
whose alumni include thousands of our wealth- 
iest and most prominent business men. His 
first employment in a public character was in 
the prothonotary's office, where he served as a 
deputy for four years. He was then (1880) 
appointed deputy sheriff, in which capacity he 
acted efficiently for seven years. His energy 
and faithfulness while serving in those two 
offices constantly gained him friends and influ- 
ence, and in 1887 he was nominated for pro- 
thonotary by the Republican party and elected 
by a majority of nearly sixteen hundred. He 
assumed charge of that office in 1888, and his 
discharge of its duties has been so satisfactory 
to bis own party and the public that he has 
been re-nominated (1890) without opposition in 
the Republican party, while present indications 
warrant him a generous support at the polls, 
independent of political consideration. On 
December 15, 1887, he united in marriage with 
Elizabeth Campbell, daughter of S. K. Camp- 
bell, of Kittanning. 

Of the eighteen persons who have served as 
prothonotaries of Armstrong county since its 
organization, from March 12, 1800, to Decem- 
ber, 1890, Mr. Henry is the last and was 
elected at an earlier age than any of his prede- 
cessors. Attentive, obliging and active, he has 
fairly won the success which has crowned the 
early efforts of his life. 



FRANK W. HILL, prominent in the insur- 
ance and real estate business at Kittan- 
ning and a descendant of one of the oldest 
families of Pennsylvania, which was planted in 
the eastern part of the State two hundred and 
twelve years ago, is a son of John W. and Jane 
B. (Parks) Hill, and was born in Allegheny 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
June 14, 1863. The Hills trace their ancestry 



back to a Hill who settled in eastern Pennsyl- 
vania four years prior to William Penn's settle- 
ment on the site of Philadeljjhia in 1682. One 
of his descendants was John Hill (great-grand- 
father), who was born in Lancaster and re- 
moved to Westmoreland county, this State, 
where his son, Hon. Jacob Hill (grandfather), 
was born. He was a prominent and u.seful 
man, was a contractor on tlie old Pennsylvania 
canal, then kept a store and hotel at Leech burg, 
and about 1845 purchased a farm of five hun- 
dred acres, in what is now Parks township, 
upon which he resided until his death in 1876. 
He served as a member of the General As- 
sembly of Pennsylvania for two terms — from 
1842 to 1846. He was well informed, gave 
general satisfaction as a legislator and was a 
man of ability and influence. He was over six 
feet in height and of good personal appearance 
and agreeable manners. He was a strict luth- 
eran, a Jacksonian democrat and married Han- 
nah Eulem, by whom he had four sons and five 
daughters. One of these sous was John W. 
Hill (father), who was born in Allegheny town- 
ship, Westmoreland county, Peimsylvania, May 
22, 1828. In early life became to Armstrong 
county and was engaged in farmiug until 1884, 
when he moved to near Greenville, Mercer 
county. Pa., where he purchased and still owns 
a well-improved farm. He is a democrat from 
principle, has held various township offices and 
belongs to the Lutheran church, in which he has 
served as an officer at different times. He mar- 
ried Jane Parks, daughter of John Parks, of 
Parks township. To their union have been 
born six children, of whom five are living, 

Frank W.IIill was reared near Leechburg, and 
I'eceived his education in the common schools 
and the public .schools of the above-mentioned 
place. His attendance at school was inter- 
rupted for one year, which he spent as a clerk 
in a store. Leaving school, he became a sales- 
man in a Bradford (Pa.) carpet house, which 
13ositiou be held for two years and then (1884) 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



359 



resigned to engage in the insurance business. 
One year later he removed toKitlauniug, where 
he purchased the insurance office of Josepli 
Painter and since that time has been engage<l 
in building up the extensive and prosperous 
business which he now enjoys. He is a mem- 
ber and vestryman of St. Paul's Protestant 
Episcopal church. Politically he is a democrat 
and was a delegate to the State democratic con- 
vention of 1887. He is a prompt, energetic 
and successful business man. 

January 2, 1889, he united in marriage with 
Ethel T. Pinney, a daughter of L. C. Pinney, 
of Kittanuing. 

In real estate matters Mr. Hill does a good 
business. He is well informed in regard to 
properties, both residence and agricultural. In 
the insurance line of his business he represents 
the following five old, large and responsible 
companies: Royal, London Assurance Corpo- 
ration, Hartford Fire, American Fire and 
Travelers' Life and Accident. 



HON. WILLIAM FREAME JOHNSTON, 
governor of Pennsylvania from July 26, 
1848, to January 20, 1852, was born at Greens- 
burg, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
November 29, 1808, and was a son of Alex- 
ander and Elizabeth (Freame) Johnston. Alex- 
ander Johnston was of Scotch extraction. He 
was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, July 10, 
1773, and died near Youiigstown, Westmore- 
land county, July 16, 1872. He came to 
America in 1797 and soon tiiereafter settled at 
Greensburg, Pa., where he married Elizabeth, 
second daughter of William Freame, who was a 
native of Belfast, Ireland, and fought under 
Wolfe at Quebec. Mr. and Mi-s. Johnston 
reared a family of eight sons and two daugh- 
ters. Alexander Johnston held several import- 
ant county offices and was the oldest Mason in 
the United States at the time of his death. 



William Freame Johnston read law with 
Maj. John B. Alexander, was admitted to the 
Westmoreland county bar in May, 1829, and 
soon thereafter came to Kittanning, where he 
, soon rose to a position of commanding influence. 
I He was appointed district attorney, represented 
I the county in the Assembly of Pennsylvania iu 
j 1836, 1838 and 1841, and in 1847 was elected 
a member of the State Senate. He was an ac- 
knowledged political leader and his bill author- 
izing the State to issue relief notes in allevia- 
tion of the panic of 1837 made him very 
popular throughout Pennsylvania. Iu 1847 
he was elected president of the Senate, and as 
such served as acting governor from the resig- 
nation of Governor Shunk in 1848 until he 
(Mr. Johnston) was elected governor in the 
same year. 

As Governor he tot>k a great interest in 
the mining and manufacturing interests of 
the State, and it is due to his unceasing 
efforts that we have to-day the "Colonial 
Records" and "Pennsylvania Archives." He 
was nominated for re-election by the Whig 
party, but was defeated. During the late war 
he rendered valuable service in organizing 
troops for the Union army, in fortifying Pitts- 
burgh and aidingWest Virginia with ammunition 
in a ci itical hour. President Johnson appointed 
him collector of the port of Philadelphia, and, 
although he served efficiently for several 
months and made a splendid record as a col- 
lector, yet he was rejected by the Senate on ac- 
count of its hostility to the president. 

On April 12, 1832, Governor Johnston mar- 
ried Mary Monteith. To their union were 
born five sons and two daughters. 

Governor Johnston through life was a man of 
uncommon physical powers, iron will and un- 
tiring energy. Amid all his cares of business 
and responsibilities of office he preserved his 
reputation for honesty, integrity and morality. 
His life of usefulness closed on October 25, 
1872, when he passed to the unseen world. 



360 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



REV. FRANK X. KETTL, a scholarly, 
able, earnest and faithful young pastor of 
the Catholic church and now in charge of St. 
Mary's Catholic church, at Kittauning, was born 
at Hollidaysburg, Blair county, Pennsylvania, 
January 22, 1865, and is a son of John and 
Mary (Lelmar) Kettl. John Kettl was born iu 
the southern part of the kingdom of Bavaria, on 
December 9, 1819, and died at Hollidaysburg, 
Pa., August 6, 1876. He emigrated from 
Bavaria to Hollidaysburg about 1850, and be- 
came a foreman for the Blair & Cambria Iron 
company. He often served in the same capacity 
for contractors ou stone, wood and iron work. 
He was very popular as a foreman with jjoth 
his employers and the men who worked under 
him, on account of his honesty, fairness and 
kind disposition. He was a democrat in politics 
and a strict member of the Catholic church. He 
was married in Bavaria to Mary Lelmar. They 
had nine sons and one daughter, of whom all 
are living except Louis, who was killed by a 
train iu the yards of the P. R. R. Co., at 
Altoona. 

Frank X. Kettl was reared at Hollidaysburg 
and received his education in Fon du Lac col- 
lege, Wisconsin, and St. Vincent's abbey and 
college, Westmoreland county. Pa. Having his 
mind directed to the ministry, he fitted for the 
priesthood at St. Viuceut's abbey, which was 
founded in 1846 by the saintly Rt. Rev. Boni- 
face Wimmer, who revived iu America the grand 
institutions of the Benedictine abbeys of the 
middle ages, from which many nations of Europe 
first received the glad tidings of Christianity. 
Rev. Kettl's first appointment after being 
ordained to the priesthood was as assistant to 
Rev. John Shell, with whom he remained about 
fourteen months. He was then stationed at 
Huntiugdou, but in a short time was appointed 
pastor of St. Mary's church, at Kittanning, of 
which he assumed charge on December 16, 1888. 
In addition to the membership of one hundred 
and ten families at Kittanning, he has charge 



of the Ford City congregation and the care of 
twenty families at Nicholson's ruu. St. Mary's 
church was organized about 1851. The first 
services were held at the house of William Sir- 
well, and subsequently at private houses, the 
academy and court-house until 1853, when the 
present brick church was built on the corner of 
High and Water streets. Tiie ministers of this 
church have been Revs. Mitchell, Gray, Scanlan, 
Phelan, O'Rourke, Lambing, Dignam, and 
Frank X. Kettl, the present pastor. Rev. 
Kettl has always sustained pleasant relations 
with his people in the different charges M'hich 
he has filleil, and his present pastorate has been 
characterized by a high degree of harmony. He 
is a finely educated and courteous gentleman, 
an earnest and successful laborer in his sacred 
calling and is well respected by all who know 
him. 



DR. MARTIN LUTHER KLINE. Among 
Kittanning's leading and successful dentists 
is Dr. Martin Luther Kline, who has been in 
the active and continuous practice of his pro- 
fession for over twenty years at Armstrong's 
counfy-seat. He was born in Clearfield county, 
Pa., June 8, 1847, and is a .son of Martin 
and Rachel (Owens) Kline. His paternal grand- 
father, Solomon Kline, wa.s a representative 
farmer of the day in which he lived. He re- 
moved some years after his marriage from Indi- 
ana to Clearfield county, M'here he purchased a 
farm and spent the remainder of his days in its 
cultivation and improvement. His son, Martin 
Kline (father), was born in Indiana couuty, but 
was reared in Clearfield county, where, in addi- 
tion to fanning, he was engaged in the lumber 
business. He was a democrat from principle, a 
Methodist in religious belief and church-mem- 
bership and a useful citizen of the community 
in which he resided until his death, in 1874, at 
56 years of age. His wife was Rachel Owens, 
a daughter of John Owens, of Clearfield county. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



361 



They were the parents of twelve children, of 
whoiu nine are living. Mrs. Rachel Kline was 
born and reared in Clearfield county. 

M. L. Kline was reared on a farm. He re- 
ceived his education in the common schools of 
Clearfield county and commenced life for him- 
self by engaging in the lumber business on the 
Susquehanna river which he followed for seven 
years. He then studied dentistry with his 
uncle, Dr. Owens, of Kittanniug, and in 1870 
formed a partnership with his preceptor which 
lasted for three years. At the end of this time 
he purchased his uncle's interest and practiced 
until 1888, when lie admitted Dr. E. H. Wright 
into partnership with him. He is a member of 
the Royal Arcanum, Knights of Honor and Sr. 

0. U. A. M. He is a democrat, but takes no 
leading part in politics and devotes his time 
principally to his large and rapidly increasing 
practice. He is a fine workman and has a 
well-fitted up and completely furnished office. 

Marcli 14th, 1872, he married Martha E. 
Hamlin, daughter of John Hamlin. To their 
union have been born three children : George 
K., Lulela H. and Beula Blanche, aged respec- 
tively seventeen, twelve and seven years. 

Dr. E. H. Wright, the junior member, was 
born near Kelley's station, April 21, 18G3, and 
is a son of J. H. Wright, who was born Feb- 
ruary 22, 1837, at Mifflintown, Juniata county. 
Pa., attended Washington and Jefferson college 
and Gettysburg seminary, and removed to Arm- 
strong county about 1840. E. H. Wright was 
educated at the Elderton select school, studied 
dentistry, and was graduated from the Oiiio 
Dental college, March 4, 1884. He practiced 
at Elderton until 1887, when he removed to 
Kittanniug and became a partner with Dr. 
Kline. 

He married, December 20th, 1887, Jose- 
phine, daughter of Thomas Morgan, of Fox- 
burg, Pa. He is a republican and a member of 

1. O. O. F., Royal Arcanum and Jr. O. U. A. 
M. He is a first-class dental surgeon, and the 

22 



firm is well-known as one of the leading dental 
firms of the county. . 



MERION F. LEASON is accorded a place 
in the front rank of the membera of the 
Armstrong county bar, and is recognized as 
one of the leading lawyers of the Twenty-fifth 
Congressional District, which has many public 
men who are prominent and distinguished in 
the legal profession. He is a son of Rev. 
Thomas Shark and Mary Moore (Laird) Lea- 
son, and was born at Leechburg, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, in 1854. Rev. Thomas 
Shark Leason was born in Venango township, 
Butler county, Pennsylvania, April 29, 1817. 
After completing his academic studies, lie en- 
tered, in June, 1844, tlie sophomore class of 
Washington college, from which celebrated in- 
stitution of learning he was graduated. He 
then commenced his theological studies at the 
Western Theological seminary, and was grad- 
uated from that well-known religious institu- 
tion. He was ordained as a minister of the 
Presbyterian church, and his first charge was 
Marietta, Ohio, where he resided but two years 
on account of his health. He then removed 
to Leechburg, where he remained in charge 
of the Presbyterian church of that place for 
ten years. He resigned at Leechburg in order 
to accept a call as pastor of the Mt. Tabor 
congregation of Jefferson county. Pa., where 
he has served acceptably ever since. He 
was a representative of the Christian commis- 
sion during the late war, and was stationed 
with the western army. Of fine education and 
sound theological views, he is a forcible and 
impressive speaker and an earnest and success- 
ful worker in the vineyard of his Divine 
Master. He honors his sacred calling by a 
consistent Christian life, whicii has won for 
him the respect and esteem of all wlio know 
him. He married Mrs. Mary Moore Stewart, 
widow of William B. Stewart, of Pittsburgh, 



362 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and youngest daughter of Rev. Francis Laird, 
D.D., of Westmoreland county. Tliey have 
four children, of whom three are living: Mer- 
ion F., Melissa and Elsie. Mrs. Mary Moore 
(Laird) Leason was born at Locust Dale, 
Westmoreland county, Pa., in 1816. Her 
father, Rev. Francis Laird, was of that grand 
old Scotch-Irish race that has made its impress 
on the civil and religious institutions of this 
country for all time to come. He was a man 
of unusual ability, a fine classical scholar aud 
a highly-esteemed minister. He was a gradu- 
ate of Dickinson college, and was a power in 
maintaining and spreading presbyteriauism in 
western Pennsylvania. He was the youngest 
son of William Laird, of Adams county, Pa., 
who married Jane McClure, and whose father, 
William Laird, Sr., was the son of John aud 
Martha (Russel) Laird, respectively of Scoteh- 
Irish and English lineage, and who emigrated 
from England to Adams county, this State, 
about 1760. Rev. Francis Laird married Mary 
Moore, daughter of Hon. John Moore, a son 
of William and Jennett (Wilson) Moore, of 
Lancaster county, "Pa., and who was the first 
president-judge of Westmoreland county, Pa., 
and also was a member of the first Constitu- 
tional Convention of Pennsylvania aud a State 
Senator prior to 1790. Judge Moore's wife 
was a Miss Parr, a daughter of Isaac Parr, of 
New Jersey, a woman of intelligence, vivacity 
and fine personal appearance. 

Merion F. Leason was reared in his native 
county, where he has always resided. He at- 
tended the common schools, completed the 
course of Tuscarora academy, and in Septem- 
ber, 1872, entered Princeton college, from 
which famous institution of learning he was 
graduated in 1876. After graduation he passed 
the preliminary law examination, read law with 
W. L. Stewart, of Brook ville, and was admit- 
ted to the county bar in February, 1877. In 
the fall of that year he removed to Kittanning, 
where he has been engaged ever since in the 



successful practice of his profession. In 1879 
he was elected district attorney, and satisfacto- 
rily discharged the duties of tliat office. In 
1889 he was the republican candidate for judge 
of the Thirty-third judicial district of Pennsyl- 
vania, composed of the county of Armstrong, 
but was defeated on account of dissensions 
within his own party. 

June 30, 1880, he united in marriage with 
Hannah Reynolds, a daughter of Jefferson 
Reynolds, of this county. They have three 
children ; Mary Laird, Jeiferson Reynolds and 
Helen Maude, aged, respectively, nine, seven, 
and one and one-half years. 

M. F. Leason is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and a Royal Arch Mason. He prac- 
tices in the courts of Armstrong and adjoining 
counties, and before the Supreme Court of 
Pennsylvania, to which he was admitted Octo- 
ber 25, 1880, on motion of John Gilpin. 



CHARLES LENZ, a successful merchant 
and enterprising citizen of Kittanning, was 
born in the Province of Nassau, Prussia, March 
17, 1838, aud is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth 
(Miller) Lenz, both natives of Germany. Jacob 
Lenz (father) was a miner in his native country, 
where he resided until his death, in 1850, when 
fifty years of age. He v^as a member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church. He married 
Elizabeth Miller, and they were the parents of 
six children. Mrs. Lenz died at her home in 
Germany in 1872, when in the sixty-fourth 
year of her age. 

Charles Lenz was reared in the kingdom of 
Prussia, and received his education in the ex- 
cellent public schools of his native country. 
Leaving school, he engaged in the mining busi- 
ness until 1871, when he came to the United 
States. He first located in McKeesport, this 
State, where he remained one year, and then 
came to Kittanning, where he has resided ever 
since. In 1875 he engaged in the mercantile 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



363 



business, in which lie has coutiuued successfully 
up to the present time. He is also a stockholder 
in the natural gas company at Kittanning. 

On April 23, 1865, Mr. Lenz married Caro- 
line Heidersdorf, daughter of Philip Heiders- 
dorf, a native of Germany. Two children have 
blessed this union : Henrietta and Lizzie, who 
are both at home. 

Charles Lenz is a republican in political 
matters, and is always prompt, energetic and 
successful in any enterprise in which he engages. 
His mercantile establishment is on Jefferson 
street, at Kittanning. He carries a well-assorted 
and heavy stock of groceries, and has a good 
trade. By natural business ability, good judg- 
ment and courteous treatment of his patrons, he 
has been very successful in business. He is a 
memlier of the Evangelical Lutheran church, 
in which he is also an elder. He is a member 
of Kittanning Lodge, No. 1511, Knights of 
Honor. Mr. Lenz owns considerable real estate 
within the borough limits of Kittanning, where 
he is known as a man of energy and reliability. 



REV. HENRY L. MAYERS. One who 
has gi'own in favor and confidence with 
his people by his earnestness of purpose and the 
integrity of his character is Rev. Henry L. 
Mayers, the present pastor of the First Presby- 
terian church of Kittanning. He was born at 
Millersburgh, Ohio, December 29, 1847, and is 
a son of Lewis and Sarah Wheaton Mayers. 
Lewis Mayers was born in Wurmz, Germany, 
October, 1811, and died at Millersburgh, Ohio, 
August 1, 1883, age<l 72 years. He was a 
worthy representative of the industrious and 
progressive German race which has become so 
powerful in the world during the last two cen- 
turies. He settled in 1837 at Millersburgh, 
where he was engaged in the dry-goods business 
until 1873, when he organized "The Exchange 
bank," of which he was a large stock-holder. 
H^ was elected annually as president of that 



bank, from its organization until his death, in 
1 883. He was a remarkably successful business 
man, a public-spirited citizen in every way and 
an influential member of the Presbyterian 
church, to which he was always a liberal con- 
tributor. He married Sarah Wlieaton, who is 
a daughter of Anson Melvin Wheaton, a teacher 
and noted surveyor of Ohio. They reared and 
educated a family of seven sons and fom- daugh- 
ters, all of whom are living and in good circum- 
stances. Six of these sons are successful busi- 
ness men. 

Henry L. Mayers received his elementary 
education in private schools at Millersburgh 
and spent four years at Vermillion Institute, 
Haysville, Ohio, where he prepared for college. 
In 18jS8 he entered the sophomore class of 
Princeton college, from which he was graduated 
in tiie class of 1871. He took high rank as a 
speaker and literary man, being a junior orator 
prize-man, and carrying off a Whig Hall medal. 
He prepared for the ministry at Princeton 
Theological seminary, from which he was grad- 
uated in April, 1874. He was licensed by the 
presbytery of New Brunswick, New Jersey, 
April, 1874. His first charge was at Millville, 
N. J., where he remained for five years. His 
health then becoming impaired, he resigned his 
charge, and was not in regular pastoral work 
for two years. At the end of that time, having 
recovered his health in a large measure, he ac- 
cepted a call, in March, 1881, from the First 
Presbyterian church of Kittamiing, and has 
served as its pastor ever since. 

On July 22, 1874, he married Margaret 
Phillips, a daughter of Lewis and Eliza Pliillips, 
of Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Rev. and Mrs. 
Mayers were the parents of three children : 
Eliza Phillips, Lewis Deare and John Mickle. 
Mrs. Mayers was greatly beloved by their con- 
gregation, was an intelligent and amiable 
woman, but her stay on earth was limited to a 
few brief years, and she passed to her eternal 
home on March 10, 1887. 



364 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



Rev. Heury L. Mayers is an able and elo- 
quent advocate of the doctrines and tlie teach- 
ings of the time-honored old Presbyterian 
church, in which he is an efficient and success- 
ful worker. He is worthily treading in the 
footsteps of those grand old ministers who 
helped establish presbyterianism in western 
Pennsylvania. His congregation is one of the 
largest in the community, and they worship in 
one of the finest church buildings in the State. 



TAMES H. McCAIN is one of the many 
^ members of the Kittanning bar who is held 
in high esteem for integrity, good judgment and 
professional ability. He is a son of William 
and Elizabeth (Galbraith) McCain, and was 
born near Slate Lick, South Buffalo township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, June 17, 
1844. The McCain family is one of the old 
families of the county Tyrone, Ireland, and one 
member of it in the beginning of the present 
century was George McCain (grandfather), who 
married Mary Ralston. They came in 1822 to 
South Buffalo township, where he purchased a 
farm and distillery. He was a Cumberland 
presbyterian, and had two sons and four daugh- 
ters. One of these sons was William McCain, 
who was born in Ireland. He followed farming 
for some time, then was in the mercantile busi- 
ness at Freeport, and in the winter of 1853 re- 
moved to California, where he was elected judge 
of Nevada county. In 1857 he returned to 
Freeport, and three years later engaged in the 
oil business, which he followed until his death, 
in 1864. His wife was Elizabeth Galbraith, 
who was a daughter of Robert Galbraith, one of 
the early settlers of Butler county. She died 
December 19, 1888, aged eighty-five years. 
Judge McCain was a member and one of the 
first trustees of Slate Lick United Presbyterian 
church, and was a very strong man physically. 
He was a life-long democrat, an influential citi- 



zen and a man of positive views, but very con- 
siderate of the feelings of those who differed 
from him. In all the duties and relations of a 
citizen he bore an honorable part, 

James H. McCain is the eighth of a family of 
ten children, of whom five are living. He re- 
ceived his literary education in the common 
schools and Freeport acadeny^. Having a taste 
and inclination for the legal profession, he read 
law for one year in the office of J. G. D. Finly, 
of Freeport, then (1872) attended the law de- 
partment of the University of Pennsylvania for 
one year and completed his studies with Hon. E. 
S. Golden, of Kittanning. He was admitted to 
the Armstrong county bar in September, 1873, 
and has been in active practice ever since. In 
1880 he formed a partnership with John Gil- 
pin, one of the leading lawyers of Kittanning. 
Mr. Gilpin died in November, 1883, and during 
the following year he formed his present part- 
nership with M. F. Leason, Esq. (see his sketch). 
This firm has a large practice and is widely 
known for its ability and prominence at the 
Kittanning bar. 

He was married October 30, 1879, to Char- 
lotte E. Turner, daughter of John Turner, of 
Freeport. To their union have been born four 
children, of whom three are living; Bessie 
Knox, born July 22, 1883 ; Gilpin Monteith, 
born September 23, 1885; and James Harvey, 
born April 1, 1889. Mrs. McCain's father^ 
John Turner, is a cabinet-maker by trade, and 
has been successfully engaged for the last twenty- 
five years in the oil business. He married 
Nancy Ford, who bore him two sons and two 
daughters, and whose father, Peter Ford, mar- 
ried Elizabeth King, a daughter of Capt. Robert 
King, of Revolutionary war fame. 

J. H. McCain is a republican, but has never 
asked for an office, although he has served two 
terms as burgess of Kittanning. He is a mem- 
ber of Kittanning Lodge, No. 244, F, and A. 
Masons, and the Second Presbyterian church 
of Kittanning, in which he is an elder. As a 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



365 



lawyer, as a citizen and as a man he stands well 
at the bar, in his community and with the public. 



RA. McCULLOUGH, an active and 
• promising young member of the Kittan- 
ning bar, was born at Eddyville, jNIahoning 
township, Armstrong county, I'c'iiiiMlvaiiia, 
July 7, 1859, and is a son of David and I*" ran- 
ees (Hoffman) McCullough. David McCul- 
lough comes of a hardy and industrious race. 
He is a son of David McCullough, who came 
to near Salem, in Westmoreland county. Pa., 
from Lancaster, Pa. 

David McCullough was born in 1820, and 
about 1845 removed to Mahoning township, 
this county, where he followed his trade of 
millwright in connection with farming. In 
1878 he went to Cedar county, Nebraska, 
where he has been engaged in farming exclu- 
sively ever since. He is a veteran soldier of 
the late war. In 1861 he enlisted in Co. G, 
6 1st regiment, Pa. Vols., and when his term of 
three years' service had expired he re-enlisted 
and served till the close of the war. He en- 
listed as a private, but was promoted to captain. 
He served in the Army of the Potomac, parti- 
cipated in many of its battles and escaped with 
being but slightly disabled. He was a demo- 
crat till near the close of the late war, and had 
served as justice of the peace, but he then be- 
came a republican. He was reared in the faith 
of the Reformed church, in whose teachings he 
believes. He married Frances Hoffman, a 
daughter of George Hoffman, who came from 
eastern Pennsylvania and settled near Harrison 
City, in Westmoreland county. Her grand- 
father was a commissioned officer in the Revo- 
lutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. McCullough 
reared a family of twelve children, of whom 
nine are living. Mrs. McCullough died in 1867, 
aged forty-six years, and Mr. McCullough 
afterwards married a Mrs. Conger, of Clarion 
county, Pa. 



R. A. McCullough was reared in his native 
township and received his education in the 
common schools and Oakland academy, from 
which institution of learning he was graduated 
in 1881. He taught six terms of school and 
was assistant principal of Kitt^uming schools 
for one term. Having made choice of the pro- 
fession 'if law, he successfully passed the required 
pieliininary examination in all the branches of 
a thorough English education and the ele- 
ments of the Latin language, and was registered 
in 1884 as a student-at-law with Hon. Edward 
S. Golden, of Kittanning. In 1884 Mr. Mc- 
Cullough founded The Kittanning Globe, a 
weekly newspaper, published at Kittanning, 
and one of the most prosperous papers in this 
county. He acted in the capacity of editor for 
three years, when he entered upon the practice 
of the law. In 1887 he passed his final exam- 
ination for admission as an attorney and was 
admitted to the bar of Armstrong county. 
Since then he has been activ^ely engaged in 
building up a practice. In politics he has 
always been a .stanch and uncompromising 
democrat, although his father and his five bro- 
thers are all republicans. In 1890 he was 
elected chairman of the democratic county com- 
mittee of Armstrong county, which position he 
still holds. In religious opinion he is a be- 
liever in the doctrines and a member of the 
Reformed church. 

September 25, 1889, he united in marriage 
with Susanna E. Heeter, a daughter of George 
Heeter, of Clarion county, Pa. For a young 
man Mr. McCullough enjoys a very good prac- 
tice, and has acquired considerable business in- 
terests, and by his present activity and earnest 
labor bids fair to command an extended pat- 
ronage before many years. 



GEORGE W, McNEES, the present (1890) 
active and reliable treasurer of Armstrong 
county, is a man of fine business tact and exec- 



3GG 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



iitive ability and has won marked success 
in all of his undertakings. He was born at 
Slippery Rock, Butler county, Pennsylvania, 
August 15, 1854, and is the only son of 
James and Sarah (Armstrong) McNees. The 
McNees family is one of many substantial and 
reliable families of Western Pennsylvania which 
were founded in the latter part of the eigh- 
teenth century. James McNees, the grand- 
father of George W. McNees, was born in 
"Westmoreland county, this State. He was 
a farmer by occupation, a presbyterian in relig- 
ious belief and was a member of the famous 
Poke Run church of that denomination. He 
married Miss Taylor, by whom he had two 
st)ns and six daughters. One of these sons 
was James McNees, who was born in Butler 
county. Pa., May 27, 1812. In early life he 
engaged in the pottery business, which he still 
follows. He was one of the first men in 
Butler county to take a pronounced position 
on the slave question, and was an able de- 
bater and active agitator in favor of the aboli- 
tion of chattel slavery. He was an old- 
line whig until that party was swept out of 
existence and then joined the Republican party, 
in which he has remained ever since. Al- 
though active in jrolitics and well informed 
on all the great issues of American political 
history, yet he never sought for any office. 
He was originally a presbyterian, but being 
more liberal in his views on Calviuistic doc- 
trines than was allowable by the discipline 
of that church, he withdrew his name from 
the roll of members and united with the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church, in which he has 
served for several years as an elder. He is a 
m.in of positive views on all subjects. His first 
wife was Elizabeth Anderson, who bore him 
seven children. After her death he married 
Sarah Armstrong, by whom he had one sou, the 
subject of this sketch. Mrs. Sarah McNees was 
a daughter of George Armstrong, who with his 
l»rents moved from Path Valley to Westmore- 



land county, this State, and thence to Slippery 
Rock, Butler county, and cleared up a home in 
what was then a wilderness. Mrs. McNees, on 
her grandmother's side, was descended from the 
Harris family, which, so far as we have been 
able to learn, are the same family after whom 
the city of Harrisburg is named. Mrs. Mc- 
Nees died at Girty, in Armstrong county, Jan. 
8, 1881. 

George W. McNees acquired his education in 
the common schools of Mercer county, Elder- 
ton and Livermore academies and the State 
Normal school at Indiana. In early manhood 
he took on himself the responsibility of teacher, 
which he bore very creditably. He taught four 
terms in Armstrong and two in Indiana county, 
this State, besides one term in Kansas. The 
outlook in teaching was not wide enough for the 
exercise of the energies of Mr. McNees, who 
embarked in business life by engaging in the 
pottery business at Girty, Pennsylvania. His 
line of manufacture is first-class stone-ware. 
In 1887 he was nominated by the Repub- 
lican party of Armstrong county for treasurer 
and at the ensuing election in November was 
elected by the handsome majority of 1,598 
votes. He entered upon his office on January 
1, 1888, and ever since has merited and receiv- 
ed the approbation of his fellow-citizens for 
his able management of the county treasury. 
George W. McNees has a cordial sympathy 
for his friends, which gives him a warm place in 
their affections. He is an active republican, a 
true friend and a thorough-going man, who 
will undoubtedly accomplish many more sub- 
stantial results than have already attended his 
efforts. 

G. W. McNees was married ou the 25th day 
of December, 1883, to Anna R. George, the 
accomplished daughter of Johnston and Marga- 
ret (Shoemaker) George, of Girty, Armstrong 
Co., Pa. As a result of this union three chil- 
dren have been born to them : Wendell George, 
Sterling Glenn and Clifford Bowman. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



367 



FRANK B. McVAY, a prominent contrac- 
tor and a leading politician of Kittanning, 
is one of that class of business men so essential 
to the material prosperity of any county and so 
useful in its commercial development. He was 
born on the corner of Thirty-second street and 
Broadway, New York city, September 8, 1X51, 
and is a gon of David and Elizabeth (Fulton) 
McVay, who were both natives "f Irchtnd. 
His grandfather, William McVay, was a civil 
engineer and a political writer of great force. 
For his writings against the English government 
he was compelled to flee to France, where he 
died. David McYay (father) was born in 
county Antrim, Ireland, March 4, 1806, came 
to New York city at eighteen years of age and 
for thirty years was engaged as a partner of 
Gen. Moore in the building rock business. In 
politics he became and ever remained an un- 
compromising democrat. In 1X58 he removed 
to Kittanning, where he was engaged extensively 
in contracting' on railroad work. He went to 
Central America in 1851 and was engaged in 
the building of the first railroad across the 
isthmus of Panama — then Darien. He had a large 
force of men, of whom he lost all but one on account 
of tlieir contracting miasmatic fever, whicii 
was prevalent everywhere. In the war with 
Mexico he served as a soldier under Gen. Phil. 
Kearney, and when the late war broke out he j 
enlisted in the three months' service and at the , 
end of his term of enlistment he volunteered 
for three and served nearly four years as a ser- 
geant in Co. G, 78th regiment. Pa. Vols. He 
served with credit and distinction in a regiment 
whose record at Stone river and in the cam- 
paigns of the Army of the Cumberland has re- 
flected undying glory upon itself and the State 
from which it went. He was a member of the 
Presbyterian church, a well-read man, a good 
conversationalist and died November 13, 1878. 
He was generous and warm-hearted and ha<l a 
wide circle of friends. He was twice married. 
His first wife bore him one son, William, who 



was killed at the battle of Antietam. He mar- 
ried for his second wife, Elizabeth Fulton, who 
is a daughter of Alexander Fulton, of Ireland, 
and resides now in Minnesota. By his second 
marriage he had six sons and six daughters. 
Alexander Fulton came to the United States 
and accompanied his son-in-law to the isthmus 
of Panama, where he died. 

Frank B. McVay was reared and has always 
resided at Kittanning, where he received his 
education in the common schools of that place. 
He learned the contracting business with his 
father and has steadily pursued the same ever 
since. In his line of business he has always 
been signally successful, as well as being now 
one of the leading bridge contractors of the 
western part of Pennsylvania. He has erected 
nearly all of the stone work of the present 
bridges on the Allegheny Valhiy railroad, be- 
sides the stone work of all but three of the 
bridges which span the Allegheny river. He 
was contractor for the stone work of the In- 
diana county jail, the bridges on Stony creek 
and Conemaugh river near Johnstown and 
numerous bridges in adjoining counties. His 
field of operations has not been limited to this 
State, but embraces several of the eastern and 
southern States, in which his work on large rail- 
road bridges and important public buildings 
has received very flattering I)ut well-deserved 
mention. In politics he treads in the footsteps 
of his highly resjjected father and is an ardent 
democrat. In season and out of .season he is 
active in the cause and for the success of the 
party of Jeffei'son, Jackson and Cleveland. He is 
now (1890) the nominee of the Democratic party 
of Armstrong county for Assembly and po.ssesses 
many qualifications of a good repre,sentative. 
His good judgment, quick perception and firm 
determination, together with his wide observa- 
tion and extended experience would admirably 
fit him to guard and protect the welfare of his 
fell()w-citizens and tlie best interests of his 
county. In every business position in which he 



368 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



lias been placed, of trust or responsibility, he 
has never been found wanting, but always suc- 
cessful in the discharge of whatever duties he 
had assumed. 

June 20, 1877, he was united in marriage 
with Elizabeth Hague, a daughter of Frederick 
Hague, of Kittauuing. To their union have 
been born six children, of whom but one is liv- 
ing — a daughter, named Margaret Rebecca, 
who was born May 18, 1884. Mrs. Elizabeth 
(Hague) McVay was born in Valley township, 
and is a member of the First Presbyterian 
church. 



HON. WILLIAM B. MEREDITH. One 
of the leading and influential citizens of 
the county is Ex-State Senator William B. 
Meredith, of Kittanniug. He is a sou of Hon. 
Jonathan and Caroline (McKee) Meredith, and 
was born at Kittauuing, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, September 17, 1839. His great- 
grandfather, Thomas Meredith, was a resident 
of Centre county, where his son, Owen Mere- 
dith (grandfather), was born. Owen Meredith 
was a man of intelligence, a whig and a suc- 
cessful farmer of Madison township. He was 
a baptist and died at ninety years of age, leav- 
ing eight children, of whom one was lion. 
Jonathan Meredith (father), who was born 
December 11, 1810. He came to Kittauuing 
in 1836, where he died March 11, 1888. He 
followed surveying, and was a strong whig. He 
was elected, in 1845, again in 1848 and a third 
time in 1857, as prothonotary by majorities of 
over 1,000, when the county was democratic. 
He was an Odd Fellow and Mason, served one 
term as a member of the State Senate, and mar- 
ried Caroliue McKee, by whom he had two sous 
and two daughters. 

William B. Meredith received his education 
in Kittauuing and Elder's Ridge academies 
and Jefferson college, from which he was grad- 
uated in the class of 1860. During the late 



war he was assessor of internal revenue and op- 
eratetl in oil. For over fourteen years he has 
been secretary and treasurer of the Armstrong 
water company, besides being interested in 
water works in Butler, Warren, Westmoreland 
and Greene counties. He is a republican, has 
frequently been a delegate to State conventions 
and in 1884 was elected as a member of the 
State senate. He is a presbyteriau and a 
thirty-third degree Mason. 

On June 23, 1868, he married Eliza M., 
youngest daughter of Alex. Colwell. Senator 
and Mrs. Meredith have two children : Mar- 
garet Colwell and E<.lith Caroline McKee. 



FRANK A. MOESTA. Kittauuing is not 
only becoming a celebrated centre for the 
iron industry, but likewise for many other lead- 
ing and important industries, among which is 
the manufacture of stone and china-ware by the 
Wick China company. One of the members 
of this important manufacturing company is 
Frank A. Moesta, a successful young business 
man of Armstrong county. He is a son of 
Frederick and Mary (Frank) Moesta, and was 
born at Kittauuing, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, January 18, 1860. His paternal 
grandfather, J. C. IMoesta, of Germany, was 
killed in a mine. Of the children which he 
left one was Frederick Moesta, the fatlier of 
Frank A. Moesta. Frederick Moesta was born 
in Ahlon, Germany, Jan. 28, 1830, and came to 
America, landed at Baltimore Nov. 3, 1851, 
from there to Philadelphia, then to Pittsburgh, 
where he worked at the trade of tailor, which 
he had learned in his uative country. He then 
came to Kittanniug March 31, 1854, where he 
worked for several years. At the end of that 
time he opened a tailoring establishment for 
himself on Jefferson street, which he conducted 
very successfully until 1884, when he fitted up 
a complete and first-class merchant tailoring es- 
tablishment at No. 215 Market street, where 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



369 



he did a good business and had a large trade 
until his death, May 15, 1886. He was one 
of the founders and an elder of St. Luke's 
Reformed church. He was a Free Mason, a 
strong republican and a remarkably successful 
as well as active business man. He had filled 
various borough offices and was a member of the 
school board at the time of his death. He mar- 
ried Mary Frank, who is a daughter of J. C. 
Frank, of Saxonburg, Butler county, and was 
born in 1835. She is a member of the Re- 
foi-mcd church and resides at Kittanning. Mr. 
and Mi-s. Moesta were the parents of five 
children : Charles J., a member of the Wick 
China company; Frank A., Elizabeth, Fred- 
erick (deceased), and Henry E. 

Frank A. Moesta was reared and obtained 
his education at Kittanning. He learned the 
trade of watchmaker and jeweler in ^\'hecling, 
W. Va., and in 1879 opened a watch-making 
and jewelry establishment at Kittanning, which 
he conducted successfully until 1886. In that 
year he disposed of his business and went to 
Kansas City, where he was engaged for three 
years in various lines of business. In April, 

1889, he returned to Kittanning, where he be- 
came a member of the general mercantile firm 
of Wick, Moesta & Co., which continued in 
business until February, 1890. In March, 

1890, he became a member of the present Wick 
China company, which is engaged upon a large 
scale in the manufacture of iron-stone china, 
white granite and decorateil ware. The works 
are e.xtensive and comprise a long three-story 
building with a five-story tower and two three- 
story wings. They are conveniently located for 
shipping purjioses and turn out ware that is in 
constant demand. The company receives and 
fills large orders from many different States of 
the T^nion and have a trade wiiich taxes the 
utmost capacity of their works to supply. The 
magnitude of tlicir business may readily be in- 
ferred from the fact that they em2>loy a force of 
one hundred and eighty persons in their works. 



The members of the company are J. Wick, Jr., 
Frederick Wick, C. J. Moesta and Frank A. 
Moesta. 

Frank A. Moesta has always been a republi- 
can and is the youngest councilman that has 
ever been elected at Kittanning. He is a mem- 
ber of the Reformed church, and stands well 
in business circles, where he is favorably known 
as a man of energy, activity and success. 



ARSHALL B. OSW^ALD. Theprintiug- 
-L'-l- press, the light and life of the world's mod- 
ern civilization, made its appearance at Kittan- 
ning as early as 1810. To-day the oldest paper in 
Armstrong county, and one of the representative 
republican newspapers o( western Pennsylvania, 
is the Union Free Press of Kittanning, pub- 
iishefl by M. B. Oswald & Son. Marsliall B. 
Oswald was born in Franklin county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and is a son of Benjamin and Sarah A. 
(Brenham) Oswald. In Maryland among its 
wealthy planters was John Oswald, whose son, 
Benjamin Oswald (fatiier), was born in 1803. 
He resided near Hagcrstown, in the western part 
of that State, until about 183.3, when he removed 
toChambersburg, Pa., where he publisheil, for 
three years, the Chambersbitrg Whig, which is 
now the Repository. He then went to Lancas- 
ter, Ohio, where he remained two years and 
published a weekly paper in the interests of the 
Whig party. Not deeming the inducements 
and advantages of his Ohio field of journalism 
to be such as could be found in the older States 
of the American Union, he returned in 1838 to 
Pennsylvania, where he selected Kittanning as 
a favorable point for newspaper success. On 
April 5, 1838, he purchased the Kittanning 
Gazette and in the first week of May, 1841, 
changed the name to that of the Democratic 
Press and afterwards to the Kittanning Free 
P/'Cs.s, w^hich name it bore until his death, 
March 17, 1855. He was a well educated 



370 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



man, wielded a ready pen and expressed his 
thoughts upon any topic of general interest or 
subject of political agitation in good style and 
vigorous English. He was an old-line whig 
and later a republican and served as postmaster 
of Kittanning from 1841 to 1845, having been 
commissioned by President William Henry 
Harrison. He also served as justice of the peace 
and school director, besides hokliug various 
other borongh offices. He was a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church and married Sarah 

A. Brenham, who was a daughter of John 
Brenham, of near Hagerstown, Maryland, and 
died August 7, 1889, aged eighty-one years. | 
They were the parents of nine children. 

Marshall B. Oswald was reared principally at 
Kittanning, where he received his education in 
the public schools of that place. He learned 
the trade of printer, wiiich he followed for several 
years. From 1861 to 1867 he served as mail 
agent between Kittanning and Pittsburgh. 
In 1867 he purchased his present paper, the 
Union Free Press, which is the name that had 
been bestowed upon the old Kittanning Free 
Press when it was purchased from Mrs. Oswald 
in May, 1864, by a publishing company. He 
conducted tiie paper successfully until 1890, 
when he admitted his son, John R. Oswald, as 
a partner of the present new.spaper firm of H. 

B. Oswald <fe Son. He is a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church, and Kittanning 
Lodge, No. 244, F. and A. Masons. He is a 
constant worker in the Republican party, but 
has never asked an office. 

On February 22, 1864, he married Mary J. 
Bell, daughter of Morris Bell, a contractor of 
Pittsburgh, Pa. They have five children : 
John, engaged as a partner with his flither ; 
Basil, a route agent of Adams Express com- 
pany; Horace G., in the printing business; 
Marshall and Sarah. 

The Union Free Press is devoted to news, 
politics and general intelligence, and claims to 
have the largest circulation of any paper pub- 



lished in the county. It is a folio sheet 30.x44 
inches and contains thirty-six columns of reading 
matter and advertisements. It has able and point- 
ed editorials on political matters and never gives 
any uncertain support to the Republican party 
or its interests or candidates. It contains the 
latest reliable news of national affairs. State hap- 
penings, local events of the borough and the 
various townships of the county, useful inform- 
ation upon general subjects and a column 
devoted to agriculture and the interest of the 
grange. A first-class job office has been 
attached to the pajjer. The Press was founded 
in 1838 under the name of the Democratic 
Press and was the successor of the Gazette and 
f'olumbiun, which came into existence in 1831 
by the consolidation of the Gazette, established 
in 1825, and the Columbian, founded in 1819, as 
the second paper in the county. Under M. 
B. Oswald's charge the Press has come to be 
recognized as a power in the politics of Ann- 
strong county. 



WALTER S. OTTO. The art of photog- 
raphy comes near to our affections, for 
by its means we are enabled to preserve, at 
light expense, the pictured semblance of loved 
ones. Kittanning is fortunate in having several 
first-class photographers, and one of that num- 
ber is Walter S. Otto, a skilled photographer 
and crayon arti.st. He is a son of Dr. Andrew 
B. and Mary A. (Barenstock) Otto, and was 
born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, December 4, 1863. As the name 
would indicate, the Ottos are of German 
lineage, and Christian Otto (grandfather) is a 
native of one of the present States of the Ger- 
man ICmpire. He came to Pennsylvania when 
a young man, and settled at Butler, Pa., where 
he engaged in his present hotel business, in ad- 
dition to which he conducts a butchering estab- 
lishment. He married and reared a family of 
children. His son. Dr. Andrew B. Otto, was 




'^-^ fici^^-L^ 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



373 



born at Butler, and died iu 1868. He read 
medicine, attended lectures at Jefferson Med- 
ical college, of Philadelphia, and practiced his 
profession at Kittanning until his death. He 
was a republican, a member of the Presbyterian 
church and an able physician, who was enthusi- 
astically devoted to his profession. He married 
Mary A. Barenstock, who still survives him. 
Their family consisted uf three children, of 
whom two are living: Walter S. and William 
B., a jeweler of Pittsburgh, Pa. 

Walter S. Otto was reared at Kittanning and 
received his education in the public schools of 
tiiat place. When but eleven years of age he 
was employed as a clerk in a store, which posi- 
tion he held for several years. In 1885 he 
made choice of photograj)hy as his life-pursuit, 
and entered C C. Shadle's photographic gallery 
at Kittanning. In 1886, in order to perfect 
himself in crayon work, he went to Chicago and 
spent eighteen months in the stndy of tho-se 
special branches of artistic work. He then re- 
turned to Kittanning, where he established his 
present j)hotograph gallery and art studio, at 
No. 304 Market street. He enjoys a large and 
substantial patronage from those who appreciate 
fine work in his line of business. An excellent 
specimen of his work as an artist is to be seen 
in the court-house. It is a fine oil painting of 
Judge Boggs, which is from the brush of Mr. 
Otto. He is a republican, but takes no active 
part in the local politics of his borough. He 
devotes his time to his gallery and studio. His 
rooms are well furnished, and display a large 
number of unusually fine photographs, paint- 
ings and crayon-pictures which fully attest the 
taste and skill exercised by Mr. Otto iu their 
production. 



T)EV. JOHN AV. OWEN, of Kittanning, 
-'-*' was a man who was full of love and char- 
ity for his fellow-men, true to his friends, firm 
in his attachments and unswerving in his con- 



victions of the right. He commanded public re- 
spect, and his death was greatly deplored. He 
was born near Clearfield, Clearfield county, 
Pennsylvania, December 26, 18.30, and was a son 
of John and Mary Owen. He was reared iu 
Clearfield county, and received but the lim- 
ited education which that county then afforded. 
He was converted to Christianity in early life 
and subsequently became a minister of the Gos- 
pel in the church of the United Brethren in 
Christ, and was actively engaged in ministerial 
labor for nearly ten years, but was compelled 
by impaired health to retire from the ministry, 
much against his own wish and the desire of 
his congregation. He then took up and suc- 
cessfully followed the practice of dentistry 
in the borough of Kittanning for a number 
of years, nntil influenced to turn his practice 
over into other hands, and gave his atten- 
tion more fully to store-keeping, which he 
was carrying on in connection with the dental 
business. But finding that not fidly remunera- 
tive, after a few years he gave liis whole at- 
tention to_ the building, repairing and renting 
of tenant houses (to which he had been giving 
some attention in connection with his other 
business), and in which he was engaged at 
the time of his death. Mr. Owen was chari- 
table and kind in disposition, and had a wide 
circle of friends. 

December 20, 1861, he married Laviua C. 
Korb, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Korb, 
of Clearfield, Pa., who were natives of Ger- 
many. To Rev. and Mrs. Owen were born six 
children, three of whom preceded their father 
to the better land. The remaining three are 
Isaac S., Martha E., who graduated in the 
Kittanning high school in 1884 and is now 
the wife of Thomas H. Logan, a prominent 
young business man of Logansport, Pa., and 
Sadie W. 

Mrs. Owen is a member of the Metho<list Pro- 
testant church and has always been kind to the 
afflicted and needy. As manager of her late 



374 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



husband's estate she has evinced good judgment 
and has met with fair success. 

Among the papers of Rev. John W. Owen 
was found a biographical sketch of him, written 
by himself, whicii is modest and brief, and yet 
expressed iu such simple and well-chosen lan- 
guage, that we quote concerning his ministry: 

" I was born near Clearfield town, Clearfield 
county. Pa.; am a descendant of an old Revo- 
lutionary family, and was reared amid the dis- 
advantages of a new county. I was converted 
to Christianity in 1847, was licensed to exhort 
in 1854, and licensetl to preach in 1855, my 
first class being Liberty Valley in 1858. I at- 
tended conference at Williamsport, March, 1859, 
and was appointed to Penn's Valley, and after- 
wards to Wilmore in 1860, to Knoxdalein 1861 
and 1862, and was ordained January 4, 1862. 
I spent 1863 and 1864 on the Mahoning dis- 
trict, where I suffered from diphtheria. In 1865 
I applied for and received from conference a 
local relation and still continued to preach, but 
was compelled to quit before the close of the 
year on account of the state of my health, and 
moved to Kittanning, April 1st, 1866." When 
Mr. Owen came to Kittanning, finding no 
church of his own denomination, he unitetl 
with the Episcopal Methodist, and subsequently 
with the Protestant Methodist, to which he be- 
longed at the time of his death. He passed 
from the scenes of iiis earthly labor June 13, 
1885, and his remains were interred, in tJie Kit- 
tanning cemetery. Energetic as a business man, 
prominent as a tcmjierance advocate, earnest as 
a church worker and useful as a minister, Rev. 
John W. Owen, when he died, left a vacant 
place that was hard to fill. 



HON. CALVIN RAYBURN, president 
judge of the courts of Armstrong county, 
and well known as an able lawyer before his 
elevation to the bench, is a son of Squire James 



and Margaret (Boyd) Rayburn, and was born 
on the old Rayburn homestead, iu North Buf- 
falo township, Armstrong county, Pa., October 
25, 1850. Some time afler the close of the 
great struggle between England and France for 
political supremacy, which is known in history 
as the French and Indian war, the paternal 
great-grandfather of Judge Rayburn left the 
shores of Scotland and came to western Penn- 
sylvania, where he settled in the famous Ligo- 
nier Valley. Two of the sons whom he reared 
to manhood were Matthew and James. Mat- 
thew served as a soldier in the Continental 
army during the Revolutionary War. James 
Rayburn (grandfather), the j'ounger son, was 
born in the Ligonier Valley, removed in 1797 
to Armstrong county, and settled in what is 
now North Buffalo township. The farm which 
he purchased and cleared has descended in a 
direct line, and in the Rayburn name for four 
generations. He was an old-time democrat, 
and a strict member of the Seceder (now the 
U. P.) church. He died in 1837, when well 
advanced in years. His wife was Nellie Callen, 
by whom he had seven children, of whom six 
grew to manhood and womanhood. Nellie 
(Callen) Rayburn was a daughter of Patrick 
Callen, who came at the same time with 
James Rayburn from Westmoreland to Arm- 
strong county. Of the six surviving children, 
Squire James Rayburn (father) was born Octo- 
ber 26, 1801, and passed away November 6, 
1886, when he had numbered ten days beyond 
his eighty fifth year. He gave his days to the 
cultivation of his farm and lived a haj)py and 
successful life. He was a JefFersonian demo- 
crat, always was active in the support of his 
party, and frequently represented his district 
in county democratic conventions. With no 
thirst for office or no ambition for public place, 
he never refused to serve his own community in 
any capacity which he was desired to fill, and 
thus was frequently elected and served as justice 
of the peace. He was a strong and honored 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



375 



member of Buffalo U. P. church, which 
stood on his farm. A man of excellent judg- 
ment and conservative views, yet positive and 
earnest in convictions, he was extremely 
popular with his neighbors. In 1827 he mar- 
ried Jane Galbraith, who bore him five chil- 
dren, of whom three are living. After her 
death he married Margaret Boyd, a daughter 
of Robert Boyd, an early settler and long-time 
resident of Sugar Cieek township. By this 
second marriage he had six children, of whom 
four are living : Robert, of Iowa ; Jane, wife 
of Samuel R. Steele; and Judge Calvin and 
Cyrus, who are twins. 

Calvin Rayburn acquired his elementary edu- 
cation in the common schools and prepared for 
college at Slate Lick academy. He entered 
Princeton college and was graduated from that 
famous eastern institution of learning in the 
class of 1875. Between his academic and col- 
legiate courses he taught three terras in the 
common schools, and after graduation taught an 
additional term in Brady's Bend township, and 
served for one winter as principal of Queens- 
town public schools. In 1877 his connection 
with school-work terminated with his services ; 
at the latter place, and he turned his attention j 
to the profession which he purposed to pursue 
as his life vocation. In June of that year he 
registered as a law student with Hon. George 
A. Jenks, of Brooksville, who afterwards at- 
tained to National prominence as assistant 
attorney-general under President Cleveland's 
administration. Mr. Rayburn was admitted 
to the bar of Jefferson county in June, 1879, 
and in November following was admitted to 
practice in the courts of Armstrong county. 
On December 1, 1879, he openefl an office at 
Kittauniug and was engaged in the active prac- 
tice of the law until his election to the bench in 
1889. In that year he was nominated unani- 
mously by the Democratic party of Armstrong 
county for president judge, and was trium- 
phantly elected in a republican stronghold by a 



majority of seven hundred and twenty-two 
votes. 

October 19, 1886, he united in marriage with 
Margaret McFadden, a daughter of Dr. James 
McFadden, of Buena Vista, Allegheny county, 
this State. They have one child, a son, named 
James Rayburn, who is two years of age. 

Judge Rayburn was chairman of the county 
Democratic committee from 1882 to 1885, and 
was a delegate to the National democratic con- 
vention of 1884, at Chicago, which nominated 
Grover Cleveland for President. He is one of 
the youngest judges on the bench in this State, 
and so far has presided over the courts of the 
county with ability, firmness and fairness. Judge 
Rayburn is finely educated, modest and unas- 
suming. As a man he is pleasant and agreeable ; 
as a lawyer lie is careful and correct, and as a 
counselor is safe. His analysis of a case is very 
clear and exact, and he is one who would rather 
win a cause by clearness of statement and just- 
ness of argument tlian by fervor of appeal. 



DAVID J. REED, ex-sheriff of Armstrong 
county, and a well-known i'uneral director 
and embalmer, is one of Kittanning's leading 
and reliable business men. He was born in 
East Franklin township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, May 1, 1823, and is a son of 
John and Margaret (Peeples) Reed. His grand- 
father, David Reed, was born at Gettysburg, 
Adams county. Pa., August 23, 1769, and after- 
wards came to this county in 1808. He was a 
carpenter, and worked at his trade in his early 
days. After coming to tiiis county, of which 
he was an early settler, he gave his entire atten- 
tion to farming. He diet! in Franklin town- 
ship. John Reed (father) was born on Sewick- 
ley creek, Westmoreland county, this State, in 
1792, and came to this county with his father 
in 1808, when sixteen years of age. He was a 
farmer of Franklin township, and was the first, 
in his section, to banish whiskey from his side- 



376 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



board. He was a great reader, and had a won- 
derful power of retaining what he read. He 
was a republican, and well posted in the politi- 
cal and general affairs of the day. The Glade 
Run Presbytei'iau church, of which he was a 
member, was erected on a corner of his farm in 
1846, by his son, the subject of this sketch. He 
died December 23, 1878, at the advanced age 
of eighty-six years. In 1822 he married Mar- 
garet Peeples, a native of Westmoreland county, 
by whom he had eiglit sons. She was a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church, and died April 
15, 1880, when in her eighty-sixth year. 

David J. Reed was reared on his father's 
farm until eighteen years of age, and received 
his educational training in the subscription and 
free schools of his native county. He then left j 
the farm and learned the trade of carpenter, at 
which he worked until 1858. In that year he 
engaged in the hotel business just across the 
river from Kittauning, where he remained until 
1863, when he moved to Kittauning, and was 
proprietor of the Reed house for a time. In 
1867 he was elected to and filled very satisfac- 
torily the office of sheriff for three years. He 
then was proprietor of the Eagle hotel for a 
short time, and for the last twelve years has 
been engaged in the undertaking business. His 
present establishment is located on Jefferson 
street. He has a large assortment of under- 
taker's supplies, including the latest kinds of 
caskets and burial-cases, and also full lines 
of funeral trimmings. As a funeral director his 
services have always given satisfaction. 

He was married on November 3, 1847, to 
Leah Wible, daugliter of John Wible, of West- 
moreland county. They have five ciiildren 
living, four sons and one daughter : Guy W., 
engaged in the livery business at Washington, 
Pa. ; Robert K., in the mining business at 
Great Falls, Montana ; William H., engaged 
in dealing in horses at Washington, Pa. ; David 
J., Jr., at home ; and Leah, married to Samuel 
Dixon, of Kittanniug. 



D. J. Reed is a republican, and has filled 
several of the offices of his boi'ough. He was 
elected county auditor iu 1860, wiiicli office he 
held for three years. He is a contributor and 
an attendant upon the services of the Presby- 
terian church. He owns several houses iu Kit- 
tanning, and is always willing and ever ready 
to assist in any enterjjrise for tiie benefit of his 
town or county. 



WILLIAM H. REICHERT. Journalism 
has become a profession, and the modern 
newspaper is one of the most ])otent forces in 
the laud for the education of public opinion as 
well as for the dissemination of news. A young 
and favorably known journalist iu Armstrong 
county is William H. Reichert, editor of The 
Standard. He is a son of J. E. and Hannah A. 
(Hilton) Reichert, and was boru at Kittauning, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, August 9, 
1858. His paternal grandfatlier, Rev. Gabriel 
Adam Reichert, was born in Constance, Switzer- 
land, was educated for the ministry iu Germany 
and came to the United States, where he was 
a faithful and efficient minister of the Lutheran 
church for fifty-seven years. He had charge of 
a church in Philadelphia for some time, and 
then was pastor of the Kittanniug Lutheran 
church for many years. He married Lydia^ 
daughter of John Tyson, of Indiana, and they 
reared a family of ten children. One of their 
sons was J. E. Reichei-t (father), who was born 
June 9, 1834, at Kittanniug. He served an 
apprenticeship of seven years in the drug-store 
of George C. Bowers, and in 1855 commenced 
for himself in the drug business, which he has 
followed successfully ever since. He has always 
been a republican, and. is a member of the Pro- 
testant Episcopal church. On March 10, 1857, 
he married Hannali A., daughter of Rev. William 
Hilton, formerly rector of St. Paul's Episcopal 
church. To their union were born six children, 
of whom four are living. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



377 



W. H. Reichert was reared at Kittanuing, re- 
ceived liis education in the public schools and 
learned the printing business with John W. 
Rohrer, of the Sentinel. In April, 1874, he 
issued the initial number of a monthly paper 
called tiie Centennial, whicii he published until 
1883, when he changed it to a weekly. In 1887 
he changed it in name to The Standard, which 
he has continued to publish until the present 
time. The Standard contains all home and 
State news, besides furnishing its readers with 
everytiiing of national interest, while not ne- 
glecting information of value or benefit to the 
tradesman or farmer. Mr. Reichert is one of 
the active young republican editors of the State. 
He is a member of the Royal Arcauum and the 
Episcopal church of Kittanning, in which he 
has been organist ever since he was fifteen years 
of age. 

August 9, 1883, he was united in marriage 
with Minnie A. Stofer, daughter of J. W. Stofer, 
editor of the Middletown Journal. 

He lias made a good record as a journalist, 
and stands well with the members of his pro- 
fession. 



FRANCIS M. REYNOLDS, D.D.S., a lead 
ing, progressive and successful dentist of 
Kittanning, is a son of George W. and Rachel 
(Lloyd) Reynolds, and was born on Jefferson 
street, Kittanning, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, December 3, 1857. Among the early 
settlers of the county was William Reynolds 
(grandfather), who was born in 1783 and settled 
at Kittanning some time in the fii-st decade of 
the present century. He was a tanner by occu- 
pation, acquired considerable property and mar- 
ried. He had several children. One of these 
children was George W. Reynolds (father), who 
was born in 1808, at Kittanning, where he 
always resided and where he died in November, 
1869. He was engaged during his lifetime in 
the mercantile business. He was for a Ions time 



in partnership with Alex. Caldwell, but finally 
purchased the entire store and in connection 
with it kept an extensive lumber-yard. He was 
a member of the U. P. church, a strong anti- 
slavery man and republican and one of the 
founders of the Sous of Temperance He mar- 
ried Rachel Lloyd, who was a daughter of 
Stephen Lloyd, one of Cambria comity's earliest 
settlers and largest and wealthiest landholders, 
and died February 2, 1888. They had seven 
childreu, of whom three are living : Jennie E., 
wife of W. D. Crawford ; Dr. F. M. and Ida 
M. In his early life Mr. Reynolds .served one 
term as constable of the borough, but after that 
refused to accept various offices that were prof- 
fered him. He was a very large man, of fine 
personal appearance and genial disposition. He 
was very popular with the farmers of the county, 
as he would sell them lumijer on time and never 
hurry them for the pay. 

Francis M. Reynolds received his education 
in the public schools of Kittanning and Mari- 
etta, Ohio, and the Indiana Normal school of 
Indiana, Pa. Leaving school, he spent three 
years in the hotel business at Parker City. Not 
having any decided liking for hotel-keeping^ 
and entertaining a preference for dentistry, he 
entered the Philadelphia Dental college. After 
two years' close application and hard study he 
graduated from that institutiou in 1881. Imme- 
diately after graduation he opened an office at 
Kittanning fur the practice of his profession. 
From that time until the present he has steadily 
been building up the large and lucrative prac- 
tice whicli he now enjoys. He has kept abreast 
of his profession in its every deiiartment, has 
the late improved instruments and appliances 
of dental surgery and is ever awake to the ad- 
vancement of dentistry. 

Dr. Reynolds is a member of the First Pres- 
byterian church, of Kittanning, the Royal Ar- 
canum and Improved Order of Heptasophs. 
He is genial and affable and thoroughly equipped 
for conducting dentistry in all of its branches. 



378 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ROBERT A. ROBINSON. The practical, 
honorable audsucceesful merchant does not 
spring, ready armed and equipped, into the 
active business of mercantile life, like Minerva 
from the head of Jove ; but, by careful training 
and years of experience, is fitted to assume and 
hold a prominent place in mercantile affairs. 
Such a training was received and such a place 
was held by the late Robert A. Robinson, of 
Kittanning. He was a son of Robert and Lydia 
(McKee) Robinson, and was born at Kittan- 
ning, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, August 
12, 1817. The Robinsons, like many more of 
the early settled families west of the Alleghe- 
nies, were of Scotch-Irish origin. Robert Rob- 
inson, Sr., the grandfather of the late Robert A. 
Robinson, was one of the early settlers of near 
Greensburg, Westmoreland county, who came 
fi-om eastern Pennsylvania. He followed farm- 
ing for some length of time, and then came to 
Kittanning, where he died in 1815, while 
engaged in the mercantile busines. His son, 
Robert Robinson (father), was born in 1790, in 
Westmoreland county, and came with his father, 
in the early years of the present century, to 
Kittanning, where he was a successful merchant 
for many years. He was originally a democrat, 
but finally became a free-soiler, and had served 
as one of the early sheriffs of this county. He 
also had held various borough offices, was a promi- 
inent business man, and died in 1856, aged 
sixty-six years. He married Lydia McKee, by 
whom he had five children : one son and four 
daughters. One daughter, Mrs. Sarah E. Col- 
well, resides at Kittanning, and is the only child 
living. 

Robert A. Robinson was reared at Kittan- 
ning, and received his education in the select 
schools and the academy of that place. Leaving 
school, he was engaged in the mei'cantile busi- 
ness with his father until 1840, when he went 
to Rural Village, where he opened a store 
■which he successfully conducted for eight years. 
He then returned to Kittauniug, where he died 



March 6, 1849, when only thirty-two years of 
age and in the very prime of his life. He was 
a democrat and an active business man. He 
was careful and judicious, and never extended 
his business beyond his capital, although he 
possessed the requisite credit to have done so. 
Safe as a business man and well liked as a citi- 
zen, he was much missed at his native town 
and wherever he was known. 

On May 1, 1839, he married Matilda Cog- 
ley, daughter of Joseph Cogley, of Buffalo 
township. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson had five 
children, of whom four are living : Dr. Robert, 
a practicing physician of East Brady ; Lydia 
M., Arabella, wife of William Pollock, cashier 
of the First National Bank of Kittanning ; and 
Juliet. 

Mrs. Matilda Robinson and her daughters 
are members of the First Presbyterian church 
of Kittanning. She is of English descent, and 
her paternal great-grandfather, John Cogley, 
came from England nearly 150 years ago, and 
purchased an island in the Susquehanna river 
(near Harrisburg), which he improved and cul- 
tivated. He died at Philadelphia, when on the 
eve of visiting his native country, and his 
grave is to be seen in a cemetery in that city. 
One of his grandsons, Joseph Cogley, was the 
father of Mrs. Robinson. Joseph Cogley was 
born in Dauphin county, January 11, 1776, 
came, in 1799, to what is now South Buffalo 
town.ship, Armstrong county, where he died 
April 8, 1852, aged seventy-five years. He 
was a farmer by occupation, and a member of 
what is now the U. P. church. He was mar- 
ried in 1799, to a lady who soon died, and in 
1801 he married Rachel Jones, of Lancaster 
county, who was a member of the U. P. church, 
and passed away February 14, 1849, when in 
the seventy-seventh year of her age. To Joseph 
and Rachel Cogley were born eleven children ; 
of these children but two are living : Dr. 
Thomas Cogley, of Madison, Indiana, and Mrs. 
Matilda Robinson. Since her husband's death. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



379 



Mrs. Robinson has resided at Kittanning, where 
slie has a pleasant and comfortable home. 



WILLIAM D. ROBINSON. Of the great 
elements of material wealth for which 
western Pennsylvania is noted, one is its great 
oil field. With the rapid growth and remark- 
able development of the oil industry of the 
great petroleum producing counties of Venango, 
Warren, Clarion, Butler, Bradford and Arm- 
strong is prominently connected the name of 
William D. Robinson, one of the leading and 
substantial business men of the old and time- 
honored Robinson family of New England. 
He was born at Parker's Landing, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1820, and is 
a son of Elisiia and Elizabeth (Roller) Robin- 
son. His father, Elisha Robinson, Sr., was 
one of the best-known and most prominent of 
the early settlers of Armstrong county. He 
was born at Windham, Connecticut, December 
4, 1791, and was a son of Andrew and Olive 
Robinson, who were of English descent and of 
families which had been for several generations 
in New England. He learned a trade, and in 
1814 came to what is now Hovey township, 
where he engagetl in shoemaking and erected 
the first tannery ever built in the northern part 
of the county. In 1846 he gave control of the 
tannery to his son, Samuel M., and devoted his 
entire attention to farming until 1868. In that 
year the oil excitement became intense in the 
region about Parker's Landing (now Parker 
City), and he began to lease his lands to oil 
operatoi-s, for royalties. Many good producing 
wells were soon struck, and he found himself 
for the remainder of his life in receipt of a 
large income from his royalties. He was mar- 
ried, on January 7, 1816, to Elizabeth Roher, 
of Greeusburg, Pa., who died at an advanced 
age, September 21, 1881. Their children were: 
Simeon H., Mary A. (Bovard), William D., 
Olive (McConnell), S. M., Frederick A., An- 
23 



drew J., Samuel M., Elisha and Frederick R. 
Of these children, Mary A., W. D., Samuel M. 
and Elisha are living. Elisha Robinson, Sr., 
after a long and well-directed life of activity 
and usefulness, passed away after a compara- 
tively short sickness, on October 17, 1874. A 
democrat of life-long standing and a man of 
scrupulous honesty, he was a fitting represen- 
tative of New England sjiirit and enterprise. 
He was actuated in life by the principle of the 
Golden Rule, and left to his descendants the 
priceless inheritance of a spotless reputation. 

William D. Robinson received his early edu- 
cation in the subscription schools of that day. 
He then attended for two years a select school 
taught by a man of the name of Piersol, and in 
1835 entered the freshman class of Meadville 
college, where he spent two years. Returning 
home from Meadville, he learned the trade of 
tanner with his father, but did not follow bin- 
ning very long. He next, turning his atten- 
tion to the mercantile business, was a clerk at 
Brady's Bend for three years, and then opened 
a store at Parker's Landing, whi(;h he conduct- 
ed until 1868. He also bought stock, which 
he drove to Philadelphia, where he purchased 
his goods. In 1864 he became the pioneer of 
the oil business at Parker City, where he sunk 
the first well of that place. He continually 
widened his field of operations as an oil pro- 
ducer and was interested in wells in Armstrong, 
Bradford, Butler, Venango and Clarion coun- 
ties. In 1880, after a very successful career, 
he retired from the oil business and left to 
other hands the care of the many important 
interests which he had managed so successfully. 
In 1858 he removed to Kittanning, where he 
has resided ever since in a beautiful home with 
pleasant surroundings. 

In June, 1852, he married Mary Kelly, a 
daughter of Hon. Ebcn Smith Kelly, who was 
the eldest son of W. Bowdoin Kelly, and was 
born at Meredith, N. H., February 1, 1794. 
He left home on September 13, 1813, for Steu- 



380 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



benville, Ohio, where he arrived on the 17th of 
October. He read law with B. Tappan, of 
Steubenville, and Judge Baldwin, of Pitts- 
burgh, was admitted to the Pittsburgh bar 
November 17, 1815, and soon thereafter moved 
to Kittanning, where he engaged in practice. 
He was prothonotary of Armstrong county from 
1816 to 18'21, and in 1826 was elected as State 
Senator from the Tvventy-fourth Senatorial Dis- 
trict of Pennsylvania, then composed of the 
counties of Venango, Warren, Jefferson, Indi- 
ana, Cambria and Armstrong. On September 
26, 1822, he married Nancy, daughter of Hugh 
Davidson, of Berkley county, Va., and died in 
Harrisburg, Pa., March 28, 1829, when in the 
very prime of life. He was a man of extensive 
reading and literary tastes of a high order, be- 
ing familiar with all the famous English au- 
thors and Latin poets. On March 18, 1829, on 
motion of Hon. Richard Vanx, of Philadelphia, 
he was unanimously elected as a correspond- 
ing member of the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have been 
the parents of five children, of whom three are 
living : Emma, wife of Elder Montgomery ; 
May Olive and Cornelia. May Olive Robin- 
son married, November 3, 1883, William Gates 
Reynolds, a member of the Armstrong county 
bar, and a son of Thomas J. Reynolds, who 
was a brave soldier, one of the prominent men 
of the county, and married Mary Gates, a 
daughter of William Gates, an influential busi- 
ness man, and one of tlie founders of the Kit- 
tanuino; rolling-mill. 

William D. Robinson is a democrat and ac- 
tive in politics, although never an aspirant for 
office or public favor. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity and the Protestant Episco- 
pal church, in which he has frequently served 
as a vestryman. 



HON. JOHN W. ROHRER, ex-member of 
the Pennsylvania House of Representa- 
tives and a member of the Armstrong county 
bar, is the well-known editor of the Armstrong 
Democrat and Sentinel. He is a sou of Fred- 
erick and Mariamne (Stevenson) Rohrer, and 
was born at Kittanning, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, March 5, 1823. His paternal 
grandfather, George Rohrer, was of German 
origin, and was born on the French side of the 
Rhine, and settled in Westmoreland county, 
where his son, Frederick Rohrer (father), wa.s 
born some time prior to 1800. Frederick 
Rohrer learned the printing business at Pitts- 
burgh in the office of the old Mercury, whose 
proprietors he paid $500 for the privilege of 
being entered as an apprentice. In 1819 he 
established the Columbian, which he sold in 
1832, and then engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness until shortly before his death, in 1837. 
He served as register and recorder, and as pro- 
thouotar}' of the county, and was a justice of 
the peace at the time of his death. He was a 
strong democrat, and married Mariamne Ste- 
venson, of Gettysburg. Of their family of six 
children, five are living. 

John W. Rohrer was reared at Kittanning, 
where he read law with John S. Rhey, and was 
admitted to the bar. He served three terms as 
district attorney of the county, and was elected 
as a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 
1859. 

In 1864 he became editor and proprietor of 
the Armstrong Democrat and Sentinel, which 
has been under his administration an able and 
prosperous democratic journal. 

June 25th, 1851, he married Ann E., daugh- 
ter of Rev. William Hilton. They have one 
son living: Frederick, who is assistant editor 
of the Sentinel. 

J. W. Rohrer is a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and Kittanning Protestant Episcopal 
church, of which he was a vestryman for many 
years. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



381 



AS. SCHRECKENGOST, a skilled, relia- 
• ble and successful photographer aud ar- 
tist of Kittanning, is a son of Isaac aud Cath- 
erine (King) Schreckeugost, and was born near 
Frantz' mill, Kittanning township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, July 20, 1865. His 
paternal grandfather, Benjamin Schreckeugost, 
was born in a beautiful valley amid the lofty 
mountains of Switzerland, from which he emi- 
grated to western Peunsylvauia when a young 
man. He was a farmer and miller, and built 
what is now known as Frantz' mill. He mar- 
ried Sallie Eurie, of this county, aud of the 
children born to them one was Isaac Schreck- 
eugost, the father of the subject of this sketch. 
He was born in Armstrong county, is a pros- 
perous farmer, and holds membership in the 
Lutheran church, of which he has been an elder 
and deacon. He is a conservative republican 
in politics. 

He united in marriage with Catherine, ' 
daughter of Jacob King, of Westmoreland 
county, tliis State. To their union wei-e born 
ten children, of whom six sons and one daugh- 
ter are living. The latter, Louisa by name, is 
the wife of William Montgomery, of Denver, 
Colorado. 

A. S. Schreckeugost was reared in Kittan- 
ning township, and received his etlucation in 
the common schools. At twenty years of age j 
he became interested in the art of photography, 
which he learned and has since followed suc- 
cessfully. For a while he was in partnership i 
with C C. Shadle, an old and experienced 
photographer of Kittanning; but recently he 
has rented large and convenient rooms in the i 
Orr building, which he has furnished with all j 
late aud improved photographic apparatus. He 
is now prepared to do any kind of work in his 
line of business from the small ambrotype, so 
popular with a past generation, to the life-size 
picture that has such large space iu the pho- 
tographic productions of the present. He 
makes first-class photographs, ranging iu size 



from the gem up to the cabinet and panel. A 
laudable ambition to excel in his work, united 
with a desire to please his patrons, has led un- 
doubtedly to the success which he has achieved, 
and is indicative of increased future pros- 
perity. 

In politics he is a republican. He is a 
member of the Equitable Aid Association and 
St. Luke's Reformed church. He is well 
established in his chosen business in a pleas- 
ant and thriving borough, and having found 
his level and life-work, nothing should prevent 
him from becoming a leadiug photographer in 
the future. 



CC. SHADLE, the oldest resident photog- 
• rapher of Kittanning and an artist of 
superior ability in his line of business, was 
born four miles from Clarion, Clarion county, 
Pennsylvania, October 17, 1845, and is a .son 
of Isaac and Mary (Shirely) Shadle. Isaac 
Shadle was born in 1817, in the eastern part of 
Pennsylvania, where he was reared to manhood. 
He then removed to Clarion county, but in a 
short time pushed farther westward and located 
at Blairsville, in Indiana county, where he now 
resides. He is a natural mechanic and con- 
siderable of an artisan. As such he has worked 
successfully iu various trades with but little 
instruction and did creditable work as a 
plasterer, shoemaker, cabinet-maker and jeweler. 
At the age of forty-five he learned photography, 
which business he has followed uninterruptedly 
and successfully ever since. He has a well 
fitted and convenient gallery at Blairsville, 
where he makes the best of work, although in 
the seveuty-third year of his age. He is a 
democrat, a member of the Methotlist Epi.scopal 
church and a man of excellent standing in the 
town where he resides. He married Mary 
Shirely, by whom he had seven children. Siie 
died and he married for his second wife Hannah 
Fink, a native of this State. 



382 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



C C Shadle was educated in the common 
schools, learned photography with his father 
and then spent three years as an engineer. At 
the end of that time he opened a photograph 
gallery at Apollo, where he remained for three 
years and then removed to Tarentum, Pa., at 
which place he followed his business until 1869. 
In that year he came to Kittanning and estab- 
lished his present large, well- fitted and con- 
venient photographic gallery and art studio. 
He understands well every department of pho- 
tography. He does anj' and all kinds of work 
that comes within the line of his art, and the 
general satisfaction which he has given is highly 
commendatory of his ability as an artist. 
Abundant success and a remunerative and flat- 
tering patronage has rewarded his constant and 
assiduous efforts to please the public. He is a 
member and trustee of the Presbyterian church 
of Kittanning and as one of the committee on 
selection of site had much to do in securing the 
fine location of the present beautiful church 
structure. He is a democrat in politics, be- 
longs to the Equitable Aid Union and served 
one term as school director of the borough. He 
has always been remarkably active in all move- 
ments which have been undertaken of late years 
for the material improvement of Kittanning or 
the advancement of its business interests. He 
owns a good farm five miles from the borough, 
besides valuable town property. 

He married Jane Wherry, daughter of John 
Wherry, of South Bend, this county. They 
have four childi-en : Charles, who was graduated 
in 1890 at Washington and Jefferson college; 
Helen, a graduate of Washington Female semi- 
nary; and Laura and .John, who are attending 
school. 



JOHN TEMPLE SIMPSON. In the jour- 
^ nalistic history of Armstrong county, one 
of the papers that has attained a prominent 
position and extended circulation is The Kittan- 



ning Times, which is edited and published by 
John Temple Simpson. He is a son of Joseph 
and Elizabeth G. (Hutchinson) Simpson, and wa<( 
born on the site of the present public school 
building at Kittanning, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, June 9, 1852. The early an- 
cestors of the Simpson family of western Penn- 
sylvania wei'e members of the strictest .sect of 
the old historic covenanters. James Simpson 
(grandfather) located in 1806 in what is now 
Cowanshannock township, of which he was one 
of the pioneer settlers. In the latter part of life 
he removed to Manor township in which he died 
at 7iinety-one years of age. One of his brothers 
served in the war of 1812, while two or three 
more of them were the ancestors of the Simp- 
sons of Indiana county, Pa. He married Jane 
Shearer, who lived to be ninety years of age. 
He reared a family of eight children, to each of 
whom on their marriage he gave a good farm. 
One of these children, Joseph Simpson (father), 
was born in 1816, and now resides in Indiana 
county. He is a carpenter by trade, but follows 
farming. He is a republican, like his father 
before him, and when the late war broke out he 
enlisted in Thompson's Independent Battery, 
but after two years and three months' active 
.service was discharged on account of ill health. 
He is now a member of the G. A. R. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Greenfield Hutchinson, a daugh- 
ter of Philip Hutchinson, of Cliambersburg, Pa., 
and has four children living. 

John T. Simpson received his education in 
the common schools. At nine years of age he 
worked in a rolling-mill, from which he went to 
a farm for a short time and then went to work 
in a woolen-mill. At sixteen years of age he 
commenced upon his life-work by entering the 
oflBce of the Armstrong Republican, where he 
remained for three years. He next worked on 
the East Brady Independent for one year and 
then went to Pittsbuigh, where he worked on 
the Leader and various other papers of that 
city. In 1873 he came to Kittanning, opened 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



383 



a job office in January, 1874, and iu May, 
1876, he and Benjamin Oswald became part- 
ners in the Valley Times, whose name was 
afterward changed to that of The Kittanning 
Times. In January, 1886, Mr. Simpson pur- 
chased his partner's interest and has been the 
editor and proprietor ever since. The Kittan- 
ning Times is a four-page paper, 24 x 36 niches 
in size and containing twenty-eight cohim> of 
choice reading matter and important advertise- 
ments. It is a newsy local sheet, independent 
in politics and having a circulation of over two 
thousand copies. It is jiublished in the Times 
building on Friday of each week at one dollar 
per year. It makes a specialty of local news 
and aims to present, in brief but interesting par- 
agraphs, the substance of the latest happenings 
in the borough and the county. It also gives a 
large amount of selected miscellany valuable to 
every class and profession ; nor is it neglectful of 
the political news, as it spreads before its read- 
ers, in concise form, the great or notable political 
events of the day, M'ith the platforms and 
movements of every political party asking for 
the support of the people. A complete job 
printing department has been organized and 
thoroughly fittted up Mith first-class machinery 
and is kept very busy in filling the orders 
which it is constantly receiving. 

Christmas day, 1877, he united in marriage 
with Jennie M. Williams, of Kittanning. They 
have two children : Harry Temple Simpson, 
born September 3d, 1879, and Rowland B. 
Simpson, born April 16th, 1883. 

In political sentiment Mr. Simpson is a 
strong republican. He was elected coroner of 
the county in 1888, and on February, 1890, 
was elected as one of the justices of the peace for 
Kittanning. He is a past regent in the Royal 
Arcanum, past dictator in the Knights of 
Honor, district deputy in the Knights of Honor, 
past archon in the Heptasophs, district deputy 
in the O. U. A. M., and was the representative 
of District No. 3, Knights of Labor, to the 



State convention of that organization in 1887. 
John T. Simpson has wasted naught of life in 
idleness or inactivity. Ever moving, always ac- 
tive, he has won success and position by his 
own unaided efforts. 



T lEUTENANT ROBERT S. SLAY- 
i-^ MAKER, the lately elected register and 
recorder of Armstrong county, and at present 
the chief clerk in that office, is one who is not 
only well-known for his ability to transact busi- ' 
ness with ease and energy, but also for his cour- 
teous and kind attention to all with whom he 
comes in contact. He was born in Lower Win- 
sor township, York county, Pennsylvania, Oc- 
tober 16, 1838, and is a son of Samuel R. and 
Anna M. (Smith) Slaymaker. His paternal great- 
grandfather, Henry Slaymaker (or Schlier- 
macher, as the name was originally written), 
was a native of Germany, and came in 1710 to 
Strawberry township, Lancaster county, where 
he followed farming until his death. His son, 
Samuel Slaymaker (grandfather), owned and 
operated a stage line from Philadelphia to 
Pittsburgh, and died at sixty years of age. 
He was succeeded in the ownership of the 
stage line by his son, Samuel R. Slaymaker 
(father), who continued to operate it until the 
building of the Pennsylvania railroad, which 
took the tra%'el of the old pike and terminatetl 
the existence of the stage lines. In 1833 he 
removed to York county, where he was engaged 
in farming until 1842, when he came to this 
county and rented a farm on the site of Ford 
City. In October, 1844, he removed to the 
McCall farm in Butler county, and in 1847 re- 
turned to York county, where he operated a 
foundry for twenty-two years. He then (1869) 
went to Evanston, Illinois, where he died at 
the residence of his eldest son, Henry S. Slay- 
maker, in 1878, aged seventy-six years. He 
was an old-line whig and republican and a 
member of the Presbyterian church. He mar- 



384 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ried Anna M. Smith, of Philadelphia, who was 
a member of the Presbyterian church and died 
in 1877, at sixty-six years of age. They reared 
a family of four sons and one daughter, of 
whom three sons are living. 

Robert S. Slaymaker was reared in York and 
Armstrong counties and received his education 
in the common schools and York County acad- 
emy of the former county. In the dark days 
of 18G1 he was one who responded to his coun- 
try's call for troops. On August 24, 1861, he 
enlisted as a private in Co! A, 37th regiment, 
Pa. Vols., was promoted to sergeant-major 
December 25, 1862, and to first lieutenant of 
Company H, of his regiment, on January 13, 
1863. He participated in all the engagements 
of his regiment until the fall of 1863, when he 
was discharged on September 13th of that 
year, at Martinsburg, W. Va., on the surgeon's 
certificate of disability. After being discharged 
lie returned to York county, where he was en- 
gngod in the manufacture of water-wheels until 
1869, when he removed to Armstrong county 
and remained for a few months. He then 
(June, 1870) went to Chicago, where he engaged 
as a clei"k in a large mercantile establishment, 
but only remained until November 1st of that 
year, when he returned to Armstrong county 
and engaged in the general mercantile business 
at Kittanuing with P. K. Bowman. He re- 
mained in the store until February, 1881, when 
he was appointed chief clerk in the register and 
recorder's office which position he has filled sat- 
isfactorily ever since. On May 3, 1890, he was 
nominated l)y the republicans for register and 
recorder of Armstrong county, and on Novem- 
ber 4, 1890, was elected by a majority of 574 
votes. 

April 25, 1866, he married Jane Oswald, 
who was a daugliter of Rev. Jonathan Oswald, 
D. D., of York county, and died September 5, 
1867. Mr. Slaymaker was remarried on May 
25, 1871, to Lizzie K. Bowman, daughter of P. 
K. Bowman, of Kittanning. By his second 



marriage he has three children, one son and two 
daughters: Agnes E., Philip K., and Anna F. 
In politics Mr. Slaymaker is a republican, 
and his maternal and paternal ancestors were 
republicans and whigs as far back as he is able 
to trace them. He is a member and elder of 
the Presbyterian church. He is also a member 
of the Jr. 0. U. A. M., and John F. CroU 
Post, No. 156, Grand Army of the Republic. 



WALTER J. STURGEON, one of the 
young business men and a leading drug- 
gist of Kittanning, is a son of William and 
Mary E. (Kiskadden) Sturgeon, and was born 
in North BufiFalo township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, March 5, 1861. His paternal 
grandfather, James Sturgeon, was born in county 
Armagh, Ireland, and came to Kittanning in 
1840, then bought a farm in North Bufltiilo 
township, where he followed farming until his 
death, in 1861, at seventy-seven years of age. 
He marrie<l Elizabeth McComb, of county 
Down, Ireland, and reared a family of six 
childi'en. One of his sons was William Stur- 
geon, who was born in county Armagh, Ireland. 
June 14, 1818, and came to Kittanning about 
1843. During the next year he hjcated on a 
farm in North Buffalo township, where he lived 
until 1888, when he returnetl to Kittanning and 
has resided there ever since. He has been a 
farmer by occupation until of late years, when 
he retired from active life. He is a republican 
from principle, and a member of the Presby- 
terian church. On February 16, 1840, he mar- 
ried Mary E. Kiskadden. Her father, AVilliam 
Kiskadden, who was born in 1799 and died in 
1869, was one of the pioneer settlers of Slate 
Lick, and was a son of Thomas and Margaret 
(Knox) Kiskadden. He married Elizabeth 
Morrison, a daughter of William ]\Iorrison, who 
was one of the pioneer Presbyterians and earliest 
settlers of Armstrong county. William and 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



385 



Mary E. Sturgeon are the parents of two chil- 
dren, — Lissa and Walter J. 

Walter J. Sturgeon received an academical and 
business education, taught in the common schools, 
then attended the Iron City Commercial col- 
lege, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and was graduated from 
that well-i<no\vu business institution December 
24, 1882. For the next two years he lauglit in 
the common schools. In 1885 he ojicned a drug 
store at No. 305 Market street, Kittanning, and 
has continued in the drug business until the 
present time. He is a member of the Presby- 
terian church. He is a repuljJicaii in political 
matters, but gives his time to his business inter- 
ests and takes but little part in jujlitics. 

Mr. Sturgeon's eligibly located, well-stocked 
and carefully conducted drug hou.se is one of the 
main business establishments of Kittanning. His 
well-assorted and varied stock of goods embraces 
first-class drugs, standard proprietary medicines, 
fancy and useful toilet articles, perfumes, mineral 
waters and fine stationery. Mr. Sturgeon is re- 
liable and accurate as a druggist, has a good 
trade and stands well in his line of business. 
He is extensively known and is everywhere re- 
garded as an honorable and upright business 
man and a well-respected citizen. 



BRIGADIER-GENERAL HUGH MER- 
CER, one of the ablest chieftains of the 
Revolutionary war, was born near Aberdeen, 
Scotland, in 1723, and was liberally educated. 
He became a physician and served as a surgeon 
on the bloody field of Culloden, in 1745. 
About 1750 he came to Mercersburg, Pa., and 
afterwards removed to Virginia. He served 
with Washington under Braddock at the fateful 
battle of the Monongahela, and in 1756 was a 
captain in Gen. Armstrong's expedition to Kit- 
t^inuing. In 1758 he was promoted to colonel 
and served under Forbes. Twelve years later 
he left his drug store and an extensive medical 



practice and drew his sword in behalf of his 
adopted country. On June 5, 1776, he was 
commissioned as a brigadier-general and won 
distinction at the battle of Trenton. He com- 
manded the van of the American army at 
Princeton, where he fell mortally wounded 
wliile rallying his troops in the face of a British 
charge. 

He married Isabella Gordon and left a family 
of four sons and one daughter. 

In the action at Kittanning Gen. (then Capt.) 
Mercer was induced by some of his men, who 
were somewhat acquainted with the country (or 
claimed to be), to detach himself with twelve 
others to reach the road by a short route. Ac- 
counts differ as to the wound he received when 
he ran into an Indian ambush on the near route 
pointed out by his guides. One author .says he 
was shot in the wrist and another states that his 
arm was broken. Bancroft says : " Mercer, 
who was wounded severely and se2)arated from 
his companions, tracked his way by the stars 
and rivulets to Fort Cumberland." 

Sixty-three days after Gen. Mercer had fallen 
on the battle-field, the Continental Congress re- 
solved to erect a monument to his memory, in 
Fredericksburg, with a suitable inscription; and 
also resolved, " That the eldest son of General 
Warren, and the youngest son of General Mer- 
cer, be educated, from this time, at the expense 
of the United States." 

That "youngest son of General Mercer" was 
Col. Hugh Mercer. He was born at Fredericks- 
burg, Virginia, in July, 1776, and died at the 
"Sentry Box," his pleasant residence near his 
birth-place, on December 1, 1S53. "His 
mother was Isabella Gordon, who survived her 
martyred husband about ten year.s, and during 
that time made an indelible impression of her 
own excellence of character upon that of her 
son. He was educated at William and Mary 
college, in Virginia, during its palmiest days, 
while under the charge of Bishop Madison. 
For a long series of years he was colonel of the 



386 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



militia of his native county (Spottsylvania), and 
for twenty years he was an active magistrate. 
For five consecutive years he represented his 
district in the Virginia legislature, when, pre- 
ferring the sweets of domestic life to the 
turmoils of politics and public office, he declined 
a I'e-election. He was soon afterward chosen 
jM'esideut of the branch bank of Virginia, 
located at Fredericksburg, and held that situa- 
tion until his death. Throughout his long life 
Colonel Mercer enjoyed almost uninterrupted 
health until a short time before his departure. 
He was greatly beloved by those who were 
related to him by ties of consanguinity or 
friendship, and was universally esteemed for 
his solid worth as an honorable, energetic, and 
methodical business man and superior citizen. 
He was one of the few noble specimens of the 
Virginia gentleman of the old school." 



MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES POTTER 
was a son of John Potter and was born 
on the bank of the river Foyle, in county 



Tyrone, Ireland, in 1729. At twelve years of 
age he came with his father to New Castle, 
Delaware, and subsequently removed to what is 
now Cumberland county, of which his father 
became the first sheriff. In 1742 he was a 
lieutenant in a frontier militia company, and in 
1756 commanded a company in Gen. Arm- 
strong's Kittanning expedition. He was after- 
wards promoted to major and then to lieutenant- 
colonel. He was an active advocate of the 
Revolutionary cause. In 1775 he was appoint- 
ed colonel and on April 5, 1777, was commis- 
sioned as a brigadier-general in the Continental 
army. He rendered Washington good ser- 
vice in 1777. He was actively engaged dur- 
ing the entire Revolutionary struggle and 
was commissioned as a major-general in 1782. 
He resided in Penn's Valley, Centre county, 
from 1772 until his death in November, 
1789. 

General James Potter was a stout, broad- 
shouldered man of dark complexion. He 
served for some years as an associate Judge of 
Northumberland county. 



APOLLO. 



Hidorical and Descriptive. — One of the most 
flourishing and prosperous business centres of 
western Pennsylvania is tlie progressive borough 
of Apollo. It is situated on the Kiskiininetas 
river, about teu iniles from its confluenee with 
the Allegheny. It was laid out in 181(5 by 
William Johnson and J. R. Spcer, and named 
AVarrcn, after either an old Indian chief or an 
early English trader who bore that name. It 
was surveyed into lots in November, 1816, by 
William Watson, and its name was changed to 
tlie classical one of Apollo on August 15, 1827, 
when the post-office was established. As tra- 
dition is uncertain for whom it was first named 
Warren, so history is silent as to who gave it 
the name of Apollo. The site of the town was 
known as "Warren's Sleeping Place," and 
among the first settlers were Isaac McLaughlin, 
Robert Stewart, Abraham Ludwick and Cath- 
erine Cochran, mother of the late Judge Coch- 
ran. 

The first hotel was opened in 1824, and the 
first tannery was established in the same year 
by John Wort. The first resident physician 
was Robert iMcKissen, and the leading physi- 
cians of the borough to-day are Dr. William 
McBryar and Dr. Robert E. ^NlcCauley. Jacob 
Erectly, of the present law firm of Erectly & 
Guthrie, is the first resident lawyer since 1855. 
The first church in the town was the Presby- 
terian, which was founded in 1825, since which 
time the Methodist Episcopal, Lutheran, United 
Presbyterian and Baptist churches have been 
organized. The first mill was built in 1849, 
the first school-house was a frame structure 



which was erected in 1850. The first military 
organization was the Charleston Guards (1840), 
and they were succeeded in 1850 by the Apollo 
Blues, which became so famous during the late 
war as Co. G, of the 11th Pa. Re.serves. John 
B. Chambers was the captain of the first packet- 
boat that ran between Apollo and Pittsburgh. 

The building of the Pennsylvania canal 
helped the growth of the town in 1855 ; the 
great iron industries of the borough were inau- 
gurated by the formation of the Kiskiminetas 
Iron company, which erected its rolling-mill in 
1856. This mill was operated under different 
proprietors until 1876, when it pa.s.sed into the 
hands of P. H. Laufman & Co., limited, who 
have increased its capacity from 65 to 300 tons 
per week. In 1886 this company erected their 
present large and well-equipped sheet iron and 
decarbonized steel plant, in which they employ 
150 men. In 1890 P. H. Laufman erected his 
copper-plating works. Tiie Apollo Foundry 
company was organized in 1889, and employ a 
force of 25 men in their works, which are well 
equipped with modern machinery. 

Apollo has over two thousand population, 
and contains a bank, newspaper, five churches, 
a graded school, two planing-mills and two 
flouring-mills. Of its hotels the " Chambers 
Hou.se " is deserving of special mention, for it 
is up, in every respect, to the highest standard, 
and is under the management of James H. 
Chambers, one of the leading business men and 
public-spirited citizens of the borough. Apollo, 
within the last decade, has grown steadily, and 
within the last few years, rapidly. A canal 

387 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



town of the past, a railway town of the present, 
Apollo is destined to become an iron city in the 
future. She has within her grasp the materials 
and facilities for wealth and growth, and bids 
fair to rank high in the future as one of the in- 
land manufacturing cities of the Keystone State. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



DAVID D. P. ALEXANDER, postmaster 
of Apollo, a successful merchant and a 
Union soldier of the late war, was born in 
Allegheny city, Alleghenty county, Pennsylva- 
nia, March 4, 1837, and is a son of John S. and 
Sarah (Drury) Alexander. John S. Alexander 
was born in Philadelphia, this State, in 1794, 
and died at Brackenridge, Cauldwell county 
Mo., in 1870. In early life with his father 
he crossed the Alleghenies by the old State road 
and came to Pittsburgh, where he learned the 
trade of chair-making. After residing at dif- 
ferent places he removed in 1847 to Apollo, 
where he embarked and continued in the mer- 
cantile business for many years. He was a 
quiet, peaceable man and a consistent member 
of the Baptist church, and from 1860 he sup- 
ported the republican party, having previously 
voted the democratic ticket. He married Sarah 
Drury, daughter of James Drury, of New Alex- 
andria, Westmoreland county, by whom he had 
six sons and two daughters. 

David D. P. Alexander was reared at Apollo, 
where he attended the public .schools. Leaving 
school, he became an apprentice at Apollo to the 
saddlery and harness-making trade, but finished 
his apprenticeship at Cannonsburg, Washington 
county. When the late war commenced he was 
among the first to enter the Union service. He 
did not come up in size to the required standard 
of a soldier at that time and enlisted on April 
27, 1861, as a musician in Co. G, 11th Pa. 
Reserves (or 40th regiment Pa. Vols.). He 
was a drummer and was with his regiment in 



all of its long marches, numerous skirmishes 
and many hard battles, under McCIellan, 
Hooker, Meade and Grant, until it was mustered 
out on June 13, 1864. This regiment was 
commanded by Col. T. F. Gallagher and Gen. 
>S. M. Jackson and was in some of the hardest 
fighting that occurred in the Army of the 
Potomac. After the war he embarked in the 
grocery and confectionery and the hardware 
business. 

On June 13, 1865, he married Abigail Wray, 
daughter of John M. Wray, of Shady Plain, 
Pa. Their children are: Maud Ella, assistant 
postmaster at Apollo; Maggie Irene, Sarah 
Emma, Edna Loretta, Aline Stewart, Nina 
Gerlrude, Mary Ada, Helen Grace, Olive 
Ethelwin and WiJda Leota. 
j On April 1, 1889, Mr. Alexander was ap- 
pointed postmaster of Ajjollo. He is a repub- 
lican in political opinion, and a member of 
Kiskirainetas Lodge, No. 1993, Knights of 
J Honor, E. S. Whit worth Post, No. 89, Grand 
I Army of the Republic, and Encampment No. 1 , 
Union Veteran Legion of Pittsburgh, Pa. He 
is a member of the Presbyterian church and a 
useful business man and highly respected citi- 
zen of Apollo. 



JOHN BENJAMIN, an efficient iron-worker 
^ and well-informed citizen of Apollo, is the 
eldest son of William and jMartha (Rivens) 
Benjamin, and was born in Monmouthshire, in 
the south of England, February 22, 1844. 
His grandfather, William Benjamin, Sr., was 
an iron-worker in England. One of his sons 
was William Benjamin (father), a rail-jointer by 
trade. He died in 1850, when the subject of 
this sketch was but six years of age. He mar- 
ried Martha Rivens, who came to the United 
States after her husband's death, remained here 
but a short time and then returned to England, 
where she died in the spring of 1882, when in 
her eighty-sixth year. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



389 



John Benjamin had but little opportunity to 
acquire any education whatever, for soon after 
the time of his fatiier's death the duty of earn- 
ing and paying the rent of the family devolved 
upon him, as he was the eldest child, a task by 
no means light for a boy. In 1 867 he came to 
Northumberland county, Pa., where for the 
three succeeding years lie followed the trade of 
puddler. He then removed to Leechburg, and 
was a puddlcr in the first heat made in the 
rolling-mill there by natural gas. In 187(3 he 
went to Tennessee to follow his trade, where he 
remained a short time. He then removed to 
Apollo, wliere he lias been in the employ of the 
Apollo Iron & Steel company for thirteen 
years. He is a practical workman, capable of 
taking part in any branch of the iron industry 
and holds tiie highest recommendation from 
Blauaven Iron company, McElroy, I>aiifman & 
Co., as well as from the firm of Van Allen & 
Co., for whom he worked in England. 

He was married in England, on Marcli 23, 
1864, to Mary Ann Watkins, daughter of 
James Watkins, a miner still living in the 
south of England. They have had nine j 
children, seven of whom are living: William 
J., born in 1865, a music dealer at Apollo; 
Sarah, wife of Hubert. Lewis; Florence Maud, 
Joiin Henry, David Thomas, George Roberts 
and Martha Washington. 

In politics Mr. Benjamin follows no party 
lines, but uses his own judgment in regard to 
the reliability of tlie candidates, and votes for 
the one he considers most trustworthy. He has 
been strictly temperate since boyhood, when he 
was often ridiculed for sending back the beer 
that was furnished with his dinner. To his 
temperate habits he attributes the fact that he is 
still a vigorous man, who for forty-four years 
has never lost an hour's work from sickness. 
He is a trustee in the Baptist church, of which 
he and his wife are esteemed members. With 
all the odds against him, John Benjamin has 
fought his way from e-xtreme poverty to a 



competency, and an honorable position in the 
ranks of the skilled mechanics and the useful 
citizens of his town. 



TAMES HUTCHINSON CHAMBERS, a 

^ union officer of the late war, e-x:-register and 
recorder and ex-slicrifT of Armstrong county, 
and manager of the leading hotel of Apollo, is 
a son of Capt. John B. and Martha (Guthrie) 
Chambers, and was born in Allegheny township, 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, May 21, 
1838. His great-grandfather, James Cham- 
bers, was born about 1748 in Ireland and set- 
tled at Chambersburg, Pa., where he married a 
Miss Hutchinson, by whom he had two 
children : William (grandfather), and Jane, who 
married Judge Bovard, of Butler county. Pa. 
After his marriage he removetl to (near Apollo) 
Washington township, Westmoreland county, 
where he died in 1848, aged one hundred 
years. He took up seven hundred acres of 
land, was captured by Indians once and kept 
prisoner on an island in Lake Erie until the 
close of that Indian war. After this the In- 
dians once stole his hor.ses, but his stentorian 
cries brought the soldiers from the block-hou.se 
two miles away and they recovered the hor.ses. 
His son, William Chambers, was born in 1777 
and died in 1851. He married Fannie Bovard, 
who was born in 1787 and passed away in 1864. 
Eight children were the issue of their union : 
James, Capt. John B., William, George H., 
Mary, Jane, Margaret and Nancy. Of these 
William is .still living. Capt. John B. Cham- 
bers (father) was born June 13, 1813. He fol- 
lowed farming until Aj)ril 1, 1845, when he 
moved to Apollo, Armstrong county. Pa., 
where he built the "Apollo Packet," a boat 
which ran between Apollo and Pittsburgh, on 
the Pennsylvania canal. He was passenger 
and freight agent at Apollo for eighteen years 
and was engaged in the mercantile business from 
1849 to his death, October 21, 1886. On May 



390 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



29, 1871, when the "Apollo Savings Bank" 
was organized, he was elected president of that 
institution and was annually re-elected as long 
as he lived. He was a member of the First 
Presbyterian church of Apollo and contributed 
generously of his means to the erection of 
churches of all denominations. He was a man 
of sterling moral character and was universally 
esteemed. His various business enterprises 
were well managed and the people ever had 
confidence in his judgment and sagacity. He 
was a public-spirited citizen as well as a suc- 
cessful and honorable business man, and his 
memory will be long held in kind remembrance 
l)y the citizens of Apollo. On May 6, 1837, 
he married Martha Guthrie, a daughter of Wil.- 
liara and Mary (Hill) Guthrie, and who was 
born in Salem township, Westmoreland county, 
August 27, 1811. Her fother, William Guth- 
rie, was of Scotch-Irish descent and was a son 
of John Guthrie, who was one of the early 
settlers on Beaver run, near Delmont. The off- 
spring of the marriage of John B. and Martha 
Chambers were four children : James H., Sam- 
uel H., born June 14, 1840, died February 24, 
1889; William G., born December 15, 1842, 
and Mary Jane, born January 20, 1844, now 
intermarried with D. A. Heck, of Butler, Pa. 

James Hutchinson Chambers spent much of 
*his early life in his father's store. He attended 
the common schools, completed his academic 
course at Saltsburg academy, and taught two 
terms in the schools of his native county. In 
1858 he went to Missouri, where he found abet- 
ter field for teaching than then existed in Penn- 
sylvania. He taught until 1861, when he 
returned home and enlisted as sergeant in Co. 
C, 103d rcg.. Pa. Vols. He participated in all 
of the battles of the Peninsula under McCIel- 
lan, was then transfened to North Carolina, 
where he took part in the engagements of 
Kingston, White Hall, Goldsboro' and Plym- 
outh. At the last-named battle he was 
wounded and taken prisoner with Co. F, to 



which he had been transferred. He was con- 
fined in the Confederate prisons at Macon, Ga., 
Charleston, S. C, where he was placed under 
the fire of the Union batteries, and Charlotte, 
N. C. On March 1, 1865, he was paroled for 
exchange, and was honorably discharged from 
the service at Annapolis, Md., after serving six 
months beyond his time of enlistment. He 
was color-bearer of his regiment until 1863, 
when he was commissioned sergeant-major. 
On May 20, 1863, he was promoted to second 
lieutenant of Co. F, and July 4, for meritorious 
bravery, was promoted to first lieutenant. 
After the war he engaged in mercantile business 
for two years. From 1869 to 1870 he was in 
the oil business, then embarked again in mer- 
chandising at Apollo, which he quit in 1875 to 
become register and recorder of Armstrong 
county. After serving two terms he was elect- 
ed sheriff in 1883. In 1886 he became cashier 
of Dubois (Pa.) Deposit bank and served until 
1887. In 1889 he, with several others, pro- 
jected the Chambers House at Apollo, which 
was opened on February 6, 1890. This ele- 
gant hotel is situated on the corner of First 
street and Warren avenue, in the very business 
center of the town. It is a fine brick structure 
of modern style and finish. Internally its 
arrangements are up to the highest standard of 
comfort and elegance. It is heated throughout 
by natural gas and has water and electrical bells 
on every floor. 

May 28, 1867, he marrietl Kate R. Brenner, 
who was born near Jacksonville, this county, 
December 15, 1847, and is a daughter of 
George and Elizabeth (Mahatiey) Brenner; the 
former born December 13, 1813, and a son of 
Michael Brenner, of York county. Pa., and 
the latter born June 25, 1812, and a daughter 
of Joseph Mahaffey, of this county. Mr. and 
Mrs. Chambers have one child: Edith McCrum, 
who was born October 5, 1869. 

James H. Chambers resides on the old home- 
stead and employs the most of his time in the 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



391 



management of his different business enter- 
prises. He is a presbyterian, a decided repub- 
lican and a member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and the Masonic fraternity. 



MICHAEL HERMOND COCHRAN is 
editor of the Apollo Herald. He was 
born in South Bend township, Armstrong coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1859, and is a 
son of Robert Scott and Mary (Hart) Cochran. 
The Cochrans were among the early settlers of 
Apollo, and Judge Miciiael Cochran, the grand- 
father of Michael H. Cochran, was born May 10, 
1810, at Crawford's mills, Westmoreland coun- 
ty, Pa., where his father followed the occupa- 
tion of milling. His mother's maiden-name 
was Catherine Risher. He was bound out at 
four yeai-s of age to a man named McKissic, 
with whom lie remained for several years. At 
nineteen years of age he learned the trade of 
blacksmith, which he followed at Apollo for 
several years, during which time he was elected 
and served as a justice of the peace. In April, 
1846, he removed to Cochran's Mills, where 
the present post-office was established under 
that name in 1855. Here he built a mill and 
followed successfully his father's occupation. 
He also established a store which he conducted. 
About 1855 he was elected as an associate judge 
of Armstrong county for a term of five years ; 
one other associate and the president judge con- 
stituting the county judiciary at that time. 

Prior to 1846 he married Catherine Murphy, 
who died in 1857. In 1858 he married Mrs. 
Mary Jane Cummings, who bore him five chil- 
dren, of whom one, Elizabeth Jane Cochran, 
has since become famous as a writer and made 
the trip around the world in seventy-two days. 
By his first marriage Judge Cochran had nine 
children, of whom one was Robert Scott Coch- 
ran, the father of the subject of this sketch, 
who has been a prominent and influential man 



in the county for many years. He has been 
identified for several years with the firm of 
Cochran & McGIauglin in the real estate busi- 
ness at Apollo. 

Michael H. Cochran received his education 
in the public schools of Apollo and Indiana 
(Pa.) Normal school. Leaving school in 1878, 
he was engagetl in teaching until 1882. He 
taught one term in Madison township, two terms 
at Apollo, and in 1881 was elected as a teacher 
. in the public schools of Johnstown, where, after 
I teaching one term, he declined a re-election and 
went to Pittsburgh where he was occupied for 
two years in several capacities, and at one time 
during this period did some newspaper work. 
He then returned to Johnstown and became a 
teacher in the Conemaugh scliool. The next year 
(1886) he was elected teacher in the Johnstown 
schools, which position he resigned to become a 
newspaper man. He purchased the Apollo 
Herald September 3, 1886, and has successfully 
edited it ever since. It is a weekly eight-page 
independent paper, issued every Saturday at 
$1.50 per annum and devoted to general news of 
importance, and the latest local news of the 
near county. It has a remarkably wide circu- 
lation, and is regarded by advertisers as a valu- 
able medium of reaching the reading public. 
At no distant day in the future, Mr. Cochran, 
who has been greatly encouraged by his success- 
ful efforts with a weekly sheet, will i.ssue a daily 
paper to meet the wants of his progressive and 
live town. 

June 13, 1889, he united in marriage with 
Minnie McGeary, daughter of John McGeary, 
of Apollo. Their union has been blest with 
one child, a daughter, named Gladys C. Coch- 
ran, who was born June 19, 1890. 

In politics Mr. Cochran is a republican. He 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church 
of Apollo, Darling Council, No. 250, Jr. O. U. 
A. M., Fraternal Mystic Circle and the Order 
of Solon. Through the Herald he has labored 
long, faithfully and successfully for the progress 



392 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and prosperity of Apollo, having written and 
pushed several petitions which have resulted in 
permanent improvements, a notal>le one be- 
ing the opening of Warren avenue extension 
from First to South Fifth street, which was 
formerly an alley ; another improvement being 
the re-naming of the streets with a local nomen- 
clature, and the numbering of the houses ac- 
cording to a scheme suggested and pushed 
through the council by him. 



JOHN Q. COCHRANE. A man of widely 
varied and unusually successful business 
experience is John Q. Cochrane, justice of the 
peace and principal of the public schools of 
Apollo. He is a son of William and Mary S. 
(Quigley) Cochrane, and was born near Kittan- 
ning, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 6, 
1849. The trans-Atlantic home of the Coch- 
rane family was in the north of Ireland, from 
which they came to eastern Penn.sylvania near 
two centui-ies ago. William Cochrane, the 
great-grandfather of John Q. Cochrane, came to 
what is now Armstrong county, where his son, 
James L. Cochrane (grandfather) was born in 
1787. James L. Cochrane was a farmer by 
occupation, a democrat in politics and a presby- 
terian in religious faith. He built " Ore Hill " 
furnace, which lie operated for some time pre- 
vious to selling it to a company. He was a 
man above medium height, lield various town- 
ship offices and married a Miss Gibson, of near 
Kittanning, by whom he had seven children. 
The oldest sou and child was William Cochrane 
(father), who was born February 14, 1813, in 
what is now Boggs township, where he followed 
farming and teaching, and where he died Feb- 
ruary 6, 1876. The war issues of 1861 changed 
him to a republican in politics, while in religion 
he was a united presbyterian, and served for 
years as elder in one of the churches of that de- 
nomination. He was an unassuming man, who 
acquired considerable property, served continu- 



ously as school director and in other township 
offices, and had the good-will of his neighbors. 
He married Mary S. Quigley, who is a daugh- 
ter of John Quigley, of this county. They had 
eleven children, of whom eight are living. 

John Q. Cochrane attended the common 
scliools and Dayton academy, after which he 
taught a few months and then jjursued a course 
of study at Ann Arbor university, Michigan. 
In addition to his literary studies there he also 
entered the law department, in which he re- 
mained for one year. At the end of this time 
he entered the law office of M. G. McCaslin, of 
Butler, Pa., where he completed the required 
course of legal study, and was admitted to the 
bar of that place in 1874. After admission, he 
practiced law for two years at Millerstown and 
at Butler, Pa., for one year. He then went to 
Pittsburgh, where he became a partner for one 
year with Webster Street in the law business. 
At the end of that time he went to Parkersburg, 
W. Va., where he spent two years as an oil-well 
contractor and oil producer. He was then engaged 
for one year as a traveling salesman of heavy 
oils for the Commercial Oil company, of Park- 
ersburg. Leaving their employ, he became 
manager of the celebrated Brush Electric Light 
company, of Pittsburgh. Six months later (fall 
of 1882) he accepted the priucipalship of the 
public schools of West Monterey, Pa. In 1884 
he was elected to the priucipalship of the Apollo 
public schools, which position he has held until 
the present time. He is a member of the firm 
of Cochrane Bros., railroad and steamship ticket 
agents. This agency represents the leading 
railways and principal steamship lines. 

He united in marriage, on Nov. 7th, 1875, 
with Lizzie Roup, daughter of Francis Roup, 
of Kittanning. Their union has been blessed 
with two children : Earle and Alexander, aged 
respectively thirteen and eleven years. 

John Q. Cochrane is a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. He has always been a repub- 
lican, and was elected justice of the peace in 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



393 



1887, for the borough of Apollo. As a school 
principal he has been very successful, while his 
extensive business experience and his fine knowl- 
edge of the law has enabled him to make a 
splendid record as a justice of the peace. 



pAPTAIN THOMAS A. COCHRAN, a 

^ leading druggist of Apollo and a man of 
business ability and experience, is one of the 
surviving officers of the old 103d regiment of 
Pennsylvania Volunteers. He is a son of John 
and Isabella (McKee) Ccx'hran, and was born 
in Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, July 27, 1837. His paternal 
grandfather Cochran, was a native of Scotland, 
and settled in Westmoreland county, where he 
was engaged in farming and milling until his 
death, in 1812. His eldest son was John Cochran 
(father), who was born Decemi)er 15, 1802, and 
died at Apollo, May 19, 1884. When he was 
ten years of age his father died and he became 
the main support of his mother and his younger 
brothers and sisters. He helped to clear the 
site of Apollo and afterwards purchased a farm 
five miles east of that then small place. He 
was a whig and afterwards a republican, and 
served as constable of his township, besides hold- 
ing other local offices. A methodist in early 
life, he afterwards became a presbyterian. A 
man of pleasant manners, he was scrupulously 
honest and very popular. He married Isabella 
McKee, who was a daughter of Joseph McKee, 
and only survived her husband one year. They 
were the parents of ten children : Silas, Joseph, 
John G., Keziah, married to D. Hill; Margaret, 
married to Joseph Spang ; William M., Thomas 
A., W. S., James H., and K. D. Of these 
children but two are living, William M. and 
Thomas A. W. S. was sergeant in and Thomas 
A. was captain of Co. C, 103d regiment. Pa. 
Vols. James H. belonged to the 139tli regi- 
ment, Pa. Vols,, and was killed in one of the 
Wilderness fights, while K. D., who was a 



member of the same regiment, became sick and 
was sent home and died of disease contracted in 
service. Thus, of the four sons from this family 
that went to the front in 1861, but two only 
came back. 

Thomas A. Cochran attended the common 
schools of Kiskiminetas tovvn.ship and Leech- 
burg academy. In 1858 he entered Duff''s Com- 
mercial college, of Pittsburg, from which he was 
graduated the same year. He then studied den- 
tistry and returned to Apollo, where he taught 
school and practiced dentistry for some time. 
Just before the commencement of the late war 
he went to Missouri as a favorable field for 
dental work and teaching. The war deranged 
all business in that State, and after serving a few 
weeks in a citizens' guard, he returned to 
Pennsylvania, where, on September 16, 1861, 
he enlisted as a private in Co. C, 10.3d regiment, 
Pa. Vols. He was soon promoted to sergeant, 
became second lieutenant July 18, 1862, was 
promoted to first lieutenant January 14, 1863, 
was commissioned captain July 11. 1863, and 
commanded his company until it was mustered 
out of the service June 25, 1865. The 103d 
regiment bore up well at Fair Oaks, on the 
Peninsula, was highly complimented by Gen. 
Foster for their fighting qualities in North Caro- 
lina, where all of the companies were taken 
prisoner, except Capt. Cochran's company (C)^ 
which was absent from the regiment at that time, 
at Roanoke island. Capt. Cochran was now 
placed in command of his own company, the 
other soldiers of his regiment who had been ab- 
sent on furlough and in the hospital and three 
newly-recruited companies. He held this com- 
mand until the men were mustered out, and in 
addition to this position he was given charge of 
an important fort and had the muster and pay- 
rolls of his regiment to make out from April 
20, 1864. After the war he was engaged in 
the dry -goods business for several years. In 
1868 he opened his present drug house on 
First street, Apollo. He carries a full and 



394 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



well-selected stock of drugs, proprietary medi- 
cines and toilet articles and enjoys a good trade. 

November 2, 1865, Capt. Cochran united in 
marriage with Martha M. Jackson, daughter of 
John Jackson and sister to Gen. S. M. Jackson, 
of Apollo (whose sketch appears in this volume)- 
They have nine children : Stella M., wife of C. 
W. Bollinger; A. Bright, who is in the drug 
business with his father ; Lizzie B., Effie T., 
Annie M., Margaretta K., Frank W., T. Clyde^ 
and James H. Chambers Cochran. 

Capt. Cochran is a republican and frequently 
is a delegate to conventions of his party. He is 
a member of Apollo Council, No. 168, Royal 
Arcanum, Kiskirainetas Lodge, No. 1993, 
Knights of Honor, Encampment No. 1, Union 
Veteran Legion, and Chas. Whitworth Post, No. 
89, Grand Army of the Republic. He has been 
an elder in the Presbyterian church for several 
years, and is a man of sound judgment and cor- 
rect business principles. He is active in church 
work, is conscientious and zealous in whatever 
he undertakes, and by honesty, energy and in- 
dustry has always sought to win success. 



WJ. ELWOOD. The name of Elwood 
• has been as.sociated with Apollo since 
its first settlement. William Elwood, the 
grandfather of W. J. Elwood, settled on Tur- 
tle creek, Westmoreland county. Pa., in the 
year 1783. His son John came to Apollo, 
or, as it was then known, Warren, in 1831, 
where he was married to Mary Patterson, of 
Washington county, and where they resided 
until his death, in 1872. They had born to 
them four sons, one of wliom, B. F., died when 
quite young. W. J., R. D., and T. J. are still 
living. Their names were identified with the 
M. E. church, in which they were active and 
useful members. In politics John Elwood was 
a whig, but early took sides with the Abolition 
party, casting the first abolition ticket ever 
voted in Apollo. By occupation he was a cab- 



inet-maker, also contractor and builder. He 
was an active citizen and interested in all the 
moral enterprises of his day. Of his three 
sons now living, R. D. served through the war 
as captain in the 78th regiment. Pa. Vols. At 
the close of the war the three brothers associ- 
ated in the mercantile and manufacturing busi- 
ness under the firm-name of Elwood Bros., 
which firm was dissolved in 1873, W. J. re- 
maining in Apollo, R. D. removing to Pitts- 
burgh, where he is now engaged in busine.ss, 
and T. J. to Leech burg, where he still resides. 

W. J. Elwood, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in 1835. His occupation was that of 
a carpenter until his connection with his bro- 
thers in business. On the dissolution of the 
co-partnership he established a business of his 
own, which, by careful attention and good bus- 
iness qualifications, has been highly successful. 
He is a respected member of the M. E. church 
as well as an active and esteemed citizen. 

On January 16, 186-, he was united in 
marriage with Margaret, daughter of James 
McCauley, living near Apollo. His family 
consists of .seven sons and three daughters: R. 
D., who is in business with his father; Min- 
erva, a teacher ; John S., a bookkeeper in the 
Apollo Rolling-mill ; James McCauley, a stu- 
dent at Elder's Ridge academy ; Elizabeth, 
Belle, William F., Rus.sell, Charles and Wal- 
ter F. 

Politically, W. J. Elwood is a republican, 
and keeps himself well informed on political 
affairs. He has been closely identified with the 
trade and prosperity of his town for over a 
quarter of a century, and is always interested 
in any enterprise calculated to promote the 
growth and prosperity of Apollo. 



JOHN M. FISCUS, one of Grant's veterans 
of the Army of the Potomac, and an ex- 
perienced iron-worker and popular republican 
of Apollo, was born on the Fiscus homestead 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



395 



farm, in Valley tuwuship, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, December 11, 1841, and is a son 
of Abraham and Elizabeth (Martin) Fiscus. 
Christopher Fiscus, from v/hich the Armstrong 
county family of that name is descended, was a 
native of France, and emigrated from that 
country to the United States during the latter 
half of the eighteenth ceutui-y. He followed 
farming in Westmoreland and Armstrong coun- 
ties for many years. He owned six hundred 
acres of land in this county, was a thorough- 
going man and a successful farmer, married 
and reared a family of several sons and daugh- 
ters. One of the sons was Abraham Fiscus, 
the father of the subject of this sketch, and who 
was born in what is now Burrell township in 
1791, and died in 1853, at sixty-nine years of 
age. 

He was a farmer, who took commendable 
pride in always having his farm neat and clean. 
Just, generous and sympathetic, he was popular 
in his community, where he was often consulted 
by his neighbors on business aifairs. He was 
a lutheran in religious faith, a republican in 
politics and served as one of the first officers of 
Valley township, when it was organized, in 
1835. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, 
serving under Gen. William Henry Harrison. 
He was twice married; his first wife was a Miss 
Ourie, who bore him seven children, of whom 
six are living. After her death he married 
Elizabeth Martin, who was a daughter of 
John Martin, of Allegheny township, and died 
in 1853, aged seventy -seven years. By his second 
marriage he had eight children : Sarah J., 
Sidney, Elizabeth, John M., William, Harry, 
Hugh and Amanda. 

John M. Fiscus was reared on a farm and 
received his education in the common schools 
of his native township. Leaving school, he 
worked on his father's farm until the late war 
commenced. On September 3, 1861, he en- 
listed in Co. K, 78th regiment. Pa. Vols., and 
served until March, 1863, when he was dis- 
24 



charged on account of disability from a severe 
spell of sickness. As soon as his health was 
sufficiently recruited (September 3, 1864), he 
enlisted in Co. H, 5th regiment. Pa. Vols., was 
promoted to sergeant and .served until June 30, 
1865, when his company was discharged. He 
performed cheerfully whatever duty was re- 
quired of him as a soldier and as an officer. 
While in the last company, which was known 
as Battery H, Heavy Artillery, he served in 
front of Washington, at Manassas and on the 
Rapidan. When the war was ended he came 
to Apollo, where, on August 3, 1865, he engaged 
as a common laborer, at one dollar and twenty- 
five cents per day, in the old sheet-iron mill. 
After some time he secured the position of 
heater, which he held until 1874, when he 
went to Pittsburgh, where he became a sheet- 
roller in the rolling-mill of Moorehead, Mc- 
Clean & Co. In June, 1887, he returned to 
Apollo, and two months afterwards was em- 
ployed as a sheet-roller in the Apollo rolling- 
mill, which position he still holds. 

On July 26, 1863, he was married to Annie 
M. Stiveson, daughter of William Stiveson. 
Their children are : Liifflie C, wife of M. E. 
Haddock ; William S., married Minnie Shoe- 
maker, and is a sheet-roller in the Apollo roll- 
ing-mill ; Lolla M., Hugh W., a heater ; and 
Logan T., now learning the trade of sheet- 
roller. 

John M. Fiscus is a member of Mineral 
Point Lodge, No. 615, I. O. O. F., Apollo 
Council, No. 168, Royal Arcanum, and George 
G. McMurtrie Command, No. 14, U. V. U., 
which he organized at Apollo, March 1st, 
1888. He is also a member of the Amalga- 
mated Association of Iron and Steel workers. 
John M. Fiscus is a prominent republican, and 
an active worker in his party. He is a high 
tariff advocate, and believes that the success of 
''protection" principles means good wages, 
sound prosperity and the highest possible devel- 
opment of home industries. 



396 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



JACOB FREETLY is a resident of Apollo 
borough, ArmstroDg county, Pa. He was 
born in Lancaster county on the 8th day of 
July, A.D. 1816. His father, John Freetly, was 
of German descent, and his mother, Mary 
(Logan) Freetly, was of Irish parentage. They 
had eight children, two sons and six daughters. 
John Freetly, the eldest son, was educated at 
the Western university, Pittsburgh, Pa., and 
studied divinity at the Theological seminary, 
Allegheny, Pa. He was pastor of the United 
Presbyterian church, Henderson county, III. He 
and three of his sisters died in that State, the 
other three sisters dying in Pennsylvania, leav- 
ing Jacob Freetly, the youngest child, the only 
surviving member of the family. His mother 
died when he was two, and his father when he 
was four years of age, leaving him to the care 
of an elder sister, with whom he remained until 
he was eight years of age. He was then taken 
by a family by the name of Reed, with whom 
he remained ten years, during which time he 
worked on the farm for his board and clothing. 
After leaving John Reed, who at that time 
resided in York county, on the banks of the 
Susquehanna river, he labored at farm work in 
the summer and attended school in the winter 
working morning and evening to pay his board, 
until he acquired suflScient education to teach. 
After saving some money he entered the West- 
ern university, Pittsburgh, Pa., and pursued the 
study of the higher branches under Dr. Brtice, 
then president of that institution, and minister 
of the Seceder church of that city. He read 
law under Hon. Thomas Mellon, and was ad- 
mitted to practice his profession in 1849. 

Jacob Freetly was admitted to the Armstrong 
county Bar in 1851, and is still engaged in the 
active practice of his chosen profession. He was 
married September 10, 1835, to Fanny McKee 
Boggs, daughter of David and Mary Boggs, 
and sister of Hon. Jackson Boggs, who was for 
several years judge of the courts of Armstrong 
county. Jacob Freetly was the father of five 



children, of whom John and Cyrus died in in- 
fancy. Mary Jane, the oldest daughter, was 
born September 20, 1837, and was educated 
principally by her father. She is an active 
member of the M. E. Church at Apollo. She 
married John B. Guthrie, Esq., son of James 
Guthrie, of Apollo borough, and an attorney- 
at-law by profession. To them were born two 
children: Lauretta A., who is a graduate of the 
Blairsville Ladies' seminary. She was for sev- 
eral years engaged in the profession of teaching. 
She is a member of the M. E. church, and 
actively engaged in church and Sunday-school 
work. Walter J. (see sketch), a graduate of 
Allegheny college, and by profession an attorney- 
at-law. The second daughter, Annie E., was 
born November 14, 1839, and is a member of 
the Presbyterian church. She is married to 
Samuel Smith, a nailer by profession, who has 
acquired considerable pi'operty and a comforta- 
ble and respectable home and position at Sharon, 
Mercer county. Pa. They have one daughter, 
Mamie McKee. She is a graduate of the 
Sharon high .school, and for several years has 
been engaged in the profession of teaching, in 
which she has achieved more than ordinary suc- 
cess. The only living son, David Boggs 
Freetly, was born October 31, 1843, received 
a good school education ; was a private in the 
139th regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Co. 
E, under Captain Sample and Col. Colure. He 
is now engaged in the production of oil in tlie 
Armstrong county oil field.s, and is a member 
of the Presbyterian church. 

Jacob Freetly is one of the oldest members of 
the Armstrong county bar, and it may be truly 
said that the legal profession has no superior in 
the business world. In every county in the 
State it has its able advocates, and Armstrong 
county is not inferior to its neighboring coun- 
ties for honest and intelligent attorneys. In 
politics Mr. Freetly is a republican, and has 
served as burgess and poor director for a num- 
ber of years at Apollo. He is a member of the 





X/U"^^/ /^-^^^^^^^^^^^-^"^ 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



399 



Presbyteriau church. In his field of profes- 
sional labor he has been a quiet but active and 
successful practitioner for over forty years. His 
life recorded is one of activity and usefulness. 



REV. JOHN Q. A. FULLERTON, pastor 
of the Presbyterian church of Apollo, a 
popular minister of education aud ability, aud a 
faithful Union ofiScer of the late war, is a de- 
scendant of the distinguished Fullerton family 
of eastern Pennsylvania. He was born in Al- 
legheny city, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, 
April 25, 1845, and is a son of Humphrey and 
Nancy (Gormley) Fullerton. The Fullertons 
are of Scotch-Irish origin, aud have been au 
American family, by residence, for nearly two 
centuries. The family has produced, both in 
the old and the new world, many men who 
have distinguished themselves in civil and polit- 
ical life and in the learned professions. Rev. 
John Q. A. Fullerton is a lineal descendant in 
the fourth generation from Hon. Humphrey 
Fullerton, the first president judge of Franklin 
county, and whose graudfather received a sword 
from King William, for his courage at the bat- 
tle of the Boyne, and whose father came from 
Scotland or Ireland to Chester county, Pa., in 
1723. Judge Humphrey Fullerton's son, Hon. 
David Fullerton, was born in Lancaster county 
in 1772, received a fine education, removed to 
Franklin county, where he was successively a 
farmer, a president of the Greencastle bank and 
a politician. He was an old-line whig, a great 
admirer of Henry Clay, and a man of great 
firmness. He was a member of the State Sen- 
ate of Pennsylvania for twelve years in succes- 
sion. He was elected a representative from 
Pennsylvania to the Sixteenth Congress, in which 
he served and was active in the discussion of 
the Missouri Compromise. When he left con- 
gress he declined a renomination aud returned 
to Greencastle, where he died February 1, 1843. 
His son, Humphrey Fullerton, was born in 



Franklin county in 1795, and died in Califor- 
nia in 1849. He received a good education, 
but preferred a business pursuit to a professional 
life and engaged in the general mercantile busi- 
ness in Pittsburgh, which he followed until his 
death. He married Nancy Gormley, who was 
born in Allegheny county in 1811, and died in 
Allegheny city in 1871. Mrs. Fullerton was 
a daughter of John Gormley, who was one of 
the early business men of Pittsburgh. In 1803 
the first successful iron business in that city, the 
Pittsburgh iron foundry, was built by Joseph 
McClurg, Joseph Smith and John Gormley, on 
the site of the post-office building, corner of 
Smithfield street and Fifth avenue. At that 
foundry were made, in 1811-12, the first can- 
non west of the Allegheny mountains, and the 
first water-pipe, and the first rolls were also 
made there. James Hartley, a workman there, 
discovered the art of successfully making chilled 
rolls. 

On both sides Rev. John Q. A. Fullerton is 
of pure covenanter descent and related also to 
all the ministers of his name who are connected 
with the Presbyterian church in this country. 
He was reared in Allegheny city. Pa., and 
Bucyrus, Ohio. After completing his academic 
studies in 1866, he entered Princeton college, 
from which time-honored institution he was 
graduated June 30, 1869. With a view to en- 
tering the Christian ministry he left college to 
enter upon the study of theology. He entered 
Princeton Theological seminary, from which he 
was graduated April 29, 1873. In the same 
year he became pastor of the Presbyterian 
church at Dillsburg, York county, which he 
served until 1879, when he accepted a call from 
Curwensville, Clearfield county, and was pastor 
of that church for six yeare. On January 1, 
1885, he came to Apollo and assumed charge of 
the Apollo Presbyterian church, which he ha.s 
served very satisfactorily and most successfully 
ever since. When he entered upon his pastoral 
duties, the church had two hundred and fifty 



400 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



members; it now has a membei-ship of four 
hundred. lu addition to the charge of this 
church, he serves Spring church, five miles east 
of Apollo, and under his charge it has been 
steadily prosperous. 

On August 24, 1871, he united in marriage 
■with Ella Van Doren, of Princeton, New Jer- 
sey. To their union have been born three 
children : Jessie Quarrier, Boyd Van Doren 
and David Humphrey. 

When the call to arms was sounded in 1861, 
Rev. Fullerton was in Ohio, where, on July 30, 
1861, he enlisted as a private in Co. E, .34th 
regiment, Ohio Infantry (or Piatt Zouaves). He 
was immediately elected sergeant, was promoted 
to second lieutenant October 10, 1862, then to 
first lieutenant INIarch 2, 1864, when he was 
made adjutant of the regiment, which position 
he held until September 14, 1864, when his 
term of enlistment expired. He .served in 
West Virginia for some time, where his regi- 
ment encountered, in their line of duty, every 
conceivable hardship of military life. He was 
in the battles of Fayetteville, Lynchburg and 
Wytheville, in Hunter's disastrous raid and 
many other lesser engagements. His regiment 
was then transferred to the Shenandoah Valley 
and fought under Sheridan. He escaped un- 
hurt in the various battles in which he was en- 
gaged, except Fayetteville, where he was struck 
in the wrist by a rifle-ball. He is a member 
of Charles S. "wiiitworth Post, No. 89, G. A. 
R., at Apollo. Rev. Fullerton is an active and 
persistent worker in his important field for the 
advancement of morality and Christianity, and 
his labors have been blest with abundant suc- 
cess. 



WALTER J. GUTHRIE, ex-editor of the 
Apollo Herald, and a young and rising 
member of the Armstrong county bar, is a son 
of Capt. John B. and Mary J. (Freetly) Guth- 
rie, and was born at Apollo, Armstrong County, 



Pennsylvania, September 9, 1863. The Guth- 
rie family is of Scotch origin. The great- 
grandparents of Walter J. Guthrie were Wil- 
liam and Agues (Dixon) Guthrie, who were 
among the early settlers of Westmoreland 

[ county. They settled near the site of New 
Salem, where they underwent all the privations 

I of frontier life with the characteristic endurance 

I of the Scottish race, and eventuallv secured for 
themselves a comfoilable home. One of their 
sons, James Guthrie (grandfather), was born in 
their Westmoreland home, September 20, 1806. 
In 1833 he came to Apollo, where he died in 
1882. He purchased a farm, upon which a 
part of the town stands to-day. He devoted 

; his life to business pursuits, in which he was 
very successful. He was a heavy stockholder 
in the old Warren bridge, was a strong whig, 

: and served as justice of the peace. He was one 
of the founders of the Apollo M. E. church, 
and married a Miss Beatty, who died in a few 
years, and left one child, Capt. John B. Guth- 
rie, father of the subject of this sketch. Capt. 
John B. Guthrie was born on the old Guthrie 
homestead farm in 1835, and died on Septem- 
l)er 21, 1875. He received a very good edu- 
cation, read law, and was admitted to the bar 
of Armstrong county in 1857. He was en- 
gaged in the practice of his profession until the 
late war, when he raised a company of a regi- 
ment of Pa. Vols., and served his country 

\ faithfully. 

After the war he resumed the practice of 
law; but his health became impaired and inter- 
fered, to a great extent, with his practice. He 
spent several winters in the south, and made 
an extended trip throughout the great west for 
the benefit of his health, but did not experience 
much relief. Shortly after Gen. Hartranft's 
inauguration as governor' of Pennsylvania, 
Capt. Guthrie became a clerk in the surveyor- 
general's office, and served as such for two 
years. Through the summer of 1875 he failed 
gradually, and during the autumn days (Sep- 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



401 



tember 21st) passed peacefully into the great 
beyond. He was a republican, a Free Mason 
and one of the charter members of the Masonic 
lodge at Apollo. He had been for many years 
a prominent and devoted member of the Apollo 
M. E. church, of whose Sunday school lie liad 
been superintendent for several years. He was 
an exemplar)- Christian, a kind friend to those 
in distress and a conscientious man in all that 
he did. As a citizen, as a lawyer and as a man, 
none stood hieher iu his section of Armstrono; 
county than Capt. John B. Guthrie. He mar- 
ried Mary J. Freetly, who is a daughter of 
Jacob Freetly, of Apollo. (See his sketch.) 
They had two children : Laura A. and Walter J. I 

Walter J. Guthrie was reared at Apollo. He 
attended the public schools and Blairsville 
academy, and iu 1880 entered Allegheny col- 
lege, Pa., from which institution of learning he 
was graduated in 1884. He then entered the 
office of Joshua Reynolds, and commenced the 
study of law, which he finishetl with his grand- 
father, Jacob Freetly, of Apollo. He was ad- 
mitted to the Armstrong county bar in Sep- 
tember, 1887, immediately entered upon the 
practice of his profession at Apollo, and since 
April 1, 1890, has been a member of the law- 
firm of Freetly & Guthrie. During two years 
of the time in which he was pursuing his legal 
studies he was editor of the Apollo HcrahJ. 
He is well read in his profession, and is secu- 
ring a good practice. 

Mr. Gutlirie is a republican in politics. He 
is prominent in the Masonic fraternity, with 
which he has been identified for several years. 
He is a member of Lodge and Chapter, and 
Tancred Commandery, Knights Templar, of 
Pittsburgh. 



ARMAND C. ILiMMITT, well-known in 
social circles of Apollo, is the eldest son of 
Isaac and Hannah (Co.k) Hammitt, and was born 
December 18, 1854, in McKeesport, Allegheny 



county. Pa. His grandfather, Isaac Hammitt, 
a native of eastern Pennsylvania, was a sailor 
iu his youth, afterwards taking up boat-building 
as an occupation. He helped to build the vessels 
that Commodore Perry commanded in his fam- 
ous naval victory at Put-In Bay, on Lake Erie. 
Later in life he moved to the Monougahela Val- 
ley, where he died. His son, Isaac Hammitt 
(father), was born iu Louisville, Ky., and fol- 
lowed the same occupation as his father, boat- 
building, having learned that trade in Philadel- 
phia. He worked in various localities betwean 
Pittsburgh and New Orleans, building many 
steam-boats, some of which are still plying up 
and down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Be- 
ing a good draughtman, he drew the plans for, 
and superintended the building of two gun- 
boats for the Federal government during the 
great Rebellion. He was also engaged in ship- 
ping coal to points on the Ohio and Mississippi 
rivers. Some of the boats for whicli he drew 
the plans are still used on the Volga river in 
Russia. He remained actively engaged in his 
occupation until a few months before his 
death. He married Hannah Cox, whose 
father was a coal merchant of Pittsburgh. 
They had five children, of whom three .sons 
are living : Armand C, Murat, of McKeesport, 
and Sheridan, who makes his home at Apollo. 

Armand C. Hammitt was educated in the 
public schools of McKeesport, learneil the trade 
of machinist in the McKeesport locomotive 
works, and worked for the company owning 
those works for six years. He has been a roll- 
turner for some ten years, six of which he has 
been in the employment of the Apollo Iron and 
Steel company. 

On the 24th of September, 1885, he married 
Virginia Jackson, daughter of Gen. Samuel M. 
Jackson, of Apollo. They have two children : 
Samuel Jackson and John K. 

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and votes the republican ticket, taking 
an active part in local politics. He is a mem- 



402 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ber of the borough council, and the Masonic 
Fraternity. Armaud C. Hammitt is one of 
tiie progressive young men of Apollo, fully im- 
bued with the true spirit of enterprise, and 
deeply interested in the advancement of his 
borough. 



GEORGE M. HUNTER, a skilled and ex- 
perienced steel and iron worker, and one 
of Apollo's reliable citizens, was born in Fawn 
township, Allegheny county. Pa., November 
2(), 1859, and is a son of Rev. John and Mar- 
garet (Keever) Hunter. Nearly a century ago 
John Hunter, the paternal grandfather of 
George M. Hunter, came from Ireland to east- 
ern Pennsylvania, and in a short time removed 
to Allegheny county, where he followed farming 
and where he died when an octogenarian in 
years. He was a presbyterian and a democrat. 
He married Mary Hunter, who was in no wise 
related to him, and by whom he had eight 
children. The next to the oldest child was Rev. 
John Hunter (father), who was born in IMifflin 
county in 1813, and came first to Butler county 
in 1837, then removed to Allegheny county in 
1839 and in 1874 came to Apollo, where he died 
June 8, 1886, aged seventy-three years. He was 
a man of good education, although self-educated. 
He was a strong republican, was one of the 
seven members of the first abolition society in 
Allegheny county, and had two sons who served 
in the late war. He was genial and sympathetic 
and served for many years as a local minister in 
the M. E. church. He served as school director 
for several years, was a prominent Free Mason 
and never was neutral on any question of in- 
terest or importance. For several years before 
his death he had acted as a general agent forH. 
G. Fink's medical house. He was over six feet in 
height, weighed two hundred pounds, and start- 
ing with no means whatever, acquired a com- 
petency. He married Margaret Keever, daughter 
of John Keever, by whom he had eleven chil- 



dren, of whom six are living : John K., a ma- 
chinist, of Owensboro', Pa; Samuel, a book- 
keeper, of Los Angeles, Cal.; Kate, widow of 
W. C. White; Albert, a carpenter, of Topeka, 
Kan., employed by the Santa Fe R. R.; Ma- 
tilda M., teaching at Apollo, and George M. 

George M. Hunter was reared in Allegheny 
county and at Apollo. He received his educa- 
tion in the common schools and at an early age 
commenced life for himself as a clerk and 
spent seven years as such in several stores at 
Apollo and in the oil regions of this State. In 
1881 he entered the employ of Laufman & Co., 
and learned the trade of shearman, which he 
has pursued ever since. He was with Laufman 
& Co. until they were succeeded by the Apollo 
Iron and Steel company, and then entered the 
employ of the latter company, with whom he 
has been until the present time. 

August 3, 1883, he united in marriage with 
Rosa Jack, daughter of A. X. Jack, of Apollo. 
To their union have been born four children : 
Rosa Marie and Albert Lew Hunter and two 
who died in infancy. 

George M. Hunter is a republican and a 
member of Apollo Methodist Episcopal church, 
and of Apollo Lodge, No. 437, Free and 
Accepted Masons of the jurisdiction of Penn- 
sylvania. 



WILLIAM C, HUNTER, the proprietor of 
the Apollo Hotel and a man of varied 
and successfid business experience, is a son of 
Adam and Margaret (Fleming) Hunter, and 
was born at Apollo, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, February 8, 1851. The Hunters 
were among the early settlers of Westmoreland 
county. Col. Robert Hunter (great-grand- 
father) served in the Revolutionary war, lived 
at Hannastown when it was burned by the 
Indians, in 1782, and married Anna Sloan, by 
whom he had several children. One of his 
sons was Kennedy Hunter (grandfather), who 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



403 



was born in 1 778, at Haunastown. He removed 
to Crawford county, and afterwards located on 
Crooked run, this county, where he remained 
until he came to Apollo. He was a democrat 
and a presbyterian and lived to be ninety-one 
years of age. He married Margaret F'iscus, 
who lived to be eighty- five years of age. They 
had eight children, of whom five are living. 
(For fuller ancestry see sketch of Robert < )rr 
Hunter). Oneof their sons was Adam Hunter 
(father), who was born in 1826, and at an early 
age became a boatman on the Pennsylvania 
canal. 

In the course of a few years he left the 
caual and embarked in the general mercantile 
business, which he continued until his death, 
which occurred in 1857, when only in the thirty- 
first year of his age. He evinced good business 
ability and tact, and gave promise of a successful 
business career. He married Margaret Fleming. 
They were the parents of four children : John 
M., an oil operator at Edenburg, Pa. ; William 
C, Margaret, wife of Kev. Milton Porterfield, 
of Illinois; and Sarah M., married to Samuel 
Beck, of Apollo. 

William C. Hunter was reared partly on a 
farm, and attended the common schools and the 
public schools of Apollo. For several years 
before he attained his majority he lived with 
Ex-Sheriff Wat.son. At twenty-one years of 
age he engaged in mining coal, which he fol- 
lowed for eight years, and then came to Apollo, 
where he worked for two years at puddling in the 
rolling-mill. Leaving the mill, he purchased a 
grocery store, ^vhich he conducted, with very 
good success, for four years. In September, 
1887, he purchased the " James House," which, 
after thoroughly refitting, he opeuetl as the 
Apollo Hotel. It contains thirteen rooms, 
besides the sitting-rooms, dining-room and 
kitchen. Mr. Hunter's extensive business 
experience and his courteous attention to the 
wants of his gne>^ts have made him popular and 
successful as a hotel-keeper. He has a large 



trade, holding all his old patrons and constantly 
gaining new ones. 

He married Phebe Buckerstaff, daughter of 
Alexander Buckerstaff, of Irwin, Pa. They 
have had seven children, of whom five are : 
Margaret Minerva, Mina Gertrude, Howard 
Clinton, Robert Owen and Charles. 

W. C. Hunter is democratic in principles 
and always gives a hearty support to his party. 
He is a member of the Improved Order of 
Red Men and Royal Arcanum. 



ROBERT ORR HUNTER is an old and 
well-known citizen of Apollo, who has 
been successfully engaged in the hardware busi- 
ness for over forty years. He is a son of Ken- 
nedy and Margaret (Fiscus) Hunter, and was 
born on Crooked creek, Allegheny township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 
1817. When the Revolutionary struggle for 
independence commenced on Lexington common 
and the tidings of New England's spirited 
resistance to ministerial tyranny was borne to 
eastern Pennsylvania, one among the many in 
that section to take up arms in the cause of the 
Colonies was Col. Robert Hunter, of Hunter's 
Valley. At the expiration of his term of enlist- 
ment he came to Hannastown, Westmoreland 
county, where he was residing when it was 
given to the flames by the Indians, on July 13, 
1782. He was a prominent and influential cit- 
izen in the " Hannastown country," where he 
dealt largely in stock. He was a Jeffersonian 
democrat and a strict presbyterian. He married 
Anna Sloan, daughter of Capt. John Sloan, a 
Revolutionary soldier, who was killed at the 
siege of Yorktown. Several sons and daugh- 
ters were born to them, and one of their sons 
was Kennedy Hunter (father), who was 
born at the old Hannastown, of frontier fame, 
in 1778, and died at Apollo, Oct. 1, 1809, 
when in the ninety-first year of his age. He 
removed to Crawford county, where he enlisted 



404 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



as a soldier of the war of 1812. At the end of { 
his term of service he re-enlisted and served at ' 
Baltimore when that city was threatened by the j 
British, in 1814. From Crawford county he 
removed to Crooked creek, where he dwelt for 
many years, and was engaged in farming and 
in buying and driving stock to the eastern 
markets. About 1845 he came to Apollo, 
where he resided until his death, in 1869. 
He was a democrat and a presbyterian, and 
married Margaret Fiscus, who was a daughter of 
Abraiiara Fiscus, of Westmoreland county, and 
died in Phnn Creek township, in 1832, at 
eightv-four years of age. To them wei'e born 
eight ciiildren, of whom five are living. 

Robert Orr Hunter received his education in 
the old subscription schools. At nine years of 
age he became an errand boy on tiie old Penn- 
sylvania canal, along whicli he worked until 
1835. He then learned the trade of tailon 
which he followed for seven years, and at the 
end of tiiat time rented a boat on the Ohio 
canal, whicii he ran until 1844. He then 
opened a tin and stove store, although possessed 
of but sixty dollars capital, and succeeded so 
Avell that he increased his capital sufficiently to 
engage in the grocery business, in which he met 
with good success. In 1850 he returned to 
Apollo, where in the succeeding year, he em- 
barked in his present prosperous hard- 
ware business. His establishment is on the 
ciirner of North street, where he keeps a full Hue 
of hardware, including builders' supplies, tools 
and household and shelf-ware. 

December 20, 1849, Mr. Hunter married 
Margaret J. Kline, who is a daughter of Ber- 
nard Kline, of Westmoreland county, this 
State. 

Robert Orr Hunter is steadfast in the demo- 
cratic faith of his forefathers, and supports the 
party of Jefferson and Jackson. He became a 
member of the IMasonic fraternity in 1851, and 
has served as treasurer of Apollo Lodge, No. 
437, Free and Accepted Masons. He owns 



some valuable property in Apollo, and a very 
fine farm, which is but a short distance 
beyond the borough limits. Robert Orr Hun- 
ter, now having passed his three-score and ten 
years, can look back over half a century of his 
active and useful life spent in serving and 
accommodating the public. 



SAMUEL JACK, a prominent advocate of 
the cause of temperance at Apollo, was 
born near White Rock Eddy, in what was then 
Allegheny township, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, April 26, 1820, and is a son of John 
and Mary Ann (Smith) Jack. The Jack family 
is of Irish descent. While William Jack 
(great-grandfather) and his wife were on board 
the ship coming to America, their son, James 
Jack, was born. They settled at White Rock 
Eddy, where they lived the remainder of their 
lives. James Jack (grandfather) was a team- 
ster the most of his life, driving a pack team 
from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and Balti- 
more. He was an uncompromising democrat. 
He married Mattie Morri.son, of Irish descent, 
by whom he had eight children. He died at 
the advanced age of ninety years. John Jack 
(father) was born near White Rock Eddy, 
April 27, 1788, learned the trade of shoemaker, 
but after his marriage he gave up that occupa- 
tion and went to farming. He voted the dem- 
ocratic ticket all his life and was a strict mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church. Thoroughly 
honest, a kind neighbor and a faithful friend, 
his death, which occurred on Oct. 27, 1858, 
was deplored by the whole community. His 
wife was Mary Ann, daughter of Archibald 
Smith, wlio, with his wife, Molly (Anderson) 
Smith, emigrated from Ireland to the United 
States, becoming early settlers of Armstrong 
county. John Jack had seven children. 

Samuel Jack, after receiving his education in 
the subscription schools of the county, learned 
the trade of cooper, which he followed for thirty 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



40.5 



years. For two years he acted as superintend- 
ent of an oil company. In 1866 he opened a 
lumber-yard, in connection with his planing- 
mill, in Apollo. For twenty-four years his 
eldest son was in partnership with him, but in 
the spring of 1890 he sold one-fifth interest to 
three of his sons, thus making himself and four 
sons equal partnei's. The firm of Samuel Jack 
& Sons has for many years conducted an exten- 
sive business, controlling exclusively the whole 
of the lumber trade in Apollo. 

On April 14, 1840, he married Catherine, 
daughter of Daniel Beck, a soldier of tlie war 
of 1812. To them have been born ten chil- 
dren, of whom six are living: Daniel, S. S., 
Mathew A,, Mary Jane, David R. and 
Henry F. 

During the late civil war S. S. Jack, the 
second son, enlisted in the regimental band of 
the 11th regiment, Pa. Reserves, September 11, 
1861 ; was discharged in 1862, and the follow- 
ing year re-entered the service, joining C'o. G, 
63d regiment, Pa. Vols. He serveil in this 
regiment until January 2, 1865, when he was 
discharged on account of a severe wound in the 
left hand, received in the battle of Spottsyl- 
vauia Court-House, May 12, 1864. From 
1866 to 1882 he assisted his father in the lum- 
ber business. For the last eight years he has 
been in the employment of the Apollo Iron & 
Steel company, — at present chief clerk in their 
office. He is a stanch republican, and has been 
elected by his party to various offices of public 
trust. He is a member of the board of school 
trustees, and one of the directors of The Apollo 
Mutual Building & Loan association. He is 
also a member of Cliarles S. Whitworth Post, 
No. 89, G. A. R., and an earnest memlier of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. On Fel)ruary 
23, 1865, he married Hannah Ulam, daughter 
of Simon Truby, and has two daughters : Lillie 
May, wife of T. J. Baldrige, and Carrie Belle. 
The Jack brothers rank among the solid men of 
Apollo. 



During his early manhood, Samuel Jack was 
a whig, and after that party went down he 
joined the republicans, but since 1884 he has 
advocated the cause of the Prohibition pai-ty, 
working ince-ssantly for its success, and intends 
to vote anti-saloon till he dies. He is a stew- 
ard and a member of the board of trustees of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. In the di- 
rection of the public welfare of the borough, 
he has filled the offices of burgess and school 
director. After the cares and turmoil of a busy 
life, surrounded by their children and children's 
children, Samuel Jack and his faithful wife are 
calmly waiting their last summons. 



GENERAL SAMUEL McCARTNEY 
JACKSON. Among those sons of Arm- 
strong county whose privilege it has been to 
achieve distinction in civil as well as military 
life, is Gen. Samuel McCartney Jackson, an 
active and successful business man of the county 
and of Apollo, with whose interests he has been 
closely identified by over a quarter of a century's 
residence and active business life within its lim- 
its. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Mc- 
Cartney) Jackson, and was born near Apollo, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, September 
24, 1833. The Jackson family is of Irish 
descent and has always been prominent in the 
southern part of the county from its earliest 
settlement. James .Jackson (grandfather) came 
from Ireland to Pennsylvania with his parents, 
who were at Hannastown (1782) when it was 
burned by Indians, and finally settled in Kis- 
kiminetas township. James Jackson died at 
eighty-four years of age and his eldest son, 
John Jackson (father), was born October 12, 
1797, and died January 8, 1853. John Jack- 
son was the builder of his own fortune and 
became one of the wealthy, honorable and 
highly respected men of the county. On 
October 5, 1826, he married Elizabeth Mc- 
Cartney, of Scotch lineage, who was born Oc- 



406 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



tober 10, 1805, and died August 9, 1880. She 
was an amiable Christian woman and was the 
mother of ten children, of whom the second son 
and fourth child was Gen. S. M. Jackson. 

Samuel M. Jackson was reared on a farm and 
at sixteen years of age enteral Jacksonville 
academy in Indiana county, but one ^year later 
the death of his father compelled him to leave 
school and lose his long contemplated liberal 
academic education. He was well read in 
history and biography and took an active part 
in the State Militia, in which he had obtained 
his enrollment at thirteen years of age. Effi- 
ciency as a soldier secured him successive pro- 
motion until he was commissioned as a captain. 
AVhen the late war commenced Capt. Jackson 
immediately proffered his services to the gov- 
ernment and recruited Co. G, or the Apollo 
Independent Blues, of the 11th Pa. Reserves, 
of which he became captain when it was mus- 
tered into service. On July 2, 1861, he was 
promoted to major and on October 28th, was 
commissioned lieutenant-colonel. April 10, 
1863, he was promoted to colonel of his regi- 
ment. He served gallantly through his three 
years' term of service, received two slight 
wounds, and was conspicuous at Gaines' Mill, 
Second Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, 
Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, in the Wilder- 
ness and at Spottsylvania Court-house and 
Bethesda Church. He particularly distin- 
guished himself at South Mountain, Freder- 
icksburg, Gettysburg and the Wilderness, 
where the conflicts were of such a nature as to 
try officers and men to their utmost, and espe- 
cially to test the bravery, decision an<l skill of 
the former. At Spottsylvania he commanded a 
brigade and was brevetted brigadier-general for 
gallant conduct. At Gettysburg he was thrown 
forward on the bloody ground where the third 
corps had been driven back, and supports from 
several corps which had been sent to the relief 
of the third had been terribly broken. The 
position there taken was held, and the entire 



field was subsequently regained. At the battle 
of the Wilderness, while in command of his own 
and the 2d regiment, he was cut off from the 
balance of the division by a strong force of the 
enemy, but rallying his men about him, he 
charged the hostile lines, and by a circuitous 
route reached the Union front, where he had 
for several hours been given up as lost. The 
appreciative regard of the officers and men of 
the 11th regiment for their colonel was 
indicated by their presenting him with a 
superb gold-encased and jeweled sword, to- 
gether with sash and spurs, the presentation 
speech being made on behalf of the regiment by 
Capt. Timblin. 

At the close of his term of service Col. Jack- 
son was mustered out and returned to his home 
and the pursuits of business life. He was 
engaged for some time in the oil business in 
Venango county, but returned to Armstrong 
county in 1869, and was elected on the republican 
ticket as a member of the Pennsylvania legisla- 
ture. In 1870 he was re elected and during 
both terms made a creditable record as an 
efficient and faithful legislator. Four years 
later his services were again demanded in a public 
capacity and he was once more called from pri- 
vate to public life, being elected to the State 
senate to represent the Forty-first District, 
composed of the counties of Armstrong and 
Butler. His services in the State senate were 
so acceptable that he was tendered a re-nomi- 
nation, which he declined. In April, 1882, he 
was appointed by President Arthur as col- 
lector of internal revenue in the Twenty-third 
District, composed of the counties of Beaver, 
northern part of Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong, 
Indiana, Jefferson, Clearfield, Blair and Hunt- 
ingdon. He assumed the duties of this office 
July 1, 1882, and served until July 1st, 1885, 
when he was removed by President Cleveland, 
on ""account of his politics, since which he has 
been twice the choice of his county for Congress. 
In local affairs he has always been active at 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



407 



Apollo. He secured the passage of the act 
authorizing the building of a free bridge at 
Apollo and has always been interested in every 
important measure of public improvement. 
Since 1871 he has been interested in the bank- 
ing business, and in 1886 he became a stock- 
holder and treasurer of the present well-known 
sheet iron firm of P. H. Laufman & Co. 

He has been twice married. His first wife 
was Martha J. Byerly, of Westmoreland county, 
whom he married in 1860 and who died in 
1804, leaving two children : Mary Gertrude 
(Townsend) and Lizzie Virginia (Hammitt). 
December 29, 1869, Gen. Jackson unites! in 
marriage with his present wife, who was Mary 
E. Wilson, daughter of Col. John M. Wilson, of 
Clarion county. By his second marriage he 
has had five children : Frank Wilson, John 
Howard, Bessie, Mamie (dead) and Emily 
Louise. 

Gen. Jackson is a member of the Presby- 
terian church and a member of session. He 
was cashier of the Apollo Savings bank when 
it was organized in 1871, and has been presi- 
dent since 1885 of that institution, which has a 
capital of |50,000. In 1886 he became inter- 
ested in the benefits to be derived by his town 
and county from the erection of sheet iron mills 
at Apollo, and after he and others had agitated 
the subject, the present firm of P. H. Laufman 
& Co., limited, was formed with a capital stock 
of $150,000. They keep in constant operation 
three large mills. (See sketch of W. B. Lauf- 
man). He became a stockholder of this com- 
pany and was elected treasurei-, in which 
capacity he has served until the present time. 

During his busy life (xen. Jackson has wit- 
nessed the little river village of his boyhood, 
whose industries and interests were those of a 
centre of a moderately prosperous agricultural 
district, grow to a town of over two thousand 
people, the home of varied industries, the most 
, important of which he was largeh- instrumental 
in establishing and has been incessantly perse- 



vering in developing to their present highly 
prosperous condition. 



pYRUS J. KEPPLE, a successful cabinet- 
^ maker, furniture dealer and undertaker of 
Apollo, is the eldest son of George and Isa- 
bella (Hoffman) Kepple, and was born near 
Delmont, in Salem township, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, November 17,1 831 . The 
Kepple family is of German descent, the great- 
grand-father of Cyrus J. Kepple having come 
from Germany to America. Hisson, George Kep- 
ple (grandfather), was born near Manor church 
in Penu township, Westmoreland county. George 
Kepple(father) was born near Delmont, where he 
lived on afarm nntil his marriage, and afterwards 
removing to a farm near Cochran's mills, in 
Burreil township, Armstrong county, on which, 
in 1869, he died, at the age of seventy years. 
In earlier years he was a democrat, but after 
the rebellion he joined the republican party. 
He was for many years a member and officer 
of the Lutheran church, and always evinced a 
deep interest in the work of the church. He 
was one of the founders of the old Bethel 
Lutheran Church, in 1848. In 1830 he mar- 
ried Isabella Huffman (now dead), who was a 
daughter of Adam Huffman, a soldier in the 
war of 1812. They had eight children, of 
whom six are living. 

Cyrus J. Kepple received his education in 
the old school-house in the Heckman neigh- 
borhood, afterward working for his father on 
the farm until he was nineteen years of age, 
when he went to learn the trade of cabinet- 
maker. This trade, together with carpenter- 
ing, he followed in connection with his furni- 
ture and hardware store, until 1878, when he 
closed out the hardware department, and has 
been in the furniture, undertaking and embalm- 
ing business ever since. He has been success- 
ful in his various enterprises and acquired a 
competency. 



408 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



On May 7, 1857, he married Caroline Keok, 
daughter of Isaac Keck. They have had six chil- 
dren : Belle, married Edward Melhorn, of 
Freeport, son of Rev. J. K. Melhorn, and has 
two children ; Isaac Newton, who married 
Anna Stewart, and died July 9, 1890, from the 
eifects of a gunshot wound, and left six chil- 
dren ; George S., married Emma Gumbert, 
and has two children ; Cyrus, in the store with 
his fiither; Bes.sie Alice, the youngest child, 
and Anna Mary, who was born in 1860 and 
died February 18, 1866. 

During the late war he was out with the 
one bundled day men, repelling the Confederat« 
raids in Pennsylvania. In elections he sup- 
ports the democratic ticket. He has been a 
member of the Lutheran church since boyhood, 
and for several years has been an officer in that 
church. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and 
has twice been sent as a representative of his 
lodge to the R. W. Grand Lodge of that order 
of Pennsylvania. Cyrus J. Kepple is one of 
the substantial citizens of Apollo. He is hon- 
est and industrious, a faithful husband, a kind 
father, and a man whose integrity is unques- 
tioned. 



JAMES KIRKWOOD, secretary and treas- 
urer of the Apollo Foundry company, 
and a man of energy, ability and enterprise, 
was born in Nortii Washington, Washington 
township, Westmoreland county. Pa., Septem- 
ber 7, 1854, and is a son of William and' Mary | 
(Byerly) Kirkwood. The Kirkwood family of 
Westmoreland and Armstrong counties is de- 
scended from Hugh Kirkwood, who was an ' 
early settler near the site of North Washing- 
ton, and was an exemplary member of the old 
Poke Run Presbyterian church. He was allied 
by marriage with the early-settled Thompson 
family of his section. The Byerly family, with 
its many liranches, traces its ancestry to Andrew 
Byerly, who bore such a conspicuous part at the 



battle of Bushy Run, which Parkman (the 
historian) classes as one of the " decisive battles 
of the world." Andrew Byerly was the soldier 
selected by Washington, at Fort Cumberland 
(now Cumberland, Md.) in 1755, to contest a 
race with a celebrated Indian runner, and Byerly 
triumphantly justified the young Virginia 
colonel's selection, by easily distancing the sav- 
age. Andrew Byerly married Beatrice Guldin, 
a brave and energetic woman, who was a native 
of Switzerland, and well acquainted with Col. 
Bouquet before he left his Alpine home to enter 
upon his subsequent distinguished military 
career. A more complete genealogy and history 
of James Kirkwood's paternal and maternal 
ancestry will be found in the sketch of William 
Kirkwood, of Apollo. 

James Kirkwood was reared at Apollo, in 
whose public schools he received his education. 
His first employment was in a brickyard, which 
he soon left to accept a (tlerkship in a store. 
After four years he left the store and became 
book-keeper for Rogers & Burchfield, in whose 
employ he remained nearly four years. At the 
end of that time he went to Pittsburgh, where 
he had charge of a set of books for eighteen 
months. He then entered the service of John- 
son, Eagey & Earl, wholesale grocers, and was 
with them six years, four years of which time 
were spent as a traveling salesman. In the 
spring of 1889 he came to Apollo and assisted 
in organizing the Ai)ollo Foundry company, 
whose works went into operation on July 31st, 
1889. He has served as secretary and treas- 
urer of this company until the present time. 
The company employ a force of twenty-five 
men, and manufacture ingot moulds and every 
description of rolling-mill castings and brasses. 
Their works cover a considerable area of ground. 
Their buildings are equipped with all the latest 
improved machinery necessary for the successful 
prosecution of their business. 

May 28, 1885, hs united in marriage with 
Henrietta Power, daughter of James B. Power, 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



409 



of uear Harinei'sville, Allegheny county. To 
their union have been born two children : Wil- 
liam Power, born May 10, 1886, and Helen 
Losey, born September 18, 1888. 

James Kirkwood has always been a republi- 
can in politics. He is a member of Franklin 
Lodge, No. 221, F. & A. Masons, of Pittsburgh, 
Royal Arcanura, and Darling Council, No. 250, 
Jr. Order of United American Mechanics. He 
is active and progressive, is a self-made man, 
and has won by his own eftbrts the ample suc- 
cess of whicii he is de.serving. He has labored 
faithfully in the establishment of his present 
business enterprise, and the continuance of his 
company's career of progress and success is full 
of promise of future gain to Apollo. 



HUGH KIRKWOOD, a skilled iron-worker 
and an intelligent and industrious citizen 
of Apollo, was born uear North Washington, 
Washington township, \Vestraoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, August 26, 1849, and is a son 
of William and Mary (Byerly) Kirkwood. 
His paternal grandparents were Hugh and 
Mary (Thompson) Kirkwood, both natives of 
northern Westmoreland county ; and the latter 
a daughter of William Thompson, who served 
in the Revolutionary war. His maternal grand- 
parents were Andrew J. and Anna (Smith) 
Byerly, respectively natives of Westmoreland 
and Fayette counties and the former was a son 
of the celebrated Andrew Byerly, of frontier 
fame, who was among the first, if not the first 
white man to settle in Westmoreland county. 
The Kirkwood, Thompson, Byerly and Smith 
families are among the old settled families of 
southwestern Pennsylvania and a fuller and 
more complete history of them will be found in 
the sketch of W. T. Kirkwood, which is given 
in this volume. 

At si.x yeai-s of age Hugh Kirkwood came 
with his parents to Apollo, where he received 
his education in the public schools. At twelve 



years of age he commenced to work in the nail 
mill and has been an iron worker ever since. 
He was a heater for seven years in the rolling- 
mill at Scottdale and ten years in Apollo and 
Sharpsburg, Pa., rolling-mills. In 1882 he 
secured his present position of sheet roller with 
the Apollo Iron & Steel company and thorough- 
ly understands his business of sheet rolling. 

On January 7, 1873, he married Mattie E. 
James, who was a daughter of Jesse James, of 
Apollo, and died May 2, 1877, leaving two 
children : Mary Elizabeth, born December 9, 
1873; and Charles Francis, born August 20, 
1875. Mr. Kirkwood was re-married on July 
8, 1880,^to Maggie E. Artman, daughter of Eli 
Artman, a farmer of Kiskiminetas toM'uship. 
By his second marriage he has five children, of 
whom four are living : Florence Everson, born 
February 6, 1881 ; Grace Josephine and Nellie 
Louise, born December 30, 1884; and Robert 
Smith Byerly, born July 16, 1888. 

Hugh Kirkwood is a republican politicall}', 
and although ever ready to respond to any call 
for work in behalf of his party yet is no 
aspirant for any political office. He is a mem- 
ber of the Amalgamated As.sociation of Iron & 
Steel workers and the Jr. Order of United 
Americau Mechanics, and is also a Master 
Mason. Mr. Kirkwood is a persistent worker. 
Whatever he does he does well and he loses no 
time from his business. To close application to 
business a portion of his success in life is attrib- 
utable. Mr. Kirkwood has built himself a very 
fine residence where he now lives on the corner 
of Wood and Terrace avenues. His house is 
after the most modern and approved plans of 
architecture. 



WILLIAM T. KIRKWOOD, a descendant 
of two of the early settled families of the 
Allegheny Valley, and a great-grandson of An- 
drew Byerly, the most famous scout of Pontiac's 
war, is one of the reliable business men and trust- 



410 



BIOQRAFHIES OF 



worthy citizens of Apollo. He was born at North 
Washington, Washington township, Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania, December 14, 18 — , 
and is a son of William and Mary (Byerly) Kirk- : 
wood. On the paternal side, his grandfather, 
Hugh Kirkwood, was in all probability a na- 
tive of what is now Washington township, 
Westmoreland county. He was a prosperous 
farmer, an ardent whig and a zealous member 
of Poke Run Presb^'terian church, which was 
organized in 1783, and is by far the largest, most 
wealthy and harmonious of all the rural 
churches in the Blairsville presbytery. He , 
was a man of high standing and great influ- 
ence in his community. He married Mary 
Thompson, a member of the old and well- 
known Thompson family of Westmoreland j 
county, whose father, William Thompson, 
served in the Revolutionary war, and was a 
son of Samuel Thompson, an early settler 
and large land-holder in his section of West- 
moreland county. One of their sons, Wil- 
liam Kirkwood (father), was born within two 
miles of North Washngton, that county, in 
January, 1820. He received a good educa- 
tion, excelled in mathematics, and was a 
very fine penman. At fourteen years of age 
he commenced teaching, which he retired from 
in a few years to engage in mercantile busi- 
ness. In 1855 he came to Apollo, where 
he accepted a position with the mercantile 
firm of Chambers & Crawford, which he left 
in a few years to remove to Natrona, Pa. 
He was there engaged with the Pennsyl- 
vania Salt Manufacturing company until Sep- 
tember 3, 1864, when he enlisted in Battery 
H, 204th regiment. Pa. Vols., or 5th Heavy ' 
Artillery, and served until June 20, 1865, 
when the regiment was mustered out at Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. He then returned to Apollo, 
and became book-keeper at Rogers & Burch- 
field's iron works, which position he held until 
his death, on February 14, 1866. He was an 
active republican and an earnest member of 



the Presbyterian church. His life was one of 
industry, integrity and patriotism. He married 
Mary Byerly and reared a family of five chil- 
dren, of whom four are living : Hugh (see 
sketch), William T., James (see sketch) and 
Mattie. 

William T. Kirkwood, on his maternal side, 
traces his ancestry back four generations to 
Andrew Byerly, the famous Indian scout of 
Col. Bouquet at the battle of Bushy Run, and 
whose name is inseparably connected with the 
pioneer history of western Pennsylvania. He 
was a native of Lancaster county, and .settled 
on Bush creek in 1759. He married Beatrice 
Guldin, a native of Canton Berne, Switzer- 
land, who was a brave and charitable woman, 
and who, during Pontiac's war, once fled from her 
home (at night, with her children, through the 
wilderness to give the alarm of an Indian in- 
vasion) to Ft. Ligonier, a distance of over twenty 
miles. 

Andrew Byerly had several sons, one of 
whom was Andrew Byerly, Jr., who was born 
near the .site of Irwin, Pa., about 1793. He 
was a prosperous farmer, a Jeffersonian demo- 
crat and a member of Long Run Presbyterian 
church. He married Anna Smith, who was a 
daughter of Robert Smith, of Fayette county, 
and passed away shortly before her husband's 
death. They had five children, of whom two 
are living : Robert, who lives near Harrison 
City, Pa., and Mary, who married William 
Kirkwood, and is the mother of William T. 
Kirkwood. 

After attending the public schools of Apollo, 
William T. Kirkwood became a workman in 
the iron-mills of Rogers & Birchficld. In a 
few years he left there and .served successively 
for some time as a clerk in the stores of 
Chambers & Co., and Rogers & Birchfield. 
He then went on the West Penn. R. R., as a 
passenger conductor on an express train, and 
at the end of five years left the railway ser- 
vice to accept a position as traveling salesman 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



411 



for the firm of Richardson & Co., of New 
York. Since 1882 he has been engaged with 
the Apollo Iron and Steel company as a sheet 
roller. 

He is a republican in politics. In Masonry 
he has passed throngh lodge and chapter, and 
is a member of Tancred Comraandery, No. 
48, Knights Templar, of Pittsburgh. 



WB. LAUFMAN. The rapid growth and 
• great value of the manufacturing indus- 
tries of western Pennsylvauia during the la.st 
two decades is one of the astonishing facts in 
the commercial history of the United States, 
and in the iron industry no company has been 
more successful or has placed superior products 
on the market than P. H. Lanfman & Co., 
limited, of which W. B. Lanfman is secretary. 
He was born in Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, 
Pennsylvania, January 12, 1849, aud is a son 
of P. H. and Mary Ann (Berlin) Laufman. 
His paternal great-grandparents were Philip 
and Mary (Spottswood) Laufman, both natives 
of Carlisle, Cumberland county. They settled 
at Chaml>ersburg, Pa., where Mr. Laufman died 
at eighty-seven years of age and where his wife 
passed away in 1836, when in the sixty second 
year of her age. Of the sons born unto them 
one was David Laufman (grandfiither), who 
was born in the first year of the present century 
and died at Southampton furnace when only 
thirty-four years of age. He had served as 
deputy sheriff of Franklin county, was an 
iron-master and at the time of his death was 
one of the proprietors of Southampton furnace. 
He married Susan Harrington, who died in 
1854, aged fifty-three years. She was the only 
child of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Shriver) Har- 
rington. The father of Nicholas Harrington 
was the second son of Lord Harrington of 
England, and after serving as a captain in the 
English army came to this country where he 
was killed in Ohio, in St. Clair's defeat. One 



of David Laufman's sons was Philip Harring- 
ton Laufman (father), who was born at Cham- 
bensburg in 1822, and removed in 1840 to 
Pittsburgh, where he was successively a mem- 
ber of the hardware firms of Huber & Lauf- 
man and Laufman & Brother. During his 
residence in Pittsburgh, he was a member of 
the select council and board of education as 
well as being one of the five commissioners who 
erected the present system of water-works of 
that city. He came to Apollo in 1876 where 
he purchased an interest in the Apollo rolling- 
mill. It was built in 1856 and manufactured 
nails until 1861, when it commenced the produc- 
tion of sheet-iron and after changing ownersliip 
several times was purchased by Messrs. Lauf- 
man & Co., in 1876. The iron made is of ex- 
cellent q^uality and finds a ready sale in all the 
markets. The mill has seven puddling furnaces 
and five charcoal fires for sinking wrought scrap 
iron; two trains of rolls; one steam hammer 
striking a fifteen ton blow ; one set of bar rolls, 
and one pair of cold rolls. In 1880 the full 
capacity of the mill was 65 tons of fin- 
ishetl iron per week and has now risen to 300 
tons per week. Equipped with all the recent 
appliances and possessing al)undant railroad 
facilities, their prudent and intelligent manage- 
ment has made their iron a staple article in the 
market. In 1886 the firm of P. H. Laufman 
& Co. erected their present sheet-iron and sheet- 
steel works and became manufacturers of a fine 
sheet-iron and decarbonized sheet steel which 
are well-known for their superior qualities and 
which sell readily aud in large quantities in 
New York and St. Louis, where a continuous de- 
mand exists for them. These works (Apollo 
Sheet Iron mills) cover one and one-half acres 
of ground and the company employs one hun- 
dred and fifly men, of whom over one hundred 
are Americans. Their yearly business aggre- 
gates three hundred thousand dollars. Mr. 
Laufman has just completed his copper plating 
works at a cost of ten thousand dollars. In 



412 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



1848 he married Mary A. Berlin, daughter of 
Philip aud Mary (Cover) Berlin. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Laufmau were born two sons, Wilmer 
B. and Philip H., and six daughters. 

W. B. Laufman was reared and educated in 
Pittsburgh aud engaged at an early age in busi- 
ness, for which he showed a decided aptitude. 
He came with his father to Apollo in 1876 aud 
they are the principal stock-holders in the iron 
manufacturing company of which they are 
members. The oiEcers of the com^jany are P. 
H. Laufmau, chairman; Gen. S. M. Jackson, 
treasurer; and W. B. Laufman, secretary. 

On May 25, 1 876, W. B. Laufman united in 
marriage with Beatrice Lawson, of Pittsburgh. 
To this union have been born four children, 
three sons and one daughter: Harry B., CliflFord 
L., Wilmer S. and Trixie. 

To conduct an extensive business successfully, 
as Mr. Laufman has conducted his, requires 
good mental and physical qualifications and a 
strong and active mind with practical common 
sense. He is a thorough business man. He 
and his father, by the establishment and opera- 
tion of their extensive iron mills, have con- 
tributed largely to the prosperity of Apollo. 



WILLIAM McBRYAR, M.D. A physi- 
cian who has attained deserved distinc- 
tion within the sphere of his profession is Dr. 
William McBryar, of Apollo. Of Scotch-Irish 
descent he has inherited the sturdy independ- 
ence, high sense of honor and tireless energy of 
that determined race. He was born in Wash- 
ington township, Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 29, 1822, and is a son of James 
and Elizabeth (Dickey) McBryar. Nathaniel 
McBryar, paternal grandfather of Dr. McBryar, 
was one of those sturdy, upright and intelligent 
Scotch-Irish presbyterians, who came from 
county Down, Ireland, to the northern part of 
Westmoreland county during the closing dec- 



ades of the last century, when wolves and 
Indians infested that section of the country. 

He was one of the founders of the Poke Run 
Presbyterian congregation, and donated to it 
the ground (five acres) upon which its fir.st 
church building was erected, for the privilege 
of occupying forever a specified pew in the 
church. He served as a teamster in the west- 
ern army during the war of 1812. He was a 
whig in politics after that party came into ex- 
istence. He married a widow Thompson, by • 
whom he had three children : David, a daugh- 
ter, who died in infancy, and James. James 
McBryar (father) was born July 18, 1784, and 
died Oct. 3, 1870. He helped his father to 
build the first grist-mill ever erected in the 
northern part of Westmoreland county, and 
toward the close of his long and useful life he 
removed from his farm, in 1868, to Apollo, 
Armstrong county. He was a man of incor- 
ruptible integrity, and, like his father before 
him, was an old-line whig and a strict member 
of the Presbyterian church. On June 20, 1811, 
he married Elizabeth Dickey, who was born in 
Franklin county, April 22, 1788, and died in 
1872, when in the eighty-fifth year of her age. 
To them were born four sons and four daugh- 
ters, of whom four are living : Samuel, Dr. 
William, Mary and Sarah, wife of J. D. Mc- 
Quilkin. Those deceased are: N. L. Mc- 
Laughlin, Margaret, Watson and David D. 

William McBryar was reared on his father's 
farm, and desiring a better education than that 
which was aflbrded by the schools of his neigh- 
borhood, he entered, on May 1, 1844, Rich- 
mond Classical institute, of Jefferson county, 
Ohio, from which he was graduated iu Septem- 
ber, 1847. On November 1st of that year 
he commenced reading medicine under Dr. John 
Dixon, of Allegheny city (afterwards of Pitts- 
burgh), with whom he remained until October 
18, 1849, excepting one winter spent in teach- 
ing. He then attended a course of lectures in 
the medical department of the University of 



$ 





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^/^ 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



All 



the cit\' of New York, and in July, 1S50, en- 
tered into partnership with Dr. John McNeal, 
of New Salem, Westmoreland county, where he 
practiced until April 1, 1852. He then went 
to near Congruity church, which location he 
left in June to become a partner of Dr. Allison, 
of Saltsburg, Pa. In September, 1852, he re- 
turnal to the University of New York, 
and was graduated from the medical depart- 
ment 'n 1853. On April 19th of that year 
he came to Apollo, where he has been in 
active, continuous and successful practice ever 
since. 

Octoljer 4, 1855, he married Sarah J. Callen, 
daughter of Matthew and Jane (Paul) Callen. 
Dr. and Mrs. McBryar have been the parents 
of five children: Lizzie J. (deceased); James 
C. (deceased); Ada M., William Lyle, who 
married Margaret J. Johnson, October 25, 
1888; and Hattie Dickey. Mrs. McBryar's 
maternal grandparents were Squire Samuel and 
Jane (Porterfield) Paul ; the former a native of 
Ireland and the latter of Cumberland county, 
and both of Scotch-Irish descent. 

Dr. McBryar is a republican in politics. 
While never neglecting the duties of his large 
practice, he has always been interested in the 
progress, growth and prosperity of Apollo. He 
was prominent in organizing the Apollo Sav- 
ings bank, of which he has always been a di- 
rector. He has also been identified with edu- 
cational interests beyond his town, serving at 
one time as president of the board of trustees 
of Kittanning academy, and likewise in finan- 
cial affairs he is interested beyond this county, 
having served as president of the Dubois 
Savings bank, of Clearfield county, which he 
took an active part in organizing in 1880. At 
home he has given much of his time in the 
interests of the material prosperity of his town. 
He was largely instrumental in securing the 
present iron bridge at Apollo, and was also 
prominently identified with its construction. 
Dr. McBryar is president of. the Westmoreland 
-25 



and Armstrong county Mutual Fire Insurance 
company, and is medical examiner for the Penn 
Mutual Life Insurance company, of Philadel- 
phia, and the Equitable Life A.ssurance society, 
of New York. Dr. William McBryar has 
always been obliging, kind and affable, yet firm 
and decided in character, and, like his fore- 
fathers, a stanch presbyterian, taking an active 
part in church affairs, as a member of session 
and also of the board of trustees in Apollo 
Presbyterian church. 



T) S. McMULLEN, a rising young architect 
-^ • and builder, and president of a leading 
builders' and contractors' company of Apollo, is 
a son of George H. and Salome (King) 
McMullen, and was born in Manor township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, May 3, 1861. 
His father, George McMullen, was born in 
Westmoreland county. Pa., and is a carpenter 
by trade. He removed to Apollo, and was a 
clerk in a store there for a short time, but dur- 
ing most of his life has followed his trade. He 
has always been a prominent democrat, and 
taken an active part in local iwlitics. He has 
served several terms as overseer of the poor. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, 
and is as energetic in the discharge of the duties 
incumbent upon him as a member of the church, 
as he is in the transaction of his business affairs. 
He married Salome King, daughter of Henry 
King, of Kittanning, by whom he had seven 
children : H. D., a carpenter of Pittsburgh ; J. 
H., who is in the railway service; P. S., of 
Apollo; Kate, Hannah, Eliza and Susie. 

P. S. McMullen received a good education in 
the common schools of Westmoreland county, 
Salem academy and a seminary. He afterwards 
took a special course of training in polytech- 
nics in the Western University, of Allegheny 
city, Pa., in order to fit himself for his voca- 
tion as an architect. He taught school seven 
terms, the last two terms, a teacher's select 



418 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



school in Apollo. In 1886 he opened a store 
in Apollo for the sale of hardware and build- 
ers' supplies, in connection with which he runs 
a planing-mill, aud has built up a good trade. 
In 1890 he was elected president of a company 
then organized as contractors and builders. He 
is also the archite<3t for the company, and 
although this organization has just been com- 
pleted, they have already contracted to put up 
buildings which will cost forty thousand dollars. 
He is secretary of the National Saving and 
Loan association, of Apollo. 

On July 5, 1887, he married Martha Wil- 
lard, a native of Westmoreland county. Their 
union has been blest with one child, a daughter: 
Beatrice. 

For several years, Mr. McMuUeu has been 
actively and successfully engaged in his profes- 
sion as an architect. In the different buildings 
which he has planned, he has displayed fine 
taste, as well as artistic skill and good judgment. 



ROBERT EMMETT McCAULEY, M.D. 
One of the most useful and profound of 
human pursuits is the medical profession, and 
of Armstrong county's progressive and success- 
ful physicians, one is Dr. Robert Emmett 
McCauley, of Apollo. He was born in Wayne 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
June 15, 1844, and is the seventh and young- 
est son of William and Patience (Smith) 
McCauley. William McCauley was a native 
of Ireland, where he learned the trade of brick- 
layer. He came in early life to Virginia, 
where he located at Petersburg, and in the 
course of a few years acquired quite a number 
of slaves and a considerable amount of prop- 
erty. He met with a reverse of fortune 
through some extensive contracts in which he 
was largely interested, and in order to retrieve 
his financial condition he came to Pennsyl- 
vania, where he eventually settled in Wayne 
township, this county. He was born in 1795 



and died in 1866, when in the seventieth year 
of his age. He received a first-class education 
in one of the best schools of Ireland aud 
although working continuously at bricklaying 
during his lifetime, yet always kept himself 
well informed upon all religious and political 
subjects of interest. He was a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church, aud in the field 
of politics was an ardent supporter of the prin- 
ciples and policy of the Republican party. He 
married Patience Smitli, a granddaughter of 
Col. Richard Smith, a native of England, who 
was one of the first settlers of Long Island, 
New York. Mrs. McCauley was born in 1801 
and passed away in December, 1889, when rap- 
idly Hearing her eighty-ninth milestone on the 
pathway of life. 

Robert E. McCauley was reared on a farm 
until he was ten years of age, when his par- 
ents removed to Kittanuing, where he attended 
the academy of that place until he was eighteen 
years of age. In 1863, he enlisted in Co. 
C, Burdan's 2d United States Sharjjshootera, 
and served two years. His company were 
sharpshooters, and he participated in the 
Wilderness fights, in one of which, on May 
5, 1864, his brother Charles (Co. B, 105th Pa. 
Vols.) was killed. After passing safely 
through the terrific struggles of the Wilder- 
ness, he took part in the battles of Cold Harbor, 
Mine Run, Spottsylvania and the engagements 
in front of Petersburg. When the war closed 
he returned to Kittanuing, resumed his literary 
studies and attended Dayton academy for one 
year. He then read medicine with Dr. Banks 
of Long Island, and entered the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons of New York, from 
which he was graduated with high standing in 
the class of 1871. Immediately after gradu- 
ation he came to Apollo, where he opened an 
office, and has been actively, continuously and 
successfully engaged ever since in the practice 
of his profession. 

January 11, 1872, he united in marriage with 



4 



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aJHIp 



(^/^/^^^ ^-^^^ 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



423 



Mattie Carjienter, daughter of Samuel Carpen- 
ter, of AVestmorelaud county, Penna. To their 
union have been born five children : Patience, 
who died at the age of six years; Elizabeth, 
Mary Ivy, Roberta and William Wallace. 

In politics he is a republican. He is presi- 
dent of the school board of his borough, for 
whose schools he has labored earnestly, faithfully 
and successfully. Dr. McCauley is a member 
of the Grand Army of the Republic, and has 
been a past commander in that organization. 
He has always had the houor, welfare and use- 
fulness of his jtrofession at heart, and has 
always given the closest of attention to the 
numerous cases of his practice. He is a mem- 
ber of the Armstrong County Medical society, 
and has always commanded the respect and 
good-will of the members of his profession. 
Dr. McCauley has ever been active in all move- 
ments for the improvement of his profession in 
the county, and has always endeavored to keep 
pace with the progress and development of 
medical science. 



JAMES D. McQUILKIN, of Scotch-Irish 
descent, and one of the well-known and 
highly respected citizens of Apollo, is a son of 
Daniel and Martha (Patterson) McQuilkin, and 
was born two miles from Delmont, in Salem 
township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
February 14, 1823. The McQuilkins were 
originally from Scotland, but went over into 
the historic north of Ireland, and were among 
the sturdy Scotcii-Irish who became early set- 
tlers of Westmoreland county. James McQuil- 
kin (grandfather) was born near Edinburgh, 
Scotland, came from Ireland to America in 
1780, and settled in Salem township, Westmore- 
land county, at the head of Beaver run. He 
wa-s a prominent member of the Presbyterian 
church, was one of the founders of the church 
of that denomination at Salem, and was largely 
instrumental in the formation of the congre- 



gation and erection of the church edifice. He 
settled the estates of scores of the people, and 
for over a quarter of a century did the principal 
part of the conveyancing for that section of his 
county. He was a stanch democrat in politics, 
a stern presbyterian in religious faith, and a 
man whose public and private life was unsullied 
by a dishonorable act. He died in 1802. In 
1780 he married Ann Robinson, who was born 
in the " Big Cove " of Pennsylvania. They had 
ten children. The third sou, Daniel McQuil- 
kin (father), was born in 1787, and married 
Martha Patterson, daughter of Henry Patter- 
son, a native of Ireland, by whom he had seven 
children, three of whom are living : Jane, 
Martha N. and James D. He was a successful 
farmer, a strong democrat and a consistent mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church, and died in 
1831, in the forty-fifth year of his age. 

James D. McQuilkin was born on the farm 
where his father died, and received a good edu- 
cation. He was successfully engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits until March, 1875, when he 
sold his homestead farm of one hundred and 
forty-eight acres and came to Apollo. He is a 
fitting representative of that wonderful Scotch- 
Irish race known all over the world for its in- 
tegrity, thrift and uprightness. He possesses, 
seemingly, some of the power of Midas, of whom 
it is recorded in mythology that everything he 
touched turned to gold, and every enterprise in 
which he embarketl was crowned with success. 

His marriage, too, was as fortunate as his 
business ventures. In October, 18(39, he mar- 
ried Sarah P., daughter of William McBryar, 
and sister to Dr. William McBryar, one of the 
most prominent citizens and successful physi- 
cians of Apollo. She was graduated from 
Blairsville seminary, was successfully engaged 
in leaching for several terms, and is a woman 
of rare culture and refinement. During the 
last fifteen years they have occupied a beau- 
tiful home at Apollo, surrounded by all the 
comforts of life that wealth aad refined taste 



424 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



can provide. He is a consistent member of the 
United Presbyterian church, while Mrs. Mc- 
Quilkin holds membership in the Presbyterian 
church, where she is highly esteemed for her 
usefulness as a Christian worker. 



HENRY ABSALOM RUDOLPH. In the 
political, as well as in social and business 
circles in Apollo, Henry Absalom Rudolph is 
known as a stirring, energetic man — a citizen of 
honor, worth and stability. He is a son of 
Abraham and Elizabeth (Willyard) Rudolph 
and was born near Salina, Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, November 11, 1831. John G. 
Rudolph (grandfather), who was born in Hol- 
land in 1748, came to America in 1771, to- 
gether with his brothers, George and Jacob. 
George located first in Berks county, afterward 
in Butler county. Jacob went to Ohio, settling 
in the Western Reserve, and one of his grand- 
daughters is Mrs. James A. Garfield. John G. 
Rudolph located in the extreme northwestern 
section of Westmoreland county, taking up one 
thousand acres of government land on the east 
bank of Beaver run. He was fearless and 
courageous, as became a pioneer, yet withal an 
accomplished scholar, having been educated for 
the ministry, was well versed in both German 
and English classical literature. He brought 
with him from Germany various fruit seeds 
which he planted on his farm. In 1771 he 
married Christina Myers, whose father, two sis- 
ters and a brother were killed by the Indians 
in 1782 while young Rudolph was trying to 
make his way to Hannastown to warn the in- 
habitants of the coming of the Indians. He 
died and left nine children. His eldest son, 
Abraham Rudolph (father), was born in Salem 
township, Westmoreland county, December 11, 
1773, on the old Rudolph homestead and lived 
all his life within one-half a mile of where he 
was born. He learned the trade of shoemaker 
at East Liberty, Pa., when there were but three 



houses in the village, which trade he followed 
until 1836, when, losing his right arm, he went 
to farming. He measured six feet three inches 
in height and was of commanding appearance. 
He was a road supervisor of Salem township 
for many years. He was a democrat until after 
Polk's election, when he became a whig, and 
when that party went down he affiliated with 
the Republican party. While always interested 
in politics, he was no politician. He died of 
typhoid fever in 1851. He married Elizabeth, 
daughter of Frederick Willyard, who came to 
this country early in life from Alsace Lorraine, 
France, settling on Bushy run, in Hempfield 
township. Mr. Willyard was a cooper by 
trade, but left his occupation to enter the 
American army during the war of 1812, enlist- 
ing in Capt. McConan's company. He was a 
man of colossal proportions and immense phys- 
ical strength, and was considered the most ath- 
letic man in the county. His wife lived to be 
one hundred and four years old. 

Henry Absalom Rudolph, after having re- 
ceived his education in the subscription schools 
of the county, learned the trade of shoemaker 
with John C. Rochester, at New Alexandria, 
Westmoreland county, and has followed the 
business ever since, first at Saltsbui'g, but for 
the last thirty-one years at Apollo. 

He married Susau E., daughter of CoK Jo- 
seph Bower, of Mifflin county, an old Revolu- 
tionary soldier. They had two sons and one 
daughter: George Law, now employed with his 
father; Joseph B., a book-keeper in Missouri ; 
Rose A., who married John Rodgers, and dying 
left two sons: Harry R. and Guy. After her 
death he married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry 
Owens. By this second marriage he has six 
children : Alice G., wife of Joseph Murphy ; 
Harry G. Lomisou, Susan E., B. F. Butler, 
Lottie L. and Sarah J. 

He is an ardent republican, always taking an 
active part in local politics. He was in the secret 
service of the U. S. during the rebellion. In 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



42& 



former years he acted as fireman and engineer 
on the P. R. R. between Altoona and Harris- 
burg. H. A. Rudolph has been a member of the 
I. O. O. F. since 1853, and has represented his 
lodge frequently in the Grand Lodgeof that order 
of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. 



HR. SISIELTZER, a well-established mer- 
• chant of Apollo, and a descendant of two 
old pioneer families of western Pennsylvania, 
is a son of Joseph and Mary (Carnahan) Smelt- 
zer, and was born in Bell township, Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania. 

The Smeltzer family came originally from 
Germany, and one of their number, Jacob 
Smeltzer (grandfather), was an early settler of 
Westmoreland county. He was also one of the 
founders of the Evangelical Lutheran church, 
in Bell township, and in 1803 was one of a 
committee of two to co-operate with a similar 
committee from the Reformed church to decide 
upon a grave-yard to be used by the families of 
the two church organizations. They selected a 
plot of ground a short distance above the once 
famous village of " Old Town." The commit- 
tee was also instructed to build a church upon 
the same lot and the timbers were dressed and 
drawn to the place, the foundation was laid 
and the first two or three courses of logs were 
placed in position when the question arose 
among the members of the two churches, who had 
gathered from far and near to the "raising," "to 
whom shall the church and land be deeded ? " As 
that important question could not be satisfac- 
torily answered, work ceased, and to-day heaps 
of hewn but decayed timber and the four logs 
that were placed in position still remain to mark 
the site of the proposed church. Josejih Smelt- 
zer (father), was born on his father's farm in Bell 
township, and was an active member of the Luth- 
eran church, holding the office of deacon for many 



years. He was one of the founders of St. James 
Union church, which was built in 1838, by the 
Lutheran and Reformed denominations of Bell 
township. He was a successful farmer and sup- 
ported the democratic party until his death. 

He married Mary Carnahan, daughter of 
David Carnahan, of Westmoreland county. 
They had three children: Benton, living at 
Paulton; Albert, a resident of Jeannette ; and 
H. R., of Apollo. John Carnahan (maternal 
great-grandfather), was one of the earliest set- 
tlers of Bell town.ship, where he built a log 
block-house in 1774, which was the refuge of 
his neighbors when threatened by an invasion 
of the Indians during that year. His son, 
Capt. James Carnahan (maternal grandfather), 
commanded the 1st Independent company of 
Riflemen at Valley Forge and fought under 
Gen. Wayne at Stony Point, and served under 
Arnold and Morgan in the battle of Saratoga. 
He was accidentally drowned in the Allegheny 
river in the winter of J 786. 

H. R. Smeltzer attended the common schools 
of his native township. Early in life he engaged 
in the general mercantile business, which he has 
followetl ever since. Soon after coming to 
Apollo he opened his present mercantile estab- 
lishment. He has a complete stock of dry- 
goods, groceries, hardware and all the articles 
called for in a first-class store. Although he 
has been a resident of Apollo but for a short 
time, yet he has succeeded in establishing a sub- 
stantial and rapidly increasing business. 

He married a Miss Johnson, daughter of 
William Johnson, of Westmoreland county, 
who died in a few years, and for his second 
wife he married Matilda Jockey, daughter of 
Matthew Jockey. To this second union has been 
born one child. 

In politics Mr. Smeltzer is a democrat. He 
is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, 
and for the last six years has been the superin- 
tendent of the Lutheran Sunday-school ol 
Apollo. 



426 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



GEORGE W. STEELE, a descendant of 
the old and substantial Steele family of 
Westmoreland county, and the proprietor of 
the Steele livery stables, of Apollo, was born in 
Washington township, Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, ^L^rch 1, 18.58, and is a son of 
Absalom and Susan (Kistler) Steele. The 
Steele family became residents of Westmoreland 
county at an early day and were among the 
most industrious and thrifty families of western 
Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather of 
George W. Steele was Joseph Steele, who was 
born in Mount Pleasant township, in the south- 
ern part of that county. Like the most of farm- 
ers' sons of that early day, he turned his atten- 
tion to farming, which he followed until his 
death. He married Barbara Blystone, by whom 
he had six sons and three daughters of whom 
the eighth child was Absalom Steele (father), 
who was born in Franklin, township in 1820, 
and settled in AVashington township, West- 
moreland county, where he has been engaged in 
farming for many years. He is a republican 
in politics, has been successful in farming and 
stock-raising, and is a deacon of the Reformed 
church, of which he has been a useful member 
for many years. He married Susan Kistler, 
daughter of Michael Kistler, who was an old 
settler and highly respected citizen of West- 
moreland county. To them were born eleven 
sons and one daughter, of whom the subject of 
this sketch was the seventh child. 

George W. Steele was reared on his father's 
farm. He attended the common schools and 
Salem academy and obtained a good English 
education. After farming for several years he 
went from Westmoreland to the oil regions of 
McKean county, where he remained for one 
year at Bradford and then (1882) came to 
Apollo. From 1882 to 1884 he was engaged 
as a clerk in his brother's shoe and gents' fur- 
nishing goods store, and in the latter year em- 
barked in his present successful livery business 
on Warren avenue. 



September 29, 1885, he married Mary Jones, 
daughter of Robert Jones, of Apollo. They 
have two children, a son and a daughter : Walter 
Raymond and Olive Grace. 

In politics Mr. Steele has always supported 
the republican party. He is a member of the 
First Presbyterian church of Apollo and the 
common council of the borough. For the past 
six years he has been building up a good pa- 
tronage in his livery business. His stables are 
well-filled with a large and well selected assort- 
ment of carriages, buggies and carts and a fine 
stock of riding and driving horses. He never 
keeps less than fifteen head of horses and always 
has experienced and trusted drivers. He is a 
respected citizen and a prominent member of 
Branch No. 245, Order of the Iron Hall, and 
Darling Council, No. 250, Junioi Order of 
United American Mechanics. 

The Steele family is one of the old families 
of Ireland from which James Steele (the great- 
grandfather of George W. Steele) came to 
Westmoreland county, this State, where he set- 
tled in Mount Pleasant township, and after- 
wards served as a soldier in the Revolutionary 
war. 



HENRY UNCAFER. By thrift and in- 
dustry Henry Uncafer has pushed his 
way to the front rank, in spite of all opposing 
difficulties, and now is numbered among the 
loading business men of Apollo. He is the 
eldest son of John and Matilda (Boartz) Un- 
cafer, and was born in Salem village, West- 
moreland county, Pennsylvania, in October, 
1845. The Uncafer family is of German de- 
scent. Peter Uncafer (grandfather) was born 
in Westmoreland county, where he lived nearly 
all of his life. He was a quiet, peaceable farm- 
er, and esteemed by his neighbors as an honest, 
industrious man. He married a Miss Shoe- 
maker. His son, John Uncafer (father), was 
born near Saltsburg, Indiana county, Pa., in 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



429 



1823. Early in life he followed the trade of 
blacksmith, but afterwards entered upon a mer- 
cantile life, keeping a dry-goods store. He was 
one of the fortunate business men, with whom 
everything prospered. The latter years of his 
life he spent at Apollo. He was an active poli- 
tician, always voting the democratic ticket. He 
was a man of strong convictions and always 
endeavored to act as his conscience directed. 
He inherited from his German forefathers those 
sturdy and commendable qualities of persever- 
ance, energy and determination which tend so 
much to make a business man successful. He 
was a member of the Ldtheran church. He 
was married to Matilda I^oartz, daughter of 
Peter Boartz, by whom he had four children, 
all of whom are still living. 

Henry Uncafer received his education in the 
public schools of Apollo, and was well trained 
for mercantile pursuits in his father's store 
He afterwards entered the store of I'aul Hacke, 
on Sixth avenue, Pittsburgh, as a clerk, where 
he remained imtil October, 1879, when he en- 
gaged in the mercantile business at Apollo, where 
he has since resided. From a small beginning, 
his business has increased, until now, in proper 
tions it ranks second to none in Apollo. He 
occupies a fine establishment 40x100 feet, the 
upper part of which is filled with carpet and 
clothing. He has one of the largest general 
stores at Apollo and carries a well-selected stock 
of dry-goods, groceries and all articles usually 
found in a first-class mercantile establishment. 
He is always atteutive to the interests of his 
business and receives a liberal patronage. 

In October, 1872, he married Julia M. Ross, 
daughter of Samuel Ross, of Beaver county, Pa. 
They have two children living : Herbert Henry 
and Howard Ross, both of whom assist their 
father in his business. 

In politics Mr. Uncafer is a man of inde- 
pendent views, and votes for whichever candi- 
date he considers the worthier man and the bet- 
ter fitted for the office. He is a member of 



Apollo Council, No. 168, Royal Arcanum. 
Henry Uncafer's success in business is an ex- 
emplification of the old Scotch adage: Take 
care of the pence and the pounds will take care 
of themselves. 



OIMOX S. WHITLINGER. Upon honesty 
^ and industry as a foundation, Simon S. 
Whitlinger has built for him.self not only a 
moderate fortune, but a reputation for honor 
and integrity. He is a son of .lohn and Mary 
C. (Shearer) Whitlinger, and was born Decem- 
ber 28, 1816, in Westmoreland county, Penn- 
sylvania. His father, John Whitlinger, a na- 
tive of Germany, came to the United States 
when a young man, and settled in Westmore- 
land county. By occupation he was a farmer. 
He was a member of the Lutheran church, and 
adopted the tenets of the democratic party. 
He married Mary Catherine, a daughter of 
Louis Shearer, a farmer in what was formerly 
Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, 
and who, during the war of 1812, served in 
the United States army. They had five chil- 
dren : John, Jr., who was killed by the Con- 
federates in Missouri ; Margaret, wife of Samuel 
Harb (now deceasetl) ; Anna, also deceased ; 
Peter, living at Saltsburg, and Simon S. Whit- 
linger. John Whitlinger was a sturdy, honest 
German, frugal and industrious, as was becom- 
ing a son of the Fatherland. 

Simon S. Whitlinger attended the schools of 
Allegheny township and of Leechburg. At the 
age of fourteen he went to learn the trade of 
tanner with David Kuhns, of Leechburg. Afler 
working with Mr. Kuhns for five years, he 
bought his employer's tannery, and conducted 
the tanning business for about ten years, when 
he sold it and removed to Apollo. Here he 
started a new tiinnery, and, after operating it 
for ten years, transferred it to his eldest son, 
J. F. Whitlinger, who still carries on the tan- 
ning business. In connection with his tannery, 



430 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



he was engaged in harness and shoemaking, 
and also managed a farm of one hundred and 
twenty-five acres. After he disposed of the 
tiinnery in 1858, he gave his whole attention to 
his store, adding to his stock a full line of 
ready-made clothing and furnishing goods. In 
spite of a serious loss which he sustained by 
fire, he has steadily added to his fortune, little 
by little, until he has acquired a competency. 

He married Violet Taylor, daughter of INIat- 
thew Taylor, of Leechburg. She died in 1879. 
Tiiey had five children : J. F., engaged in the 
tanning business ; Anna, married to William 
AV^orthingtou ; Louis, who is now a plumber 
and gas-fitter; Sarah Belle, wife of Henry 
Druby, and Priscilla Jane, wife of George 
Brush. 

Although a republican in politics, and inter- 
ested in the success of his party, Mr. Whitlinger 
is no politician nor office-seeker. He has been 
steward and trustee in the Methodist church 
for many years, and is highly esteemed among 
all classes. 



JAMES S. WHITWORTH, a member of the 
Pittsburgh and the Kittanniug bar,and now 
in successful practice at Apollo, is a son of Smith 
and Henrietta (Ford) Whitworth, and was born 
at Apollo, Armstrong county, Peuusylvania 
March 13, 1857. The Whitworth family can 
be traced back in England to an early period in 
its history, and many of its members were pro- 
fessional men and manufacturers. Samuel Whit- 
worth (great-grandfather) was a civil engineer. 
Samuel Wiiitworth was the father of Ricliard 
Whitwoi'th (grandfather), who was a manufac- 
turer of woolen goods in England and afterwards 
in the United States. After he had beeu in 
business for some years in England lie came 
to Maryland, where he erected and operated 
two large woolen-mills, both of which were 
burned about 1888. He died in Baltimore city 
after he had been in this country for some years. 



Before he left England he married a Miss But- 
terworth, whose father was a prominent squire 
of the county in which he resided, and whose 
brother fell in the battle of Coruna, in Spain, 
under the celebrated Sir John Moore. They 
had five children : Smith, Richard, Samuel, 
Alice and Samuel. Mrs. Whitworth died and 
Mr. Whitworth married for his second wife a 
Miss Grant, who bore him three daughters. 
The eldest son. Smith AYhitworth (father), was 
born in Lancashire, England, and about 1840 
came to Apollo, where he was engaged exten- 
sively for some years in the boating business. 
He then turned his attention to grain dealing 
and the mercantile business, and in 1858 became 
a member of the firm of McCliutock & Co., who 
purchased the works of the Kiskimiuetas Iron 
company and manufactured nails for several 
years. In 1885 Mr. Whitworth retired from 
active business life. He is a stanch republican, 
a strong temperance man and never would accept 
of any office except that of school director, which 
he held for many years. His business life was 
a very successful one, and he still keeps well 
informed on commercial matters. He is a great 
reader, has a retentive memory and is well 
versed in history and literature and reads closely 
the current news of the day. He is one of the 
oldest members of Apollo Lodge, No. 437, F. 
and A. M., in which he takes a deep interest. 
He married Henrietta Ford, daughter of John 
Ford. Their children are : Dr. Richard S., of 
Allegheny City, Pa.; John F., a lawyer at Kit- 
tanning; Alice, wife of Rev. D. K. Nesbit, a 
Presbyterian minister of Peoria, 111. ; James S. 
and ]\Iary Whitworth, who died Sept. 5, 1890. 
James S. Whitworth attended the public 
schools of Apollo and entered Vermillion college, 
Ohio, in which he took a tlu-ee years' course. 
In 1878 he became principal of tiie Apollo 
schools, whicli position he held until 1880, when 
he registered as a law student with John Gilpin, 
a lawyer of Kittaiining. On May 1, 1882, he 
was admitted to the Armstrong county bar and 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



431 



soon thereafter went to Pittsburgh, where he 
practiced for two years in partnership with 
Charles Taylor, of that city. In 1884 he came 
to Apollo, where he has been in the successful 
practice of his profession ever since. He has 
been solicitor for the borough since 1885, is 
attorney for the Apollo Iron & Steel company 
and solicitor for the Apollo Building and Loan 
association. He is attentive and careful in all 
business matters, and his clients' aifairs are 
never neglected in any particular. He is a re- 
publican in politics, but devotes his time to his 
profession. 

October 23, 1888, he united in marriage with 
Caroline Orr, daughter of Samuel and Jane 
(Fuller) Orr, of near Spring Church, this county. 
They have one child, a son, named Smith Nesbit 
Whitworth. 



AIKENS S. WOLFE, a courteous, successful 
and enterprising photographer, of Apollo, 
is a son of Wallace E. and Katharine (Miller) 
Wolfe, and was born in Kiskiminctas township 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, August 25 
1850. His grandfather, George Wolfe, was 
born ill Cumberland county, this State, August 
15, 1772, married Agnes Evans, who was born 
in Butler county, March 22, 1788, and died in 
1867. He was a farmer during most of his 
life and died in 1853, in the eighty-second year 
of his age. Wallace E. Wolfe (father) was 
born in Allegheny county, April 6, 1824, and 
in 1847 marrietl Katharine Miller. His second 
wife, whom he marrietl in 1869, was Elizabeth 
Miller, a sister of his first wife. They were 
the daughters of Joseph Miller, of Kiskiminetas 
township, Armstrong county. On August 27) 
1864, he enlisted in the service of the Unitefl 
States as a private in Co. D, 6th Pa. Heavy 
Artillery, servetl ten months and was discharged 
June 13, 1865. He participated in the various 
battles and engagements of his regiment, and 
after his return from the army was engaged in 



farming until he retired from active life, in 
1880. He was a man of sound judgment and 
unquestioned integrity. 

Aiken S. Wolfe, after leaving the public 
schools, in which he received his education, 
learned the art of photography, and for the 
pa.st twenty-one years has been engaged in that 
business at Apollo. He is affable in manner, 
progressive in spirit, keeping well up with the 
times in his business and is deserving of the 
success he has achieved. 

On June 6, 1872, he married Tillie N. James, 
daughter of Jesse James, of Apollo, Armstrong 
county. Their union has been blest with three 
.sons : Charles P., Edgar F. and Clifford J. 

Although no politician, he is an earnest sup- 
porter of the Republican party. He is a mem- 
ber of Darling Council, No. 250, Junior Order 
of United American Mechanics, Kiskiminetas 
Lodge, No. 1993, Knights of Honor and Apollo 
Camp, No. 155, Sons of Veterans. An affable, 
courteous gentleman, Mr. Wolfe is admired by 
his patrons and by following the rule that " what 
is worth doing is worth doing well," he has estab- 
lished himself firmly in the photograjihic busi- 
ness and built up a large patronage. His gallery 
is complete in all of its appointments and his 
work has always rendered satisfaction. His 
integrity, business capacity and skill as an artist 
are beyond question, and he fully deserves the 
many encomiums which have been pa.ssed upon 
him as a first-class photographer. 



FRANK T. WRAY. The progressive 
borough of Apollo is highly favored in 
having several first-class drug stores, among 
which is the establishment of Frank T. AVray, 
a practical and experienced druggist. He is a 
sou of William H. and Susan (Town.send) 
Wray, and was born near Olivet, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, May 16, 1852. William 
H. Wray was a son of Robert Wraj", who 
came from eastern Pennsylvania and purchased 



432 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



the farm now known as the old " Wray Home- j 
stead " at " Shady Plain." On this farm \ 
William H. Wray was born, December 
2, 1821. On this farm he was also 
reared, and was afterwards employed in 
farming near Oliphant, Pa., until 1859, when 
he met with an accident which necessitated his 
retirement from physical labor. He then came i 
to Apollo, where he successfully engaged in the 
drug business until 1882, when he was suc- 
ceeded by his son, the subject of this sketch. 
After retiring from business, he resided in 
Apollo until his death, which occurred April 
15, 1890. He was a republicsm politically, a 
member and trustee of the Presbyterian church | 
and a well respected man by all who knew him. 
He was elected justice of the peace, but being 
unassuming as well as modest, it took consider- j 
able urging on the part of his friends before he 
would accept that oflSce, which he held for ; 
several terms. Well informed and of good 
education, he was a useful citizen as well as an 
efficient magistrate. He married Susan Towu- 
send, who was a daughter of Robert Towusend, 
and died August 5, 1888. They were the ] 
parents of five children, of whom three are 
living : Harry C, Frank T. and William S. 

The youngest son, William S., was born 
October 21, 1862, and has been in the drug 
ljusiness ever since leaving school ; first with 
his father and now as a clerk for his brother. 
He married Agnes Gumbert, daughter of 
Daniel Gumbert, of Paulton, Pa. They have 
two children : Glaphy B. and Catherine L. 
He is a republican, a presbyterian and a well- 
qualified druggist. He is a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the 
Mystic Circle. i 

Frank T. Wray received his education in 



the public schools of Apollo and Leechburg, 
and Elder's Ridge academies. He then was 
successively a clerk in a general mercantile 
establishment and his father's drug store, until 
1870, when he assumed charge of a drug store 
at Manor Station, Pa., which he conducted for 
seven months. He then resigned that position 
to become a traveling salesman for W. L- 
Jones & Co., of Pittsburgh. Five years later 
he accepted a similar situation with Harris & 
Ewing, now the L. H. Harris Drug Co., and 
traveled for them until 1882, when he pur- 
chased his father's drug store at Apollo, where 
he has continued successfully in the drug busi- 
ness ever since. He also has a stationery store 
in connection with his drug house, and carries a 
large stock of books and a very fine class of 
goods in the line of stationery, fancy goods and 
wall-paper. 

August 11, 1881, he united in marriage with 
Harriet J. Birch, a daughter of Hon. John 
Birch, of Claysville, Washington county, Pa., 
late member of the Honse of Representatives of 
Pennsylvania. To their union have been born 
three children : George Birch, born August 15, 
1882; Susie T., born September 20, 1885; 
and James McCarrell, born July 14, 1889. 
Mrs. Wray is a sister of the Rev. G. W. F. 
Birch, D. D.,of New York City.Hou. John M. 
Birch, of Wheeling, late U. S. Consul at 
Nagasaki, Japan, and T. F. Birch, an attorney- 
at-law, of Washington, Pa. 

In politics Mr. Wray has always been n 
republican, although in local matters he votes 
for the most suitable and best qualified man- 
He is a member of the Presbyterian church and 
has, by his diligence, industry and capacity, 
become one of the most expert and best quali- 
fied druggists in the county. 



LEECHBURG. 



Historical and Descriptive. — Situated in a 
deep beud of the Kisiviminetas river, five miles 
above its conflueuce with the Allegheny and 
sixteen miles south of Kittanning, is Leech- 
burg, one of the progressive and manufacturing 
towns of the lovel}' Kiskiminetas Valley. 
Leechburg is twenty-eight miles from Pitts- 
burgh and is situated in one of the finest agri- 
cultural districts and richest mineral regions of 
Armstrong county. The site of the town is on 
the "John Vanderen tract," afterwards called 
" Friendship " and at a later date known as 
" White Plains." Leechburg was laid out 
about 1828 by David Leech, a native of Mercer 
county, who erected a saw-mill and grist-mill. 
The earliest settlers were INIichael Moorhead 
and Joseph Hunter. 

The growth of Leechburg commenced with 
the construction of the canal, was checked when 
the railway succeeded the canal and revived 
with the establishment of its present iron in- 
dustries. It was laid out in 1828, incorporated 
March 22, 1850, and has a population of over 
twenty-five hundred. 

On May 18, 1838, thesteamboaf'New Castle" 
arrived at Leechburg from Pittsburgh. The 
first school was taught by John Foulk prior to 
1830, and in 1858 the Leechburg institute was 
established. The first resident physician was 
Dr. George W. Marchand and its leading pliy- 
sicians now are: Dr. J. A. Armstroncr and Dr. 
R. P. Hunter. The Leechburg cemetery was 



incorporated September 5, 1864. The first 
church was the Presbyterian, which was organ- 
ized April 24, 1844. The Hebron Lutheran 
church was formed November 21, 1844, and the 
Methodist in 1846, while the Baptist church was 
not organized until 1873. Natural gas was dis- 
covered in 1871, at twelve hundred and fifty feet, 
in a well on the Westmoreland side of the river 
and was first used in the rolling-mill in 1874. 

The present successful iron industries had 
their origin in 1872, when Rogers & Burch- 
field erected extensive iron and tin works and 
gave employment to one hundred and fifty 
hands. Their works, including the Siberian 
rolling-mill, subsequently became the prop- 
erty of Kirkpatrick & Beale. The West 
Penn steel works comprise an open hearth steel 
furnace at Allegheny and have their sheet- 
iron and finishing mill at Leechburg, where 
they employ nearly 150 men. Their mill ranks 
as one of the best of its class in the United 
States, and has largely added to the prosperity 
of the town. The Leechburg Foundry and Ma- 
chine company of Pittsburgh have an extensive 
plant, which has also added to the prosperity of 
the borough. 

Leechburg is lighted by natural gas and con- 
tains steel works, a sheet-iron mill, and foundry 
and machine shop, a bank, eight churches, two 
hotels, two flouring-mills and two newspapers. 
Its volume of business is constantly increasing 
and it is rapidly growing in size and population. 

433 



434 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



TOHN A. ARMSTRONG, A.M., M.D., of 
^ Leechbiirg, has been the arbiter of his own 
good fortune iu life and his talent and labors 
have wrought out marked success for him in 
the field of his chosen profession. He was born 
in Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, August 18, 1838, and is a son of 
John and Sarah (Armstrong) Armstrong. His 
paternal grandparents, Robert and Ellen 
(McKee) Armstrong, were natives of Ireland 
and settled in Westmoreland county about 1828. 
They reared a family of eight children, four 
sons and fonr daughters. One of these sons, 
John Armstrong, was the father of Dr. Arm- 
strong and first beheld the light of day in Ire- 
land, in 1799. He married Sarah Armstrong, 
of Scotch descent, came to the United States 
in 1826 and two years later purchased a farm 
in Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, 
which he paid for with his earnings as a con- 
tractor for excavations on the old Pennsylvania 
canal. 

He was a man of fair education and a 
member of the Reformed Presbyterian church 
and gave his children the benefit of a better 
education than what he had obtained. He was 
bitterly opposed to human servitude and be- 
cause slavery was tolerated in the United States 
and sanctioned by both of the two great politi- 
cal parties of that day, he would never connect 
himself with either of them. He died iu 1872, 
aged seventy-six years and his widow passed 
away in 1877, when in the seventy-fifth year of 
her age. To their union were born ten 
children : Adam C, who was killed in Ken- 
tucky ; Ellen, wife of Hugh McElroy ; Robert, 
a Westmoreland county farmer; David, an 
artist by profession; Elizabeth, who married 
Hiram Steele ; Dr. John A., Sarah A., wife of 
James D. Boal; Samuel, who resides on the 
old homestead; Mary J., widow of Milton 



Free; and Margaret, widow of William 
Sproull, of Parnassus. 

John A. Armstrong attended the public 
schools of his native township, pursued his 
academic studies at Ijcechburg and in Pitts- 
burgh and entered Jefferson college, from which 
institution he was graduated in June, 1862. 
Leaving college, he commenced the study of 
medicine, but in 1863 became a member of Co. 
K. of a regiment of Pa. Militia. On August 29, 
1864, he enlisted in Co. I, 205th regiment. Pa. 
Vols., and served until the close of the war, being 
honorably discharged on June 13, 1865, at 
Vienna, Va. Returning home, he resumed his 
medical studies, and in September, 1865, entered 
Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, Pa., 
from which he was graduated in 1867. In 
May of that year he opened an office in Leech- 
burg, where he soon built up the extensive and 
lucrative practice which he now enjoys. 

On April 1, 1868, he united in marriage 
with Amanda C. McKallip, daughter of Henry 
McKallip, of Ijeechburg. Dr. and Mrs. Arm- 
strong have four children : Mary Blanche, wife 
of Harry Beale; Anna Orr, Grace Irwin and 
Nellie Caldwell. 

Dr. John A. Armstrong is a member of the 
Reformed Presbyterian church and is a republi- 
can in politics. He has a fine literary educa- 
tion, received, recently, the degree of A.M., 
from his Alma Mater and has served his bor- 
ough for the last twelve years as school director 
with good purpose and to the benefit of the 
schools. After graduating from Jefferson Medi- 
cal college he took the i'ull course of one of 
Philadelphia's leading hosjjitals, from which he 
was also graduated. He is an esteemed citizen 
of his borough and a successful physician whose 
skill has jjlaced him among the foremost physi- 
cians in his section of the county. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



435 



JAMES J. ARTMAN, a well-known citizen 
of Leechburg, a wounded veteran of the 
grand old Pennsylvania Reserves, and a prom- 
inent member of the Grand Array of the Re- 
public, was born in Allegheny township, West- 
moreland county, Pennsylvania, February 12, 
1841, and is a son of Michael and Catherine 
(Kepple) Artman. The Artmans are of Ger- 
man descent. His paternal grandfather, John 
Artman, was a native of Westmoreland county, 
a farmer by occupation and an active member 
of the Evangelical Lutheran churcii. Indus- 
trious and frugal, he reared a respectable family 
of ten children. One of his sons was Michael 
Artman (father), who was born on the Alle- 
gheny township farm of his father, in 1806, 
and died in 1888. He was an active and suc- 
cessful farmer, a worthy member of the Lu- 
theran church and a conservative democrat in 
politics. Although non-active in political af- 
fairs, yet he was elected by his fellow-citizens 
to all of his township's various offices. He was 
a very large man, of plain, unassuming manners 
and industrious habits. He married Catharine 
Kepple, daughter of John Kepple, of his own 
neighborhood, by whom he had nine children, 
of whom but one is dead. 

James J. Artman was reared on the farm 
and attended the common schools until the 
commencement of the late civil war. On June 
3, 1861, he enlisted in Co. G, 11th regiment, 
Pennsylvania Reserves, and served in the army 
of the Potomac for three years, during which 
time he participated in innumerable skirmishes 
and many hard battles. At Fredericksburg 
he was shot through the thigh, taken prisoner 
and held for some time by the Confederates. 
After being exchanged he returned to his com- 
pany, and in one of the peninsular fights was 
again taken prisoner, but was fortunate enough 
to be paroled in a few days after his second 
capture. He was honorably discharged from 
the United States service on June 5, 1864, at 
Pittsburgh. After the close of the war he 



engaged in carpentering, which he has followed 
until the present time. In 1884 he came to 
Leechburg, where he has resided ever since, 
and is now engaged in millwrighting. In 1890 
he attended the Grand Army of the Republic 
encampment at Boston, as a delegate from his 
post. 

On September 17, 1866, he married Jacobina 
Fowler, daughter of Austin Fowler, of Alle- 
gheny county, a relative of Gen. Fowler. To 
their union have been born four children : 
Christina H., Katharine, who died at five years 
of age, Laura I. and Austin J., who is attend- 
ing school. 

James J. Artman is an active republican in 
politics and has served as an elder and trustee in 
the Presbyterian church, of which he is a useful 
member. He is a member of Lodge No. 241, 
A. O. U. W., and Post No. 123, Grand Army 
of the Republic. 



JOHN S. BOLE, a substantial citizen of 
^ Leechburg, is a .son of David and Eliza- 
beth (ShaefFer) Bole, and was born in South 
Buffalo township, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, September 6, 1822. His grandfather, 
James Bole, was born in Ireland in 1752, came 
to America early in life and settled in West- 
moreland county. Pa. He afterwards removed 
to South Buffalo township, this county, where, 
on the 12th of April, 1815, he bought a farm 
of two hundred and one acres, called " Plom- 
biers," belonging to the e.state of Claudius An- 
tonious Berter, a Frenchman, lying partly in 
Butler county, for seven hundred dollars, on 
which he erected a saw-mill. On November 
26, 1818, he purchased the farm called 
" Union," containing one hundred and seven 
acres; on January 27, 1828, he purchased a 
large tract of land on which stood a saw and a 
grist-mill, for five thousand dollars. While he 
may not have been a wonderfully rich man, he 
evidently had means at his command. He was 



436 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



an influential member of the Presbyterian 
church, and was one of the founders of Slate 
Lick Presbyterian church, iu 1802. He was a 
drummer in the United States army in the war 
of 1812, and married Mary Painter, by whom 
he had a large family. He died in 1834, in 
the eighty-third year of his age. His son, 
David Bole (father), was born near the bound- 
ary line of Westmoreland and Armstrong coun- 
ties, in 1798. He was a stone-cutter by trade, 
but followed farming, first in Butler county, 
some three miles from the village of Freeport, 
and afterwards, for the remainder of his life, in 
Allegheny township, this county, near Leech- 
burg. His death, which occurred in 1865, was 
the result of injuries received from being 
knocked off a railroad bridge in Johnstown, 
Cambria county. In politics he was what is 
known as a war-democrat; he attended the 
Presbyterian church and contributed liberally 
to its support. He was married to Elizabeth, 
daughter of John Shaeffer, by whom he had 
ten children, seven sons and three daughters. 
Six of these sons served in the late war. His 
widow is now in her ninety-third year. 

John S. Bole received his education in the 
subscription schools near Freeport, and after- 
wards learned the trade of stone-mason. In 
1872 he came to Leechburg, where he has fol- 
lowed his trade ever siuce. He owns a large 
stone quarry near Leechburg, and a farm in (he 
vicinity of that place. He is an uncompro- 
mising republican and a member and formerly a 
trustee of the Presbyterian church. 

On June 30, 1846, he married Jane Carna- 
han, a daughter of Robert Carnahan, by whom 
he has had seven children : Nancy E., wife of 
John P. Klingensmith, who has four chil- 
dren — Leota L., Edna M., Homer J. and Earl 
C; Mary, who married B. F. Hill, and died 
in Johnstown, January 24th, 1889; Robert, 
David, Anna, who married E. K. Sober, and 
has three children — M'^illavene, Jean and Mary 
(married B. F. Hill, and has had five children 



— Harry W., John K., Frank L., and Myrtle 
and Ivy (twins), who were lost in the Johns- 
town flood); George, who married Alma 
Louks ; and Lilian, wife of Frank Critsor. 

John S. Bole is possessed of great energy of 
character. Industrious, patient and persever- 
ing, he has succeeded in acquiring a compe- 
tency, and, what is to be prized more highly, 
the esteem of all who know him. 



DANIEL BOWERS. An old established 
and responsible furniture and undertaking 
house is the popular and highly patronized es- 
tablishment of Daniel Bowers. It is the oldest 
and only establishment of the kind at Leech- 
burg, and its proprietor, Daniel Bowers, stands 
high as a man of intelligence, integrity, 
eneigy and extended business experience. He 
is the eldest son of Samuel and Mary A. (Wan- 
amaker) Bowers, and was born on the Bowers 
farm, on the old canal, three miles below Leech- 
burg, in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, on 
Christmas Day, 1846. Samuel Bowers (father) 
was born at Wilkinsburg, Allegheny county, 
August 10, 1815. At an early age he came to 
this county and settled on his present farm, 
below Leechburg. He quarried stone exten- 
sively for much of the masonry work along the 
old canal, and then for many years furnished the 
rock for many of the large banking buildings 
and business establishments of Pittsburgh. By 
prudence and industry he has acquired a com- 
petency. Originally a vvhig, and now a repub- 
lican, he takes an active interest in political af- 
fairs. He married Mary A. Wanamaker, who 
was a daughter of Henry Wanamaker, of near 
Leechburg, and died in April, 1890. They had 
three children : Daniel, Sylvester, who died at 
nine years of age, and Lucetta. 

Daniel Bowers was reared on the farm. He 
attended the common schools and entered Leech- 
burg academy, where he fitted for the sopho- 
more class in college. Leaving the academy, he 



ARMSTMONO COUNTY. 



437 



taught one term of school at Leechburg, another 
at Salem Cross Roads, in Westmoreland couuty, 
and then was principal of Brady's Bend public 
schools for twenty-one months. He relinquished ' 
teaching to become book-keeper of Brady's 
Bend iron-works, at that time one of the largest 
iron plants in the State. At the end of five 
years' faithful and well-appreciated service in 
charge of the books of the iron company, he 
resigned in order to serve as assistant door- | 
keeper of the House of Representatives of 
Pennsylvania, during the session of 1872. In 
1873 he registered as a lasv student with Hon. 
E. S. Golden, of Kittanning, but during the 
same year, upon solicitation, he became cashier 
of the then newly organized Leechburg 
Banking company, and held that position for 
five years. At the end of that time he became 
partner in the general mercantile house of John 
Schwalm, and continued in partnership respec- 
tively with Mr. Schwalm's successive partners, 
R. B. Care & W. J. Steele, until September, 
1885, when he retired from the mercantile busi- 
ness and purchased the interest of Fred. Grob- 
heiser, in the Leechburg furniture factory. In 
1887 he purchased the interests of the remaining 
partners, and added to his business that of under- 
taking and embalming. In the disastrous fire of 
November, 1889, his house and store-room were 
burned, but upon their ruins he has just erected 
a fine dwelling. He now owns the only furni- 
ture and undertaking establishment at Leech- 
burg. He carries a large and splendid stock of 
furniture of different grades, and an unusually 
fine line of burial caskets and funeral goods. 
He understands thoroughly the latest and most 
approved methods of embalming as well as 
being an efficient funeral director. He was one 
of the prime movers in the organizatiou, and is 
now president of the Indiana, Armstrong, 
Westmoreland and Butler county Undertaking 
association. In polities Mr. Bowers is an active 
and aggressive republican, and has been for 
three years a member of the State central com- 



mittee of that party. He is a member of the 
I. O. O. F. and Royal Arcanum. Ever since 
he began life for himself his march has been 
steadily ouward in the line of business, until he 
has attained to important and prominent stand- 
ing among the leaders of commercial enterprise 
at Leechburg. 

On June 27, 1876, he married Lottie E. 
Foab, daughter of William Foab, of Pittsburgh, 
formerly a member of the firm of Foab, Ever- 
son & Co. They have iiad six children, of 
whom five are living : Everson, William Foab, 
Mollie, Hannah Foab and Judson. 



EZEKIEL BREDIN, a prominent citizen of 
Leechburg, and a descendant of a long- 
lived race, was born on the old Bredin home- 
stead, in coimty Londonderry, Ireland, Febru- 
ary 24, 1836, and is a son of Ezekiel and 
Margaret (Thomson) Bredin. The Bredin 
homestead is situated some three miles west of 
the city of Londonderry, aud has been in the 
possession of the Bredin family for several gen- 
erations. James Bredin (grandfather) was an 
Irish laud-holder and a member of the United 
Presbyterian church. He married a Miss 
Montgomery, and lived to be over ninety years 
of age. One of his sons, Ezekiel Bredin, Sr. 
(father), was born on this farm, and after his 
father's death, succeeded him as owner of the 
old homestead. He was a member of the 
United Presbyterian church, in politics belong- 
ing to the Liberal party, and, like his father, 
lived to be over ninety years of age. He mar- 
ried Margaret Thomson, a daughter of Henry 
Thomson, of county Donegal, Ireland. To 
their union were born eight children, four sons 
and four daughters, six of whom are living. 
Five of these children are still in Ireland, 
while Ezekiel, the youngest, is at Leechburg. 

Ezekiel Brediu received his education in a 
private school in Londonderry, and in 1853 
entered a grocery store aud served an appren- 



438 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ticeship of six years. In 1869 he engaged in 
mercantile life for himself, but the next year 
disposed of his grocery store and emigrated 
from Ireland to the United States. Upon land- 
ing at New York, he came to Pittsburgh, 
where he was 'engaged for several years as a 
clerk in commercial houses, and then with a feed 
and grain firm on Penn avenue. On May 31, 
1877, he removed to Leechburg and rented a 
store-room at the steel mill, where he engaged 
in business. In 1884 he erected his present 
building on the corner of Third street, in one 
part of which he put his grocery, while the 
other part he rented for a restaurant. In 1889 
he sold out his business to his son and a Mr. 
Creery. He has been very successful in busi- 
ness, has invested largely in real estate, and is 
now among the largest property-holders of 
Leechburg. 

September 29, 1859, he married Georgiana 
Kirkpatrick, a daughter of John Kirkpatrick, 
of Londonderry. To their union have been 
born three children, only oneof whom is living: 
John C. Bredin, a merchant of Kittanning. 

In politics, Mr. Bredin is an active republi- 
can, and has served several terms as a member 
of the borough council. To his quick percep- 
tion, good judgment and great energy must be 
attributed his financial success, as he has made 
his way in life by his own unaided efforts. 



WILLIAM ROBERT DUFF, one of the 
old and highly respected citizens and suc- 
cessful business men of Leechburg, has aided 
largely in securing the material development of 
southern Armstrong county. He is one of that 
class of men, in every county, whose integrity, 
industry and usefulness give prosperity to 
business in all of its many branches. William 
R. Duff was born near the old Poke Run 
Presbyterian church, in Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, January 26, 1815, and is a son 



of James and Jane (McGeary) Duff. His 
paternal grandfather, Robert Duff, was a native 
of county Armagh, Ireland, and became one of 
the early settlers of the northern part of West- 
moreland county. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation and afterwards removed to the southern 
part of Butler county, where he purchased a 
large farm on Bull creek and planted the first 
apple orchard in all that section of country. 
He was a member of the U. P. church and was 
married in Westmoreland county, to Ann Duff, 
a native of Scotland, and who bore him several 
children. One of his sons was James Duff 
(father), who was born near the old Poke Run 
church, October 14, 1789, and died in 1818. 
He was a hatter by trade, a member of the U. 
P. church and a democrat in politics, as was 
his father before him. Active in church work 
and successful and honorable in business, he 
was cut down by death when entering upon 
what promised to be a long and pi'osperous life- 
career. He married, on March 11, 1814, Jane 
McGeary, daughter of William McGeary, by 
whom he had two children : William R. and 
Ann, who was born in 1817, and is the wife 
of Hugh Robinson, of Kansas City. Two years 
after Mr. Duff's death his widow, who was 
born November 5, 1789, and died in 1867, mar- 
ried Nathaniel Miller, by whom she had eight 
children. Her father, William McGeary, served 
as a soldier in the war of 1812. 

William R. Duff was reared on a farm and 
attended the subscription schools of his day, 
which were taught in the old log school -houses 
on Bull creek. At seventeen years of age he 
left the farm and learned the trade of tailor, which 
he followed for nearly fifteen years in Pitts- 
burgh and at Tarentum, Pa. In 1858 he came 
to Leechburg, where he opened and conducted a 
merchant tailoring establishment for several 
yeai-s and then engaged in the general mercan- 
tile business on Canal street, which he continued 
until 1875. Since then he has been extensively 
engaged and largely interested in real estate and 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



439 



especially in coal lands in southern Armstrong 
and northern Westmoreland counties. 

February 15, 1838, he married Elizabeth Miles, 
daughter of Thomas Miles, of Allegheny county. 
They had six children : Jane A., who married 
Samuel Sober, of Westmoreland county, and has 
ten children living, six sons and four daughters : 
Miles, a machinist, who served in the 12th Ohio 
and 123d Pa. Vol. regiments, and was discharged 
once on account of his wounds; Charles, who 
lived in Tennessee and was killed at Dalton, 
Georgia, where he was serving as a soldier in a 
Confederate regiment; John T., a prominent 
lawyer of Allegheny county, who filled one of 
the first appointments made in the Freedmeu's 
Bureau, in Tennessee, and who for several years 
has been prominent and active in State and 
National politics in the anti-prohibition party, 
of whose last campaign in Pennsylvania he had 
entire charge ; Willie, who died young ; and 
one who is deceased. Mrs. Duff died in 1850, 
and Mr. Duff married for his second wife, 
Lavina Dougherty, daughter of Jesse Dough- 
erty, by whom he has two children : Mary 
Belle, wife of John W. Frew ; and Frank C, 
a graduate of Utica Business College. 

William E.. Duff is a republican from princi- 
ple, but was a whig during the existence of that 
party. He has served as justice of the peace 
for over thirty years, serving in Allegheny 
county for five years and at Leechburg for 
twenty-six years. In addition to serving as jus- 
tice he has filled all the other offices of his borough 
and was a member of the school board when 
the present handsome public school building 
was erected. He is a deacon and trustee of the 
Leechburg Baptist church, of which he is one 
of the founders. He is a charter member 
of Lodge No. 577, Free and Accepted Ma- 
sons, at Leechburg. Although not enjoy- 
ing the best of health for several years, yet he 
has always kept up his busine.ss affairs in the best 
shape. Squire Duff is of Scotch-Irish descent. 
Although constantly engaged in the manage- 
26 



ment of his business interests, yet he is always 
active and progressive in church matters and 
never neglects the cause of temiierance, which 
has enlisted his warm support and earnest 
labors for over half a century. He never made 
any use of liquor, has always been upright iu 
his business dealings and is now in the vigor of 
well-preserved old age. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON ELWOOD, ex- 
county treasurer of Armstrong county an<l 
present assistant manager of the West Pemi 
Steel work.s, has been prominently identified 
with the business life and material prosperity of 
Leechburg for over a quarter of a century. He 
is a son of John and Mary (Patterson) Elwood, 
and was born at Apollo, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, March 4, 1840. The Elwood 
family of this county traces its American ances- 
try back to James Elwood, the grandfather of 
Thomas J. Elwood, who came from the north of 
Ireland to Pennsylvania with a brother, who 
settled near Philadelpliia. James Elwood 
pushed westward to Westmoreland ccnuity, 
where he located and livetl to the ripe old age 
of ninety-six years. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation and a strict presbyteriau in religious 
faith. One of the sons born to him in his 
We.stmoreland county home was John Elwood 
(father), who was born in 1796, three miles 
from Oakland X Roads, and died in 1878. He 
was a cabinet-maker and house building con- 
tractor, who erected many of the houses at 
Apollo and elsewhere iu the southern part of 
this county. He came to Apollo about 1830, 
where he was one of the three men who voted 
for Kimber Cleaver, the free soil candidate for 
governor of Pennsylvania. He was a man of 
decided views and opinions, was a decided aboli- 
tionist and held various township offices. He 
was one of the early methodists in this section 
of the county. He married Mary Patterson, 



440 



BIOOBAPUIES OF 



whose father, Robert Patterson, was lost at sea 
while on the way to Europe. They had four 
sons, of whom three are living (see sketch of W. 
J. Elwood). Mrs. Elwood survived her hus- 
band two years and died in 1880. 

Thomas J. Elwood was reared at Apollo, 
where he received his education in the public 
schools and learned the trade of harness-maker. 
When the late war broke out he enlisted in the 
17th regiment, Pa. Vols., but was assigned to 
duty, by the secretary of war, at harness-making 
in the Allegheny arsenal, where he served out 
his term of enlistment. After the war he came 
to Leechburg, where he was engaged in the 
manufacture of salt for several years. At the 
end of that time he went into the grain and 
flour business, which he followed successfully 
until he purchased the Leechburg flouring- 
mill, which he operated until 1884, when he 
sold it to Schwalm & Elwood and accepted his 
present position with the West Penn Steel com- 
pany as assistant manager of their works. He 
is a republican, has held all of the borough 
offices except that of burgess and in 1878 was 
elected treasurer of Armstrong county. He so 
well performed his duties of treasurer as to 
secure the commeudation of all, irrespective of 
party. He carefully protected the interests of 
the county and insisted upon a due and just 
economy in all public expenditures. 

January 12, 1877, he married Bella Parks. 
They are the parents of three children : John 
Bratten, born in 1878 ; Thomas Jefferson, Jr., 
and Robert Parks. 

In religious belief Mr. Elwood is a presby- 
terian and a member of the Leechburg church 
of that denomination. He is a member of the 
Royal Arcanum, Free and Accepted Masons, 
and Kittanning Chapter, High Royal Arch 
Masons. He is a republican from principle. 
Intelligent, prominent and useful as a citizen, 
his career as a business man has been remark- 
ably successful, and his services in his present 
responsible position have been alike creditable 



to himself and profitable to the important manu- 
facturing company with which he is engaged. 



TAMES T. ENWER, a man of many years' 
^ successful mercantile experience and the 
proprietor of one of the leading mercantile estab- 
lishments of Leechburg, is a .son of John and 
Priscilla (Douthett) Enwer, and was born in 
Allegheny city, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1856. 
His paternal grandfather, Robert Enwer, was 
born in Ireland and came with his parents to 
Westmoreland county, Pa. One of his sons, 
John Enwer (father), was born at the village of 
North Washington, Westmoreland county. At 
an early age he was employed as a clerk in the 
retail dry -goods store of his uncle in Pittsburgh. 
At eighteen years of age he entered mercantile 
life for himself and did business for several years 
on Federal street, in Allegheny city. In 1872 
he disposed of his stock of goods and entered 
the employ of the well-known firm of Boggs & 
Buhl and is now their head salesman. He ranks 
as one of the leading salesmen of the State. He 
is a member of the Third United Presbyterian 
church of Allegheny city, and a republican in 
politics. He married Priscilla Douthett, a 
daughter of William Douthett, of Mercer county, 
and they have been the parents of four children : 
James T., Robert A., John and Minnie. 

James T. Enwer was rearetl in Allegheny 
city and attended the third ward public schools 
of that city and Oakdale institute. Early in 
life he was employed as a clerk in his father's 
store for two years, then entered a store on the 
corner of Chestnut and Long streets as a sales- 
man aud remained two years. He was then 
successively employed in the mercantile houses 
of Bennett, McKean and Caldwell, of Pitts- 
burgh. Leaving Caldwell's, he was a salesman 
for Boggs & Buhl, of Allegheny city, for five 
aud one-half years, at the end of which time he 
engaged with Jo.seph Home &. Co., and had 
charge of their dress-goods department for six 



A Ii^f STRONG COUNTY. 



441 



years. On September 17, 1887, he purchased 
the store of Joseph Andersou, of Leechburg, 
and eutereil into the general mercantile business, 
which he has pursued successfully ever since. 
His natural good taste and his valuable experi- 
ence in the leading mercantile establishments of 
Pittsburgh and Allegheny city, enable him to 
select the latest, most fashionable and best goods 
in the market. His mercantile establishment is 
on the corner of Market and Middle streets and 
is constantly filled with a fine stock of goods 
needed to meet the wants of his many patrons. 

November 30, 1882, he united in marriage 
with Mamie Campe, a daughter of Henry E. 
Campe, of Sharpsburg, Pa., the son of a French 
nobleman, who came to Tarentum, Pa., but 
soon returned to his native land. Mr. and Mrs. 
Enwer have three children, two sons and .one 
daughter: Henry Campe, born February 11, 
1884 : Edith Mamie, born in March, 1886 • 
and James T., Jr., born in November, 1888. 

James T. Enwer is a member and trustee of 
Leechburg Baptist church and the efficient 
superintendent of its Sunday school. He always 
takes an active part in the work of the church. 
He is a republican in politics, a member of the 
Royal Arcanum, and of the Junior Order of 
United American Mechanics. Mr. Enwer is a 
courteous and honorable gentleman, a successful 
business man, and is especially deserving of the 
success he has achieved and the esteem in which 
he is held. 



GEORGE H. GOODSELL, one of the 
owners and the general manager of the 
West Penn steel-works at Leechburg, is a po- 
tent factor in the iron-producing industries of 
the great Allegheny Valley and possesses a varied 
business experience acquired in many different 
parts of the world. He was born in Broome 
county. New York, September 27, 1839, and is 
a son of Dr. Isaac and Rachel (Panna) Good- 
sell. According to the accounts handed down in 



the family, there wei-e two brothers by the name 
of Goodsell who emigrated from England to 
Massachusetts long prior to the Revolutionary 
war, and from one of them is descended the 
Goodsell families of New York and Pennsyl- 
vania. A descendant of the New York family 
was John Good.sell (grandfather), who was a 
native of Duchess county, that State, where he 
followed farming. He served in the Revolu- 
tionary struggle, was a member of the Methotlist 
church in the early days of its existence in the 
United States, and gave to his children the best 
education that the times in which he lived al- 
lowed. He had three sons and one daughter. 
John, the eldest .son, was president of a college 
in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. ; the second son, Buell, 
a prominent minister and presiding elder in the 
M. E. church, wa,s the father of Bishop Good- 
sell, now of Texas, and the youngest son was 
Dr. Isaac Goodsell (father), who was a graduate 
of a leading New York medical scliool. When 
about thirty years of age he removed to Broome 
county, New York, where he practiced his pro- 
fession successfully until about 1845. He died in 
1852 and left behind him the record of a well- 
spent life. He was an active member of the 
M. E. church, a strong anti-slavery advocate 
and a remarkably successful physician. He 
married Rachel Panna, who was a daughter of 
Isaac Panna, and died when comparatively a 
young woman and left eight children, all of 
whom grew up to years of accountability and 
of whom six are still living. 

George H. Goodsell was reared in his native 
county, and, after leaving school, learned the 
trade of machinist in the Susquehanna machine 
shops. At the end of his apprenticeship he de- 
sired to see something of sea-life, and shipped 
on a whaling vessel, which sank a year after- 
waixls in the Indian ocean, and from which he 
barely escaped. He then secured the position 
of machinist and second engineer on board tlie 
British ship " Sea Snake," which was a mail 
steamer, and ran from South Africa to many 



442 



BIOQBAPHIES OF 



different points in India and along the Red sea. 
At the end of eighteen months he resigned this 
position and returned to New York, where he 
worked at his trade until August, 1861, when 
he enlisted in Co. F, 50th regiment, N. Y. 
Vols., and served three years and one month in 
the Army of the Potomac. He was shot in the 
left foot in the last fight in which he was en- 
gaged, and when he had fully recovered from his 
severe wound he went to the oil region of Penn- 
sylvania as the agent of the Coalville Petroleum 
Oil company, and while there he also secured 
the agency of the Eldorado Oil company of 
Philadelphia. In addition to transacting the 
business of those companies he engaged in con- 
tracting and sunk several wells. In 1867- he 
sundered his entire connection with the oil 
business and removed to Michigan, where he 
remained for two years. He then came to 
Leechburg, and, after three months' service as 
an engineer at Apollo, he became master me- 
chanic or chief machinist of both the Apollo 
and Leechburg iron-mills (while in this posi- 
tion he was the first person to apply natural gas 
in the manufacture of iron), which position he 
held for some time, but resigned in order to 
superintend the erection of the new mill of the 
Apollo Iron and Steel company. He also 
superintended the building of the present mill 
of the ^yest Penn Steel company at Leechburg, 
of which he is one of the stock-holders and the 
general manager. 

September 28, 1865, he married Mary Ann 
Trout, daughter of Jacob Trout, of Westmore- 
land county. They have five children : Jennie 
H., a teacher, and attending De Pauw university ; 
Homer H., a shearman in the mill ; John W., 
Mary and Charles, who are attending school. 

Politically Mr. Goodsell is a republican, who 
believes in the tariff as being essentially necessary 
not only for the protection, but also for the very 
preservation of American industries. The West j 
Penn steel-works comprise an open-hearth steel 
furnace, located at Allegheny, and a sheet and 



finishing mill at Leechburg, and in operating 
them Mr. Goodsell employs over one hundred 
and twenty-five men. He is a member of the 
Lutheran church, tlie Masonic fraternity, the 
American Institute of Mining Engineers and 
the Gi-and Army of the Republic. With an 
aptitude for business and considering its various 
and extensive benefits, George H. Goodsell liaa 
come to look upon it as a duty and a pleasure. 
By nature fitted for the bu.stle of the world, his 
plans are no sooner properly matured than in- 
stantly put into execution. He po.ssesses strong 
common sense to adopt the right view of a sub- 
ject and foresight and i)romptitude to avail 
himself of first opportunities, by which he has 
often won success over seemingly insurmounta- 
ble obstacles. 



ALBERT M. GOSSER, a resident and one 
of the leading merchants of Leechburg, 
was born January 14, 1834, at Adamsburg, 
Westmoreland county, Penn.sylvania, and is a 
son of William and Susan (Kistler) Go.sser, a 
native of Northampton county, this State, who 
same to this county at an early day, and was a 
contractor on the Greensburg and Stoystown 
pike. One of his .sons, William Gosser (father), 
was a blacksmith, and prior to 1840 worked at 
his trade in Adamsburg ; but in that year he 
removed to Leechburg, where he continued at 
his trade until some twenty years before his 
death, when he retired from business. He died 
at Leechburg in 1888, at the age of eighty-five 
years. He belonged to the Lutheran church, 
was a life-long democrat and a popular man, 
serving his borough as a burge.ss and council- 
man. Strong-willed, honest and successful in 
life, he was highly regarded by all who knew 
him, and had hosts of friends. His wife, who 
was a member of the Lutheran church, died in 
1838, at Adamsburg. 

Albert M. Gosser, though born at Adams- 
burg, was reared at Leechburg, Armstrong 





^ 



ABhf STRONG COUNTY. 



446 



county, Pa., where he received a common-school 
education. He afterwards learned the trade of 
marble-cutting at Greensburg, Pa., with his 
cousin, Capt. Daniel Kistler, who -was mortally 
wounded. He carried on the marble busine-ss 
for several years, and had a large trade in 
Westmoreland, Armstrong ami Indiana conn 
ties. The inhalation of marble dust so im- 
paired his health that in 1865 he reliniiuished 
the marble business, and purchased a boat called 
the " Spartan," which plied on the Allegheny 
river, and of wliicii he was captain. This w.as 
during the early oil excitement in Venango 
county, where he sold at Pithole City seventy 
cargoes of coal and potatoes at %\ and $1.25, 
respectively, per bushel. Tlie A. V. R. R. was 
soon built after this, and destroyed the profita- 
ble river trade. Capt. Gosser then disposed of 
his boat in 1867, and returned to Leechburg, 
where he was engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness until 1871, when he sold his store and 
removed to Allegheny township, Westmoreland 
county, where, in 1872, he erected his present 
fine residence on a high plateau which over- 
looks the Kiskimiuetas Valley and West Penn- 
sylvania railroad for many miles. In 1883 he 
again embarked in the mercantile business at 
Leechburg, which he has pursued successfully 
ever since. In 1883 he erected his large three- 
story brick mercantile astablishment on the 
corner of Market street and Bridge alley. He 
carries a large stock of general merchandise, 
including special lines of fine dress goods, clo- ; 
thing, shoes and carpets. He has always been 
the leading merchant of his borough, and in ; 
1884 he was one of the democratic nominees 
for a.ssenibly, but with the remainder of his 
party ticket was defeated by a small majority. 

Albert M. Gosser was married in 1858 to 
Susan, a daughter of Israel Hill, of Armstrong 
county, by whom he has four sons and four | 
daughters: Newton H., Emma D., Homer D., 
Franklin T., Lydia K.. Lottie E., Grace T;. 
and William .A.. Of these children, Franklin 



I. Gosser is a graduate of the law department 
of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor 
and a practicing attorney of Pittsburgh. New- 
ton H. Gosser is engaged in the furniture and 
contracting business at Apollo. D. Homer is 
a graduate of Buffalo, N. Y., Commercial col- 
lege and clerk in his father's store; and the 
(ifliers arc yet at home. 

It was mainly through the efforts of Mr. 
Gosser that the bridge across the Kiskimiuetas 
river at Leechburg wa.s made free to the inhab- 
itants of Westmoreland and Armstrong coun- 
ties. Mr. Gosser felt that it was a great impo- 
position on the people of Allegheny township, 
Westmoreland county, and Leechburg to have 
to pay taxes to keep up the bridges in the other 
parts of their respective counties, and then have 
to pay toll on their own bridge. After a long 
and persistent contest, Mr. Gosser's efforts in 
l)ehalf of his fellow-citizens were crowned with 
success, and in June, 1890, the bridge was 
made free. This event was hailed with great 
rejoicing by his fellow-citizens, who were pro- 
fuse in their thanks to him for havinjr so 
ably championetl their cause, and having so 
successfully secured for them their just rights. 
He is a member of the Lutheran church, and 
enjoys the confidence of the public. He is an 
active and successful business man, and one of 
the best and most enterprising citizens of the 
countv. 



CAPTAIN ALFRED HICKS. Among the 
gigantic industrial enterprises that are cen- 
tered in western Pennaylvania, are the coal and 
coke industries, and in the development of their 
northern fields in Westmoreland and Armstrong 
counties, none have taken a more active, usefid 
and prominent part than Capt. Alfred Hicks, 
of Leechburg. He was born near Bristol, Eng- 
land, July 21, 1841, and is a son of Nelson and 
Cecelia (^forgau) Hicks. The Hicks family in 
England have been practical iron-workers for 



446 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



the last two centuries, and have taken a justifi- 
able pride in their superior skill and workman- 
ship. Nelson Hicks was born near Bristol, 
Auo-ust 29, 1803 and came in 1842 to Duncans- 
ville, Blair county, where he resided until his 
death, May 22, 1882. He was a metal refiner 
by trade ; but metal refining, such as he fol- 
lowed, has now passed out of use. Reared in 
the Quaker faith, he was a fine Bible scholar 
and a great student of history, both sacred and 
profaue. He was a strong anti-.slavery man 
and a republican in politics, but conservative in 
his views. Industrious, thrifty and successful 
in business, he was a zealous and true Christian 
whose walk in life was consistent with his relig- 
ious profe.ssions. He married Cecelia Morgan, 
of English nativity, but German descent, and 
who died July 4, 1876, when in the .seventy- 
third year of her age. To them were born six 
children, of whom five are living: Anna, wife 
of John Hyle, of Blair county; Philemon N., 
engaged in the iron business in Perry county ; 
Pauiel B., an iron-worker in Pittsburgh ; Sam- 
uel H., superintendent of the Wilkesbarre & 
Western Railroad ; and Alfred. 

Alfred Hicks was but one year of age when 
his parents came to Blair county, and received 
his education in the common schools. His first 
employment was with his father in the iron 
business. When the late war commenced, he 
was working in an iron works at Milesburg, 
Centre county, and was among the first to re- 
spond to President Lincoln's call to arms. He 
enlisted on April 16, 1861, as a private in the 
2d regiment, Pa. (three months) Vols., in Co. 
H, of which Gov. James A. Beaver was first 
lieutenant. The following letter, written by 
the boy soldier to his parents, three days after- 
wards, illustrates better than a volume the 
motives that inspired him : 

Harrisburg, Pa, April 19. 1861. 
Dear Father, Mother and all : 

I hope you are all well, as I am. I am going to 
Washington to help to defend it against rebels and 



traitors. I know it will be hard for you to hearof my 
going without seeing me; but it is country or no 
country. Now I hope you will take it calmly, and not 
let mother know it. I am in Curtin's Bellefonte 
company. I ^o in good spirits, and all the boys from 
the works, and some married men, are along. 
Cousins John and William are here and well. Good- 
bye, but I hope not forever. 

Your loyal son, 

Alfred Hicks. 

There are about twelve thousand troops here. 

At the expiration of his term he enlisted in Co. 
C, 76th regiment. Pa. Vols, (or Keyttone 
Zouaves) as private, on Augu.st 18, 1861, and 
was mustered out as captain, July 18, 1865. 
He was in the siege of Ft. Pulaski, the unsuc- 
cessful attacks on Charleston and Ft. Wagner, 
and the battle of Pocotaligo Bridge, .served 
under Butler in some heavy fighting on the 
Weldon R. R., fought under Grant at Cold 
Harbor, the Mine Explosion and Deep Bottom, 
and participated in the capture of Ft. Fisher. 
He was promoted from private to second lieu- 
tenant October 17, 1861; to first lieutenant, 
September 2, 1862, and commis.sioned captain 
May 1, 1863, to succeed John W. Hicks, who 
was promoted from captain to major and after- 
wards became colonel. Capt. Alfred Hicks 
commanded the 76th in front of Petersburg, 
and at the Explo.sion of the Mine, and was 
highly complimented by Generals Butler and 
Ord for " gallant and meritorious conduct on 
tiie field of battle." He was in Ford's theatre 
at Washington, when . President Lincoln was 
assassinated. At the close of the war Capt. 
Hicks went into the service of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad company as a passenger conduc- 
tor, and served as such for ten years to the day, 
— two years on the Pittsburgh division and 
eight years on the West Penn division. He 
then became station-agent at Leechburg, which 
position he held for seven years. During that 
time he developed the several large coal enter- 
prises in which he is now so largely interested. 
He is superintendent and one of the heaviest 




Of. 



1 



A mf STRONG COUNTY. 



4J7 



stockholders of the Bagdad Coal and Coke 
company, whose plant, near Leechburg, con- 
tains six hundred aci-es of coal land, and whose 
mines, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, have a daily output of 
four hundred tons. He is president and princi- 
cipal owner of the Blackstone Coal company's 
plant, which is some two miles east of Alle- 
gheny Valley Junction. He is also iarijely 
interested in the Avonmore Coal company, and 
the Pine Run Coal & Coke company. There 
is no compau}' store in connection with his var- 
ious mines, and his employees, between four and 
five hundred in number, are paid off every two 
weeks. He is also opening a mine on the A. V. 
R. R., for the purpose of shipping coal to 
Cleveland and Buffalo. He is also president of 
the Leechburg Building and Loan association, 
one of the most flourishing associations in the 
Kiskiminetas Valley, which was started to help 
poor industrious people to get homes of their 
own. Through the efforts uf the captain, 
Leechburg has an abundant supply of water 
running through every street in the town, with 
pressure enough to throw the water over the 
highest buildings. He was indefatigable in his 
efforts to have the railroad run tlirouufh the 
town, instead of on the opposite side of the 
river. It is said that the railroad company had 
their plans all made, when changing the grade 
in 1887, to keep their main tracks in ^Yestmore- 
land county, and build one bridge east of town 
and run a siding over to accommodate the ship- 
pers. The captain made a trip to Philadelphia 
and tried to .show the officials of the railroad 
that they ought to run their main tracks through 
the town, which they finally agreed to do; 
adding a great deal to the comfort and conveni- 
ence of the patrons of the road, and the citi- 
zens generally. 

When developing the .Avonmore coal prop- 
erty, in ] 889, he was attracted to the large piece 
of land on the opposite side of the river, known 
a.s the ■' Dnfch-flats"— some nine hundred 
acres, which he bought and organized the Avon- 



j more Land & Improvement company. This 
beautiful tract is on the Beaver run gas belt, 
and is of great value as a town site. A win- 
dow-glass works and rolling-mill have already 
been located on it. The gas is brought from 
the wells through a twelve-inch main, and the 
supply is abundant, and likely to be durable. 
.\n important manufacturing town in the near 
future will grow on the " Dutcli-flat.s." The 
captain deserves the thanks of the people of 
this ^^alley. He has done more to enlist out- 
side capital to develop its resources than any 
man in either Armstrong or Westmoreland 
counties. 

On April 2, 1868, he married Martha E. 
Lewis, daughter of L. W. Lewis, of the firm 
of Ivcwis, Dalzell & Co., iron manufacturers of 
Sharpsburg, Pa. The}^ have three children, 
two sons and one daughter : May, wife of H. 
E. Sheldon, manager of the Tjoechburg Iron 
and Steel works; Lewis, superintendent of the 
J Avonmore coal works; and Nelson, superin- 
tendent of the Blackstone Coal (company. 

Capt. Hicks is a democrat in politics, and a 
' member of the Presbyterian church. He is at 
present serving as burgess of I./eechburg, having 
been elected by .seventy-two of a majority, 
although the borough is regularly republican 
j by a majority of over one hundred and fifty 
• votes. He takes but little part in political 
affairs, as his business interests demand the 
j most of his time. He has always been foremost 
'. to render a.ssistance in any case of suffering or 
' distress, and was among the first to hasten to 
Johnstown, where, with a force of one hundred 
and fifty men, he labored almost inces.«antly 
j for the benefit of that flood-swept city. He is 
I a past master in the Masonic fraternity, and a 
meml>€r of the Loyal Legion, the Union Vet- 
eran Legion and the Grand Army of the Re- 
public. He has been throughout his life a 
th<irough business man of unswerving determi- 
nation and untiring industry. He is pre-emi- 
nently a self-made man in the true sense of that 



448- 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



term, and his honorably achieved success is the 
result of his good judgment, caution, energy, 
perseverance, watchfulness and honesty. 



EDWARD HILL, one of the young pro- 
gressive members of the Armstrong county 
bar and tlie popular editor of the Leechburg 
Advance, was born opposite Leejhburg, on the 
old Hill homestead, in Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, April 19, 1861, and is a son of 
John and Mary Jane (McC'auley) Hill. Of 
those daring fronliersinen who settled south- 
western Pennsylvania, was the Hill family. 
They located near the site of Salem in West- 
moreland county. Here the father was cap- 
tured by Indians and carried to Hickory 
Flats above Oil City, this State, wiiere he was 
tortured to death. He left three children : John, 
Jacob and Hannah. John Hill, the eldest son, 
was born in 1772, and erected a grist and saw- 
mill on Beaver run. The grist-mill sujiplied 
the settlement with grinding for a radius of 
twenty miles, and was often run on Sunday dur- 
ing low water to accommodate settlers who had 
camped with their grists to await their turns. 
He afterwards built grist-mills on the Alle- 
gheny and the Kiskimiuetas rivers, and in 1812 
came to Gilpin township, this county, where he 
planted an orchard of one thousand apple trees. 
He manufactured wooden moldboard plows, and 
was a successful farmer. He was appointed as 
a commissioner to clear out the Kiskimiuetas 
river. He was a lutheran, and an honest and 
upright man, and died .January 9, 1848. He 
married P^lizabeth Waltz, who died October 13, 
1817, and left him ten children: Mary, Eliza- 
beth, John, Jacob, Levi, Eli, Daniel, Hiram, 
Israel and Deborah. He married for his sec- 
ond wife Susan Ammon, who lived to the ad- 
vanced age of ninety years. Of his second 
marriage were born nine children : Hetty, Leah, 
John, Ammon, Charlotte, Philip, Sarah, Noah 
and Salem. Of the first wife's children, Eli 



Hill (grandfather) became a prominent salt 
manufacturer, and was also engaged in the 
mercantile business for four years at Leech- 
burg, in connection with his brothers, Levi, 
Daniel and Hiram. He was a very useful 
man and married Susan Ashabaugh, who 
died in 1878, aged sixty-two years, and 
left four children : John, Eveline, Margaret 
(Barr)and Priscilla (Lytle). John Hill (father) 
was born in Allegheny township, Westmore- 
land county, December 6, 1832, and received 
only the educational advantages of the rural 
districts of that day. He learned the trade of 
carpenter, soon became an extensive contractor 
and builder, and in 1872 embarked in the lum- 
ber business at Leechburg. In 1879 he admitted 
his son Charles as a partner of the present firm 
of John Hill & Son. Mr. Hill was one of the 
originators of the Leechburg Banking com- 
pany and served as a director uutil 1878, since 
which time he has been cashier. He is a re- 
publican in politics and has served as school 
director. He commenced life with no fortune 
but his own hands, energy and industry, and 
has honorably achieved succe.ss and a compe- 
tency. January 8, 1857, he united in marriage 
with Mary Jane McCauley, daughter of Charles 
and Ann (Mears) McCauley, and who was born 
April 20, 1833. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have two 
children : Charles A., born December 8, 1857, 
and Edward. 

Edward Hill was reared on the farm and at 
Leechburg where he has lived since he was 
twelve years of age. He attended the public 
schools and entered Pennsvlvania college at 
Gettysburg, from which educational institu- 
tion he was graduated in 1884. He read law 
with the firm of Buffi ngton & Buffington, 
of Kittanning, was admitted to the Armstrong 
county bar in March, 1887, and has been en- 
gaged in the active practice of his profession 
ever since at Leechburg. In December, 1887, 
he became editor and proprietor of the Leech- 
burg Advance, which is a live and independent 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



449 



weekly paper of extensive circulation and in- 
creasing influence. Mr. Hill is a republican in 
politics, and a member of the Lutheran church 
of Leech burg. He is a Free and Accepted 
Mason and a member of the I. O. O. F. and 
Royal Arcanum. 



ROBERT P. HUNTER, M.D. Among the 
well-known and highly esteemed physi- 
cians of Armstrong county is Robert P. Hunter, 
M.D., of Leechburg. He was born in Black Lick 
township), Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Jan- 
uary 23, 1837, and is a son of John M. and 
Annie Reese (Banks) Hunter. Among the 
pioneer families of Westmoreland county was 
the Hunter family, and one of its members was 
Robert Hunter, the grandfather of Dr. Hunter. 
Robert Hunter was born in 1782, became one 
of the early settlers of Indiana county and died 
at Jacksonville, in 1861, aged seventy-nine 
years. He married Mary Lawrence, who was 
born in New Jersey in 1781, and passed away 
in 1868, when in the seventy-.seventh year of her 
age. They were the parents of fourteen 
children. One of their sons was John M. 
Hunter (fiither), who was born June 12, 1807, 
and died at Blairsvilie, March 28, 1868. He 
followed shoemaking excepting the years 1854- 
55, when he was a foreman on the Pennsylva- 
nia canal, of which hisson-iu-law, W. F. Boyer, 
was superintendent at that time. He was mar- 
ried on May 30, 1830, to Annie Reese Banks, 
who was born in Pennsylvania, October 10, 
1810, and died at Leechburg, August 16, 1875. 
They had nine children : Joshua Banks, born 
November 5, 1832, and a soldier in the late 
war; Mary A., born October 23, 1835, who 
married W. F. Boyer and is dead; Dr. Robert 
P., William I., born September 29, 1839, and 
now deceased; Ella M., wife of Dr. W. H. 
Kern, of McKeesport, Pa., born August 16, 
1842; Morgan R. (a soldier of the late war), 
born April 4, 1844; Dr. John A., born August 



20, 1846, and who was a soldier in the late 
war, was elected as a member of the Pennsylva- 
nia legislature, by the republican party in 1874, 
died shortly after his election and the J. A. 
Hunter Post, No. 123, G. A. R., was named 
after him; Dr. Milton C, born August 7, 1850; 
and J. Irwin, born June 19, 1852. 

Robert P. Hunter was reared in Indiana 
county, where he received his education and 
taught five terms of school besides working for 
two years on the Pennsylvania canal. He then 
(1862) commenced the study of medicine with 
his uncle, Mr. M. R. Banks, of Liverraore, 
Pa. In 1864 he took a course of lectures at 
Jefferson college and on May 9, 1865, opened 
an office at Leechburg, where he practiced for 
four years. He then, by the combined means 
of his limited savings from teaching, canal 
labor and medical practice, was enabled to take 
the full course of Jefferson Medical college, 
from which he was graduated with high stand- 
ing on March 12, 1869. Immediately after 
graduation he returned to Leechburg, where he 
has been engaged in continuous and successful 
practice ever since. 

On May 18, 1875, he united in marriage 
with Rebecca Hill, who was born in this 
county, June 30, 1853, and is a daughter of 
Daniel and Eliza (Kuhus) Hill. Dr. and Mrs. 
Hunter are the parents of three children : John 
A. H., born June 18, 1876; Anna L., born Jan- 
uary 10, 1878; and Robert K., born October 
19, 1879. 

Dr. Hunter is a public-spirited citizen and is 
ever willing, although ever busy with a large 
practice, to join in any movement for the benefit 
of his fellow-citizens or the prosperity of the 
county. He was active in organizing the 
Leechburg bank, of which he was a director 
and stockholder. In 1878 he was amonij the 
first to bring short-horn cattle into the county 
and give to the farmers the benefit of improved 
stock. He is a prohibit ioui';t in politics, served 
two terms as burgess of Leechburg and was 



450 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



commissioned December 29, 1875, by Gov. 
Hartranft, as surgeon-in -chief on Gen. Harry 
White's staff, 9th Division N. G. of Pa., in 
which capacity* he had served during the Pitts- 
burgh railroad and labor riots. He is an elder 
of the Leechburg Presbyterian church, of whose 
Sunday-school he has been superintendent for 
several years. He was sent by the Kittanning 
Presbytery as a delegate to the General As- 
sembly of the Presbyterian church which met in 
Omaha, Nebraska, in 1887. He has always ■ 
been a strong advocate for the cause of temper- ; 
ance. Born to no other inheritance than that 
of an honorable character and good name, Dr. 
Hunter has achieved high professional standing 
and is recognized as a public-spirited citizen 
whose labors have been very successful in the 
financial and agricultural interests of the county. I 



THOMAS M. IRWIN, the pioneer of the 
livery business at Leechburg and an in- 
dustrious citizen of that borough, is a son of 
Marshall and Ellen B. (McConnell) Irwin, and 
was born in Coneraaugh township, Indiana coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, August 6, 1846. His grand- 
father, Isaac Irwin, was for many years a pros- 
perous farmer of Indiana county. He was a 
soldier of the war of 1812, was an old-line 
whig and afterwards a republican. He and his 
wife were members of the Presbyterian church. 
He married Margaret Marshall, who bore him 
six sons and three daughters. One of these 
sons, Marshall Irwin (father), was born on the 
old homestead, in Conemaugh township, and 
lived in Indiana county until 1848, when he 
removed to Westmoreland county, where he 
purchased a farm some two miles from the bor- 
ough of Salem. In 187-3 he sold his farm and 
came to Leechburg, where, for several years, he 
kept the " Irwin Hotel." He afterwards dis- 
posed of the hotel and purchased {"''^pprty on 
the corner of Main and Pittsburgh streets, 
where he has since lived a retired life. He is a 



member of the Leechburg Presbyterian church, 
and supports the Republican party in political 
affairs. He married Ellen B. McConnell, a 
daughter of Thomas McConnell, of Congruity. 
To their union have been born five children : 
Alexander E., in the livery business at Salts- 
l)urg; Thomas M., Catherine, wife of W. T. 
Richards, of Painesville, Ohio; and Harry 
W., an employe of the West Penn Steel com- 
pany. 

Thomas M. Irwin attended the public schools 
of Westmoreland county and assisted his father 
on his farm until 1872, when he came to Leech - 
l)nrg, and opened the first livery stable of that 
place. In 1881 he entered the employ of the 
West Penn Steel company as a hammerman, 
which situation he held for six years, when he 
was given his present position of iron weigher 
with the same firm. 

In December, 1870, he married Emma J. 
Ralston, daughter of John and Elizabeth Rals- 
ton, of Salem township, Westmoreland county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Irwin have four children : Ella 
.M., born February 27, 1873; Chalmers Hardy, 
born November 17, 1874, a worker in the steel 
mill; Lizzie Olive, born June 11, 1876, and 
Lulu Kate, born January 3, 1879. 

Thomas M. Irwin is a member of the Pres- 
byterian church and a republican in politics. 
He is a self made man and is in every way 
worthy of the respect which is accorded him in 
the circle of bis acquaintances and by those 
with whom he comes in business contact. 



THOMAS STEVENSON IRWIN, a skilled 
mechanic, and a descendant of a long- 
lived family, is a son of William D. and Matilda 
(Kidd) Irwin, and was born near East Liberty, 
Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, March 22, 
1834. The Irwin family is of Scotch-Iri,sh 
descent. One of their number, Jared Irwin 
(great-grandfather), was born in the north of 
Ireland, and emigrated from that country to the 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



451 



United States, bringing with him his two young 
sons, Jared and James. He settletl in Bedford 
county, Pennsylvania, and bought a large farm 
on which Broad Top is now built. He was a 
strict member of the Presbyterian church. 
His son, James Irwin (grandfather), married 
Elizabeth Beckwith, of North Carolina, whose 
father and brothers were Revolutionary sol- 
diers. James Irwin lived to be eighty-three 
years of age, and his wife died at the age of 
ninety-four years. To their union were born 
two children, one of whom was William D. 
Irwin (father), who was born in Bedford 
county, in 1810, and came with his parents to 
Allegheny county. In early life he was a 
teamster on " the pike " between Pittsburgh and 
Philadelphia, and then became a farmer. He 
afterwards purchased a farm in West Virginia, 
on which he died in 1846. He was a member 
of the East Liberty Presbyterian church, and a 
whig in politics. In 1832 he married Matilda 
Kidd, a daughter of William Kidd, of Alle- 
gheny county. They had six children. 
William Kidd lived to the advanced age of 
ninety-six years, and his wife died when she 
was in the eighty-fifth year of her age. Wil- 
liam D, Irwiu was of colossal proportions and 
a man of honor, who regarded his word when 
given as binding as an oath. 

Thomas S. Irwin accompanied his mother, 
when she returned to East Liberty after her 
husband's death, and attended the public schools 
of that borough. Leaving school, he learned 
the trade of carpenter, which he followed until 
1864. In 1860 he removed to Allegheny 
township, AVestmoreland county, where, on 
September 15, 1864, he enlisted in Co. H, 212th 
regiment. Pa. Vols., better known as the 6th 
regiment, Heavy Artillery. This regiment was 
sent first to assist in the defence of the national 
capital, then to Alexandria and Manassas, with 
their headquarters at Fairfax Court-house ; 
then in November were ordered back to defend 
Washington city, and were mustered out of the 



United States service on June 19, 1865. After 
leaving the army, Mr. Irwin became a builder 
and contractor, and as such has built some of 
the finest houses in Westmoreland county. In 
1878 he removed to Leechburg, in 1872 helped 
to build the Iron mill at that place, During 
1880 he worked as a millwright, and in the 
following year erected the West Pennsylvania 
steel works for Joseph G. Beale, in whose em- 
ploy he continued for six years as master 
mechanic. In 1886 Mr. Beale sold out to 
■Jennings Brothers & Co., and Mr. Irwin 
entered their employ as shearman, in which 
capacity he has served ever since. 

October 25, 1 860, he married Margaret B. 
Caldwell, a daughter of Robert Caldwell, of 
.\llegheny county. They have had five child- 
ren : William W., born April 1 5, 1862, a shear- 
man in the West Pennsylvania .steel works; Anna, 
born July 4, 1864; Ella Mary, born July 20, 
1866 ; Elizabeth, born January 19, 1870 ; and 
Charles Albert, born April 20, 1873. Of these, 
Anna and Ella Mary are dead. The eldest son, 
William W., married Nettie McCleary, daugh- 
ter of Levi McCleary, and has one child : Mar- 
garet Wilda, born August 2, 1884. 

Thomas S. Irwin is an elder in the Leechburg 
Presbyterian church, in whose Sunday-school 
he is a teacher. He is a member of the Amal- 
gamated Association of Iron and Steel workers, 
and of John A. Hunter Post, No. 123, Grand 
Army of the Republic. He is a stanch 
republican and has served twice as a member of 
the borough council. 



DAVID LEECH, the founder of Leechburg, 
was one of the prominent and useful men 
of the Kiskiminetas Valley. He was a native 
of Mercer county, Pennsylvania. Beyond the 
name of his native county we have no record of 
his ancestry or account of his early life. We 
find mention of him in this county as early a 
1827, when he had come from Sharpsburg 



152 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Allegheny county, where he had a canal contract. 
In 1827 he purchased the site of Leechburg 
and laid out that town during the next year. 
He was a man of activity and energy and 
erected a saw and grist-mill at his new town, 
where he also prosecuted successfully and exten- 
sively the work of building jjassenger and 
freight boats for the canal. He was also en- 
gaged in the mercantile business, and from 1S53 
to 1856 was an active member of the fiim which 
constructed the A. V. R. R., from Pittsburgh 
to Kittanning. 

In 1857 his vigorous constitution gave way 
under age, cares and disease and he passed 
away November 3, 1858, regretted and 
esteemed at home and abroad. 



JAMES A. McKALLIP. One of the active, 
thorough-going and enterprising business 
men of Leechburg is James A. McKallip, 
whose large mercantile establishment is com- 
plete in all of its appointments. He was born 
at Shearsburgh, in Allegheny township, West- 
moreland county, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1853, 
and is a son of Henry K. and Mary (Keely) 
McKallip. Henry K. McKallip (father) was 
born in 1809, in Allegheny township, West- 
moreland county, where he was reared and 
where he followed merchandising for several 
years. He then came to Leechljurg, where 
he opened and conducted a general mercantile 
store, on Canal street, until 1870, when he 
retired from active life and was succeeded in 
the proprietorship and management of the store 
by his son, James A., the subject of this sketch. 
Henry K. McKallip has been both prominent 
and successful as a business man. He was the 
first man to bore for oil across the river from 
Leechburg, has always embarked in every bus- 
iness enterprise calculated to benefit his section 
of the county, and is now president of the 
Leechburg Bridge and the Leechburg Banking- 
companies. Prior to the oil excitement he was 



extensively engaged in salt manufacturing be- 
sides being interested in various other local 
business enterprises. He was originally a 
whig, but is now a republican, and has always 
been active in politics although, never asking 
fur any office. He is a consistent member of 
the Presbyterian church and has served his 
borough as burgess and as school director. In 
both of these offices, as well as in every other 
public position which he ever occupied, he ren- 
dered good service and gave the best of satis- 
faction. Ever since he came to Leechburg he 
has been prominently and actively identified 
with its various iuterests and general prosper- 
ity. He married Mary Keely, who is a daugh- 
ter of Samuel Keely, of near Saltsburg, Indiana 
county. To them have been born four sons 
and three daughters. Of these, Laban S. is 
engaged in business in Pittsburgh ; Amanda 
C, wife of John Armstrong; Rev. John K., 
pastor of the Presbyterian church at Beaver, 
Pa.; Joanna J., now Mrs. Robert Pinkerton, 
of Westmoreland county ; James A, and Harry 
F., who is with his brother in Pittsburgh. 

James A. McKallip was reared principally 
at Leechburg, and received his education in the 
public schools of that place. At an early age 
he engaged in the mercantile business with his 
father, whom he succeeded, in 1870, in the pro- 
prietorship of the Canal street store, which he 
removed, in 1882, to its present location on the 
corner of Market street. In the mercantile 
business he now devotes his attention to carry- 
ing full and well selected lines of gents' furnish- 
ing goods, hats and caps and boots and shoes. 
His stock of goods covers an immense number 
and variety of articles, which are absolutely 
necessary to all who have any regard to com- 
fort or health. He gives special attention to 
the styles and material most in vogue, and by 
his courtesy and business lact has gained a largo 
share of the trade of his borough and the sur- 
rounding country. He is a rejiublican in polit- 
ical afiFairs and has served as a member of the 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



453 



town council. He is a member of the Leech- 
burg Presbytei'lau church and tiie Jr. O. U. A. 
M. Carefully trained to business pursuits, in 
which he ha.s always been engaged, it is but 
natural, and nothing remarkable, that a man of 
Mr. McKallip's disposition, native ability and 
energy should be so successful in mercantile 
life. 

James A McKallip was united in marriage, 
on January 25, 1887, with Lillie M. Butler, 
daughter of James M. Butler, of Allegheny 
township, Westmoreland county. Their union 
has been blessed with one child, a daughter, 
Jessie, born June 16, 1890. 



WILLIAM MONTGOMERY, a leading 
druggist of Leechburg, a worthy de- | 
scendant of that wonderful Scotch-Irish race ; 
which has played so important a part in our 
National history, and a well-educated man of 
scientific attainments and literary tastes, is a 
son of William, Sr., and P]lizabeth (Looka- 
baugli) Montgomery, and was born on the old 
McAllister farm, six miles east of Leechburg, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 
1848. On his paternal side his grandfather, 
Willianv Montgomery, was a native of Ireland, 
where he owned the farm on which the fairs of 
county Derry were held. He came to Arm- 
strong county in 1825, and located on the old 
L. N. Graves farm, on Crooked run, some ten 
miles from Leechburg. He was a member of 
the M. E. church, became a democrat in .poli- 
tics and followed farming. He was an intelli- 
gent man of good education and pleasing man- 
ners, and lived to the ripe old age of ninety- 
eight years. He married a Miss Bred in, who 
bore him four sons and four daughters. One 
of these sons was William Montgomery, Sr. 
(father), who was born near Dublin, Ireland, 
about 1820, and was brought by his parents, 
at five years of age, to this county, where he 
was reared on Crooked creek. He was a farmer 



by occupation and united with the M.E. church 
during its pioneer days in the county. He was 
a prominent and fearless anti-slavery man prior 
to the late war, after which he supported the 
Republican party. He served as justice of the 
peace one term, fillet! nearly all of the other 
township offices and died January 6, 1889, aged 
seventy years. He married Elizabeth Looka- 
baugh, and they had nine children, of whom 
six are living : William, James, an oil driller, 
of Washington county ; Mary, wife of W. L. 
Wolf; Harriet, married to H. L. Wolf; John 
T., residing on the home farm ; and Harry, 
who is a mine boss for the N. Y. and Cleve- 
land Gas Coal company, at Turtle creek. Pa. 
Mrs. Montgomery was killed by the fall of her 
horse while out riding, in 1874. She was a 
daughter of Peter Lookabaugh, a pious mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church, who celebrated his 
hundredth birthday August 7, 1890. He is a 
son of a Mr. Lookabaugh, a drummer in the 
Revolutionary war, was a driver on the old 
National Pike, married Eveline Bigler, of 
Maryland, and soon after his marriage became 
an early settler in this county. Venerable in 
appearance and well preserved physically, Mr. 
Lookabaugh retains his faculties unimpaired in 
a wonderful degree for his great age. 

William Montgomery attended the common 
.schools and Manorville, Leechburg and Free- 
port academies, and was prevented by the fail- 
ure of his health from entering college. His 
fii-st employment was teaching, which he fol- 
lowed for three years. He next engaged in 
insurance, which he quit in six months to 
embark in the drug business at Pittsburgh, Pa. 
In 1873 he disposed of his .stock of drugs and 
engaged as a drug clerk with H. A. Kepple, 
of Leechburg. The next year he purchased a 
half-interest in Mrs. Kepple's drug house, and 
three years later, in 1878, he became sole pro- 
prietor. Since then he has been constantly 
increasing his stock and rapidly adding to the 
number of his patrons. In the late disastrous 



454 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



fire at Leechburg, he lost his dwelling-house 
and a very fine library, but he is now erecting 
a fine brick building for a residence and drug- 
store. 

January 2, 1875, he united in marriage with 
Laura Mcintosh, daughter of John Mcintosh 
a retired business man of Wilitiusburg, Pa. 
They have one child, a daughter, Winifred, 
who was born September 14, 1879. 

In addition to the management of his drug- 
house he is manager of the telegraph and tele- 
phone office at Leechburg, a position which 
he has held for fourteen years. He is a 
member of the M. E. church, Leechburg 
Lodge, No. 517, F. and A. Masons, and 
Lodge No. 250, Knights of Pythias. 

In politics he is an active supporter of the 
Republican party. He has always been a close 
student, and is well acquainted with the stand- 
ard authoi's of ancient and modern literature. 
He learned book-keeping during his leisure 
evenings while at Pittsburgh, and by con- 
tinuous study has made himself conversant 
with the practical sciences of the nineteenth 
century. 



JOSEPH D. ORR, M.D. A successful phy- 
^ sician who unites valuable experience with 
good judgment and excellent professional 
knowledge is Joseph D. Orr, M.D., of Leech- 
burg. He is a son of James and Catherine 
(Clawsou) Orr, and was born in Kiskiminetas 
township, Ai'mstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
October 16, 1856. The founder of the Orr 
family in Pennsylvania was Joseph Orr, the 
paternal grandfather of Dr. Orr. He came 
from Ireland in the early part of the present 
century, and settled in Kiskiminetas township, 
where he engaged in merchandising. He began 
business with but small means, but acquired 
a large and valuable estate before his death. 
He was a strict member of the Presbyterian 
church, and was an intimate friend of Dr. 



Alexander Donaldson, of Elder's Ridge. In 
politics he was an old-time democrat, and 
served several terms as a justice of the peace. 
He married a Miss Manners and had four 
children, all of whom are living. His life 
closed on this earth in 1877, when he pa.ssed 
away at eighty-four years of age. One of his 
sons, James Orr (father), was born in 1836 
and resided continuously in this county until 
1875, when he removed to his pi'eseut location 
in Westmoreland county, opposite Saltsburg, 
Pa. During the last thirty-five years he has 
been successively engaged in merchandising, 
milling and farming. He has always been a 
stanch democrat, served as a justice of the peace 
for several years and is always active in the in- 
terests of his party. He is a large man, of 
rather commanding appearance, and is a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church. He married 
Catherine Clawson, who was a daughter of 
Peter Clawson, of Westmoreland county and 
who died December 27, 1882, when in the 
57th year of her age. They had seven children : 
William C, Robert M., Dr. Joseph D., Matil- 
da, Hallie, Harry D. and Luciau C. 

Joseph D. Orr received his elementary educa- 
tion in the common schools and fitted for college 
in Elder's Ridge and Saltsburg academies. 
Leaving college, he determined upon medicine 
i as a life vocation, entered Jefferson Medical 
college in 1882, where he completed a fall three 
years' course and was graduated from that well- 
known institution in the class of 1885, taking 
first honors in surgery. Immediately after 
graduation he came to Leechburg, where he has 
remained ever since, in the active and success- 
ful practice of his profession. He is P. R. R. 
surgeon at Leechburg. 

Dr. Orr united in marriage, on September 
29, 1885, with Belle M. McFarlaud, daughter 
of the late Dr. John McFarland, of Saltsburg, 
Pa., who was a prominent citizen of that place. 

In politics Dr. Orr is a democrat, who always 
takes an active part in the interests of his party, 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



455 



although he is no aspirant for oflSce. He fre- 
quently represents his borough in county demo- 
cratic conventions, and was a delegate to the 
State democratic convention of 1890, which 
nominate<l Robert E. Pattison for governor of 
Pennsylvania. He is a member of Leechburg 
Lodge, No. 654, I. O. O. F., Council No. 171, 
Jr. O. U. A. M., Lodge No. 6-23, A. O. U. W., 
Council No. 1045, Royal Arcanum, and Lodge 
No. 641, Knights of Pythias, and acts as medi- 
cal examiuer for each of these orders at Leech- 
burg. He takes a deep interest in the material 
prosperity of his town, being an active member 
of the Leechburg Foundry and Machine com- 
pany. Dr. Joseph D. Orr is a member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church, a well-respected 
citizen and popular physician of extensive and 
successful practice. He is also au active mem- 
ber of the Leechburg Electric Light company. 



JACOB H. PARKS, a descendant of one of 
the earliest settlers of Armstrong county, 
and a leading druggist of Leechburg, is a sou of 
James Bratton and Lucinda C. (Hill) Parks, 
and was born on the old Parks homestead in 
Parks township, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, April 11, 1847. The Parks family is 
of Scotch-Irish descent. One of its members, 
Robert Parks (grandfather), was born in 1768, 
in Mifflin county, from whence he removed to 
Armstroug county in 1814, and purcluised Ironi 
John Montgomery a tract of three hundretl and 
seventy-five acres of land lying about one and 
three-quarter miles southeast of the site of Leech- 
burg, and known as " Farmer's Delight." He 
afterwards bought one hundred and thirty-five 
acres adjoining his first purchase, making in all 
a farm of over five hundred acres, for which he 
paid but seventy- five cents per acre, although it 
contains some of the most productive land in 
Armstrong county, and is partly underlaid by a 
heavy vein of coal. He was a shoemaker by 



trade, but followed farming after he settled in 
Armstrong county. He was a strict member of 
the Presbyterian church, and an unyielding ad- 
herent of the principles of the Democratic party. 
He was a man of large .stature, sober and indus- 
trious, occupying so prominent a position in that 
community that when Allegheny township was 
subdivided the section in which " Farmer's De- 
light " was situated was named in honor of him 
— Parks township. He died in 1857, at the 
advanced age of eighty-nine years. He married 
Jane Bratton, daughter of James Bratton, of 
eastern Pennsylvania, by whom he had ten 
children, three sons and seven daughters, of 
whom three only are living. (For a fuller hi.s- 
tory of him see sketch of J. B. Parks, of Parka 
township.) The ninth child, James Bratton 
Parks (father), was born November 11, 1810, 
in Mifflin county, Pa., and was brought by hia 
father to Armstrong county when he was four 
years old, where he has siuce lived. He has 
been a successful farmer all his life, and now 
owns a large farm with a fine brick residence. 
He has made scientific farming a study and has 
introduced on his farm most all of the modern 
improvements in farming. He is well known 
throughout Armstrong county as a breeder of 
thoroughbred stock, and is numbered among the 
substantial citizens of Parks township. In 
earlier years he was ;'..ssistaut surveyor on the 
construction of the old Pennsylvania canal, and 
aided in laying out the town of Leechburg He 
has been an elder in the Leechburg Presbyterian 
church ever since its organization, and was a 
liberal contributor to the building fund when 
both the old and the new church edifices were 
erected. He is a democrat in politics, and has 
been a school director for many years ; was also 
county and township tax collector for several 
years. He is a man of generous impulses, and 
is one of the most prominent farmers in Arm- 
strong county. On Dec. 19, 1840, he married 
Lucinda C. Hill, daughter of Jacob Hill, of 
Parks township. To them have been born 



456 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



fourteen children, seven sons and seven daugh- 
ters, ten of whom are still living : Robert G., a 
farmer in Parks township ; Hannah, Delia C, 
wife of T. J. Elwood ; Jacob H., John W., en- 
gineer in the West Penn steel-works ; Phcebe B., 
wife of S. C. Boal ; Thomas J., William F., a 
dentist in St. Louis, Mo. ; Sydney Paul and 
Edmiston B., a teacher. Hon. Jacob Hill 
(maternal grandfather) was, at different times 
in his life, a hotel-keeper, a merchant and a 
successful farmer of Parks township, and served 
two terms in the State legislature, to which he 
was elected by the Democratic party. He died 
in 1876, at the age of seventy -six years. 

Jacob H. Parks attended Leechburg academy, 
and then assisted his father on the farm for 
some time. In 1873 he entered the drug- 
store of Dr. Lutz, in Allegheny city, asaclerk, 
and in 1875 formed a partnership with Dr. 
John Carson, of Leechburg, under the firm- 
name of Parks & Carson. They engaged in 
the drug business and owned and conducted 
two drug-stores, one at Leechburg and the 
other at Millerstown, in the oil region. After 
the death of Dr. Carson, in 1880, he became 
sole proprietor of the store at Leechburg, and 
keeps a large and varied stock of the best 
and purest drugs, while his constant efforts to 
please have been the foundation of the large 
patronage he enjoys. 

On September 30, 1875, he married Mary 
C. Taylor, daughter of John Taylor (see his 
sketch). To their union have been born seven 
children, five of wliom are living : Ora B., 
Lucy Blanche, Clarence Carson, Julia Taylor 
and John Bratton. 

Jacob H. Parks is a democrat in politics, a 
member of the Leechburg Presbyterian church, 
and has been leader of the church choir for 
several years. He is one of the useful and 
respected citizens of Leechburg. 



JOHN SCHWALM, a native of the old 
world's mightiest empire, who has carved 
out for himself a successful and honorable 
career in the new world's greatest republic by 
industry, energy and integrity, is recognized as 
one of the most substantial business men of 
Armstrong county. Prominently identified 
with the industrial life of Leechburg since the 
Centennial year of American Independence, 
Mr. Schwalra has become one of the main 
factors in the prosperity of that live borough. 
John Schwalm was born in Hesse-Cassel, Prus- 
sia, February 27, 1835, and is a son of John 
George and Catharine Elizabeth (Koehler) 
Schwalm. His father came, in 1852, to Parks 
township, where he bought a small farm and has 
been engaged in its cultivation ever since. 

John Schwalm received his education at 
Marburg, Hesse-Cassel, and was intended for the 
ministry by his parents. He came to America 
with his father in 1852, landing at New York, 
August 14th, and coming immediately as far west- 
ward as Leechburg. Having determined to win 
honorable .standing and a respectable compe- 
tency in the land of his adoption, he accepted the 
first honest employment which came to his hand 
and engaged as a laborer on the Allegheny 
Valley railroad. He next worked for his 
father a few years and in 1863 embarked in 
the mercantile business, which he followed with 
increasing success until 1871, when he formed a 
partnership with W. H. Carnahan, under the 
firm-name of Schwalm & Carnahan, and pur- 
chased what is known as Cochran's Mill, in 
Burrell township. They pursued the mercan- 
tile and milling business until the fall of 1876, 
when Mr. Schwalm came to Leechburg and 
purchased the Hill mill property and the home- 
stead of David Leech, the founder of the town. 
He immediately erected a new mill on the site 
of the old one, in which he did a successful 
business until it was swept away by ice in 1881. 
In 1887 he erected his present large two-story 
mercantile establishment and somewhat later 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



457 



purchased and rebuilt the Ulam Hotel, now 
known as the Schwalm House. He has a one- 
half interest in the Elwood flouring-niill (old 
Leech mill), is part owner of three coal-mines 
in Westmoreland county not far from Leech- 
burg and owns three Armstrong county farms. 
In addition to his large mercantile, milling, 
hotel, coal and farming interests he has invested 
in various other business enterprises. In poli- 
tics Mr. Schwalm is a democrat, and on account 
of his strength and great popularity in the 
county, he was nominated, in 1882, by his 
party for the assembly. Notwithstanding the 
county was republican by six hundred majority, 
and that that party made a strenuous effort to 
secure their usual vote, yet Mr. Schwalm lacked 
but sixteen votes of being elected. He is a 
member of Leechburg Lodge, No. 577, F. & 
A. Masons, Orient Chapter, No. 247, R. A. M., 
Leechburg Lodge, No. 437, I. O. O. F., and 
Burrell Grange. 

In 1854 he married Sarah Small, who was a 
daughter of Jacob Small, an early settler of 
what is now Bethel township and died July 14, 
1883. They were the parents of nine children : 
Catherine Elizabeth (Carson), Anna Mary 
(Taylor), John Jr., who read law with Atty.- 
Gen. Brewster; Matthew, Margaret, Matilda, 
Sarah Amanda, Ida Louisa, Charles Bismark 
and Edward Walter. On April 13, 1887, Mr. 
Schwalm united in marriage with Rebecca A. 
Christy, who was a daughter of John Christy, 
of Manor township, and died January 14, 1890. 

John Schwalm has been a member of the 
Presbyterian church for many years and is a 
genial, courteous and obliging gentleman. His 
life has been one of constant activity and contin- 
ned success and his character is above the breath 
of suspicion. Honest, honorable, just and charita- 
ble he is deservedly popular. Mr. Schwalni's ca- 
reer has been fittingly described by one who is well 
able to speak from personal knowledge and who 
says: "His property has all been accumulated 
by his own exertion and enterprise, and his 



quite phenomenal prosperity, extending and in- 
creasing through a period of more than forty 
years, marks him as a man of unusual ability, 
judgment and industry. He is in all respects 
worthy of the success he has achieved. He has 
done a great deal, directly and indirectly, to 
advance the interests of Leechburg. He is 
liberal and public-spirited, and always one of 
the foremost in any enterprise for the good of 
the community." 



WILLIAM JOHN STEELE. Among the 
'^ * manufacturing companies which are emi- 
nently deserving of especial notice in a record 
of the great industries of Pennsylvania is the 
Leechburg Foundry and Machine company, 
svhose career of prosperity has been remarkable 
under the management of its experienced busi- 
ness manager, William John Steele, — a man of 
high commercial standing. He was born on 
the old Steele homestead, si.x miles south of 
Oakland X Roads in Washington township, 
Westmoreland county, Penn.sylvania, October 
1, 1849, and is a son of Absalom and Susan 
(Kistler) Steele. The Steele family is among 
the early settled families west of the AUeghc- 
nies. James Steele (great-grandfather) was a 
native of Ireland, and came to Westmoreland 
comity in an early day. His son, Joseph Steele, 
was born in that county, and became an exten- 
sive land-owner and prosperous farmer. He 
married Barbara Blystone, by whom he had 
nine children. Their youngest child was Ab- 
salom Steele (father), who was born south of 
Oakland X Roads, July 15, 1820, and is still 
living in the enjoyment of good health. He 
has always been successfully engaged in farm- 
ing and stock-raising. He is a member and 
officer of the Reformed church. He is a man 
of strong views and good general information, 
and stands well in the community where he 
resides. A republican from conviction, Mr. 
Steele is not an extremist, and has held the var- 



458 



mOOBAPHLES OF 



ious offices of his township. He was a soldier 
for a short time in the late war. He married 
Susau Kistler, who was a daughter of Michael 
Kistler, and died December 23, 1886. To 
them were born twelve sons and one daughter, 
of whom twelve are living. j 

William J. Steele was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native township and Del- 
mont academy. Leaving the academy, he taught ; 
four terms in the common schools, — three in 
Washington, and one in Salem township, ^ 
Westmoreland county. In March, 1874, he j 
became a member of the firm of Alcorn, Lauf- 
fer & Steele. Two and one-half years later he 
withdrew, and was a clerk for one year for G. I 
L. Pfeifer, of Apollo. He next purchased an ^ 
interest in the store known as the " Mill Store," 
which he conducted for a time with H. G. 
George for a partner, then became sole proprie- 
tor, and finally disposed of his building and 
goods to jjurchase the large Rugh farm, near 
Oakland X Roads, in Westmoreland county. 
After eighteen months' farming, he sold his 
farm, and in November, 1881, came to Leech- | 
burg, where he foi-raed a partnership with ] 
Daniel Bowers, and they were engaged in the 
general mercantile business for several years. 
At the end of that time he purchased Mr. 
Bowers' interest, and continued to conduct the ' 
store with the best of success until April 1, 
1889, when he sold, in order to accept his 
present important position as business manager ] 
of the Leechburg Foundry and Machine com- 
pany, in which he and the president, W. A. 
Cochran, are the two heaviest stockholders. 
The company was incorporated October 11, 
1887, and enlarged and built to the old works, 
which they purchased. In March, 1888, their 
entire plant was destroyed by fire; but they 
soon erected their present fine works, which 
are very capacious, covering a large area ol' 
ground and fully equipped with all modern 
improvements, as well as furnished with the 
latest improved machinery. Their mill, blast 



furnaces and foundries turn out principally 
heavy work, such as steel-works and rolling- 
mill machinery, rolls and ingot molds. The 
products of these works are in steady and ex- 
tensive demand, owing to their general excel- 
lence, and the company is hard pressed to fill 
the orders which are constantly pouring in 
upon it. This company have a capital stock of 
$100,000, and employ from one hundred to 
one hundred and fifty men, and its unexpected 
prosperity is, in a considerable degree, attrib- 
uted to the clear-headed and successful business 
management of Mr. Steele. The office of the 
company is in the Lewis block, Pittsburgh, 
and is connected with the works by telephone. 
The officers are W. A. Cochran, president; 
George Mesta, vice-president ; W. D. Rowan, 
secretary, and R. R. Moore, treasurer. 

October 23, 1875, Mr. Steele united in mar- 
riage with Jennie Spear, daughter of Armour 
Spear, of Oakland X Roads, Westmoreland 
county. They have had seven children, — four 
sous and three daughters : Ethel, Etta, Cliffiird, 
Banks, Maurice, Edgar and Irma. 

W. J. Steele is a member of the Leechburg 
Presbyterian church, and has always been rec- 
ognized as a good citizen and an honorable, 
progressive business man. In politics he is a 
protection or high-tariif republican, who be- 
lieves in a strong protective tariff as being the 
only means to fully develop and successfully 
maintain American industries and manufactu- 
ring interests. 



MILLARD F. TAYLOR, a leading drug- 
gist of Leechburg, is a son of John and 
Julia Ann (Bair) Taylor, and was born at 
Leechburg, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
December 24, 1856. His grandfather, Mat- 
thew Taylor, was born in Lancashire, England 
in 1793, came to Westmoreland county in 1819 
and ten years later removed to Leechburg, 
where he followed tailoring for many years, and 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



459 



where he died April 24, 1881. One of his 
sons, John Taylor (father), was born in West- 
moreland county, August 24, 1824, and has 
been a tanner and harness-maker all his life. 
He is a conscientious and liberal member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he 
has been Sunday-school superintendent and 
class leader for many years. He was always a 
strong anti-slavery man and has served as 
school director and member of the town coun- 
cil. On February 21, 1850, he married Julia 
Ann Bair, a daughter of Joiin Bair, of West- 
moreland county. To them were born seven 
children : George B., an employe of the Passaic 
rolling-mill of Patterson, N. J. ; Mary C. 
wife of J. H. Parks ; Millard F. ; Harriet C 
wife of S. M. ilcCracken, and Charles G. 
William L. and John S., who are employed in 
the rolling-mill at Leechburg. Mrs. Taylor 
died in 1885, at the age of fifty-two years, and 
Mr. Taylor married for his second wife, Anna 
M. Whitlinger, of Butler. 

Millard F. Taylor was reared at Leechburg, 
where he attended the public schools and then 
learned tiie trade of tanner. At the age of 
fifteen years he was employed in the drug store 
of John P. Ivepple as a clerk and served as such 
until 1874. During the next year he was em- 
ployed in tiie rolling-mill as engineer, and from 
1875 to 1877 he followed the business of paint- 
ing. He attended the public schools in the 
winter until 1877, when he went to the oil 
region and took charge of a large drug store as 
manager. This position he held until 1880, 
when he came back to Leechburg, where he was 
employed as a clerk in the general mercantile 
store of Schwalm & Bowers until 1882, when 
he became a partner with John Schwalm in the 
general mercantile business. In 1886 he opened 
a drug store on the corner of First and Market 
streets, at Leechburg, where he has continued 
successfully ever since. He carries a full line 
of drugs, paints, chemicals and druggists' sun- 
dries, and has built up a good trade. 



On September 20, 1878, he married Anna 
Marie Schwalm, second daughter of John 
Schwalm, of Leechburg (whose sketch appears 
in this volume). Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have 
three children, two sons and one daughter : 
Royal and Raymond, born in 1879, and 
Helen, born April 5, 1885. 

He is one of the board of trustees of the 
Leechburg Methodist Episcopal church, and 
was chairman of the building committee when 
the present church edifice was erected. He is a 
republican and has been a clerk of tlie borough 
council lor the past two years. lie is a member 
of Leechburg Lodge, No. 651, Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, Leechburg Council, No. 
221, Junior Order of United American Me- 
chanics, and Allegheny Council, No. 27, Amer- 
ican Lesrion of Honor. 



TOHN TAYLOR. Among the oldest resi- 
^ dents of Leechburg, if not perhaps the 
oldest, is John Taylor, who has been promi- 
nently identified with the industries of that 
thriving borough since 1848. lie is the son of 
Matthew and Elizabeth (Crawford) Taylor, and 
was born near "Burnt Mills," in AVestmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1824. The 
Taylor family is of English descent and its 
members have been remarkable for their long- 
evity. One of them, John Taylor (grandfather), 
was a tall man, of fine physique, and lived and 
died in Lancashire, England. His son, Mat- 
thew Taylor (father), was born in 1793, and in 
1819 came to Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- 
vania. He had learned the trade of weaver and 
tailor in England, and followed tailoring diu-- 
iug part of his life-time. In 1829 or 1830 he 
came to the vicinity of Leechburg, which at 
that time contained only about six houses. He 
came on one of the first freight boats which ran 
on the Pennsylvania canal, and after settling at 
Leechburg worked for several years on the 
canal as a laborer. In 1833 he bought two 



460 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



town-lots at Leechburg, on one of which he 
built himself a dwelling, in which he lived 
until his death, on April 24, 1881. He was a 
genial companion, quick at repartee, fond of a 
joke and possessed of a natural ability for rhym- 
ing. He was a whig, but after that political 
party was disbanded he joined the republicans. 
He was a consistent member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. He married Elizabeth Craw- 
ford, who was a daughter of Mathias Crawford, 
of Westmoreland county, and lived to be seven- 
ty-seven years of age. To their union were 
born thirteen children, six of whom are living, 
and two of whom, David and Dallas, .servetl in 
the Union army during the late war. 

John Taylor was reared at Leechburg, attend- 
ed the subscription schools of that town, and 
then learned the trade of tanner and harness- 
maker with S. S. Whitlinger, who owned a 
large tannery. In 1848 he purchased Mr. 
Whitlinger's property, and successfully operated 
the tannery until 1888, when he gave up tan- 
ning, and since that time has given his whole 
attention to harness-making. While engaged 
in tanning he carried on an extensive business, 
employing several journeymen and apprentices. 

He has been twice married. His first wife, 
whom he married February 21, 1850, was Julia 
Ann Bair, a daughter of Joiin Bair, of West- 
moreland county, by whom he had seven chil- 
dren. She died April 19, 1885, when in the 
fifty-third year of her age. (See sketch of M. 
F. Taylor.) On October 6, 1886, he married 
Anna M. Whitlinger, daughter of John Whit- 
linger, of Butler county. 

John Taylor is a prominent and useful mem- 
ber of the Methodi.st Episcopal church, and was 
an extremely liberal contributor to the erection 
of the first church of that denomination that 
was built at Leechburg. He has always taken 
a deep interest in religious matters and ha.s 
served his church, at different times, as class- 
leader, steward, trustee and Sunday-school su- 
perintendent. In politics he was an old-line 



whig until 1856, when he joined the republican 
party, which he has supported ever since. He 
has served as school director and member of the 
borough council. No man takes a deeper in- 
terest in the material welfare of Leechburg than 
Mr. Taylor. He conducts his business on a 
cash basis, and is plain, unpretending and 
straightforward as a man. Honorable and hon- 
est in business, he owes his success in life to his 
own energy and industry. 



GEORGE W. THOMPSON, the active and 
efficient passenger and freight agent of the 
W. P. railway, at Leechburg, was born at Circle- 
viile, North Huntingdon township, Westmore- 
land county, Pennsylvania, in 1854. He is the 
eldest son of Robert and Jane (Mackrell) 
Thompson. His grandfather, William Thomp- 
.son, was born in Westmoreland county. He 
was a farmer, living near Irwin. He was an 
active member of the Presbyterian church, and 
in politics was a democrat. He died when in 
the seventy-eighth year of his age. His wife 
was Anna Pettigrew, by whom he had three 
sons, Robert, and Joseph and Alexander (twins), 
all of whom were soldiers in the civil war. 
These sons have all left the political faith of 
their father, and invariably vote the republican 
ticket. Mrs. Thompson died July 24, 1890, at 
the age of eighty-three years. Robert Thomp- 
son (father) was born at Circleville, North Hun- 
tingdon township, in 1823, and was a cabinet- 
maker and undertaker by trade. He followed 
this business most of his life. Very soon after 
moving from Circleville to Blairsville, Indiana 
county, in 1863, he enlisted in a regiment of Pa. 
Vols., and served until 1 865, when he was honor- 
ably discharged. He contracted a chronic disease 
in the .service, for which he draws a pension. 
He was a member of the old whig part}', and 
after it was broken up joined the republican 
ranks. He is now serving his second term as 
justice of the peace, at Blairsville, and is highly 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



461 



respected for his intelligence and good judgment. 
He is a sincere member of the United Presby- 
terian church. He married Jane Mackrell, 
daughter of James Mackrell, of Allegheny 
county, who was compelled to leave Ireland 
during the Irish rebellion, narrowly escaping 
capture on several occasions while trying to get 
out of the country. Mr. and Mrs. Tiiompson 
have had eight children, of whom five are living. 
Of these are : Mary, George W., Jennie, wife of 
S. J. Robinsou, of Saltsbiu'g ; Elmer E., in the 
railway service ; and Norval N., assistant weigh- 
raaster at Blairsville, who married and has two 
children. 

George W. Thompson received his education 
in the public schools of Blairsville, Since the 
age of thirteen he has been in the railway ser- 
vice, most of the time in Pennsylvania, but in 
1881 and 1882 he was in the west. For the 
past twenty-one years he has been in the employ 
of the Pennsylvania railroad company as station 
agent at Saltsburg, weighniaster at Blairsville, 
and since 1886 passenger and freight agent at 
Leechburg, an important .station on the road. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and 
votes the republican ticket. 

On December 11, 1885, he married Cecelia 
Clark, daughter of George W. Clark, a hotel- 
keeper of New Florence, Westmoreland county. 

By retaining George W. Thompson in their 
employ so many years, the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road company has thereby shown its apprecia- 
tion of his fiithful and efficient services and has 
indorsed him as an honest, reliable man. 



WILLIAM PETER TOWNSEND, a well- 
established business man of Leechburg 
and a descendant of one of the early settled and 
most substantial families of Armstrong county, 
is a son of Joseph and Martha (Ulam) Town- 
send, and was born on the old Townsend home- 
stead farm, in Kiskiminetas township, Arm- 



strong county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1827. 
At an early day in the history of Northampton 
county the Townsend family came from England 
and settled within its borders. Among its de- 
scendants were three brothel's, Joseph, Isaac and 
John. The second brother, Isaac Townsend 
(grandfather), was born in 1761 and came to 
what is now Kiskimineta.s township in 1786. 
He was one of the pioneer settlers of that section 
and understood tanning, carpentering and cabi- 
net-making as well as fiirming. lie worked, as 
occasion demanded, at each of his different 
trades. He farmed for several years with his 
gun always near him, frequently went with his 
family to the Hannastown fort on account of 
the Indians, and suffered all tlie privations of 
frontier life. He drilled the first salt wells on 
the Kiskiminetas, became the wealthiest man 
in his section and at his death, left a large 
farm to each of his seven sons : Isaac, John, 
Robert, AVilliam, Henry, Richard and Joseph. 
He married Rachel King, of Northampton 
county, who was born in 1762 and lived to be 
ninety-two yeai-s of age. They had thirteen 
children, of whom six were daughters. Polly, 
one of these daughters, was the wife of Simon 
Turney, an uncle of Hon. Jacob Turucy, of 
Greensburg, Pa. ; and another, Susan, married 
Daniel Ulam. Joseph Townsend (father) was 
born on the home farm August 30, 1707. He 
followed farming besides having a store at Dam 
No. 3, on the river. In 1860 he removed to 
Jackson county, Kansas, where he died Novem- 
ber 8, 1863. He was a successful I)usiness man, 
a democrat in polities and an elder in the 
Lutheran church, of which his father had been 
a prominent member. He had served continu- 
ously for many years in the most important 
township offices. He married Martha Ulam, 
daughter of Daniel Ulam, and who was born 
May 16, 1800, and died in 1865. They were 
the parents of ten children, of whom six are 
living: Laban, a merchant of Apollo; W. P., 
D. U., and S. B., farmers of Kansas ; and 



462 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Amanda and Hannah E., wives of William and 
Francis Bedker, of Kansas. Those deceased 
were Diana E. (Timms), Catherine, Amelia and 
Laviua. 

William P. Townsend was reared on a farm 
and received his education in the old subscrip- 
tion and early free schools of the county. Leav- 
ing school, he was engaged for some time in 
farming and then embarked in the mercantile 
business at Dam No. 3, whicli he followed for 
several years. He left merchandising to pur- 
chase the packet-boat "Indiana," which he ran 
two years and then re-embarked in the mercan- 
tile business. In 1880 he came to Leechburg, 
where he engaged in his present grocery, queens- 
ware and cutlery business. His store room is 
commodious and well arranged for the large 
stock of goods which he displays. His aim has 
been to please and satisfy his customers, and how 
well he has succeeded is attested by the popular- 
ity of his house and the large trade which he 
enjoys. He is a democrat in political opinion. 
He is conspicuous for promptness and energy 
and is well qualified for the business in which 
he is engaged. 

December 2.3, 1851, he married Belle Claw- 
son, a daughter of Peter Clawson, the grand- 
father of Sheriff Lucian Clawson, of Westmore- 
land county. They have been the parents of 
.seven children : Thomas T., born October 19, 
1852, an excellent machinist and in the employ 
of the Westinghouse company, of Pittsburgh ; 
Lucy N., born December 12, 1854, and wife of 
Lewis Clawson ; Daniel H., born December 27, 
1857; Joseph T.,who died in 1889; Kate, Eva, 
wife of Rev. W. J. Miller, pastor of the First 
Lutheran church of Leechburg; and William S., 
who was born February 16, 1869, and is en- 
gaged witli the wholesale grocery house of R. C. 
Orr, of Pittsburgh, Pa. 



THOMAS J. VAN GIESEN, ex-sheriff and 
ex-district attorney of Forest county and 
a successful member of the Armstrong county 
bar, now resident of Leechburg, is a self-made 
man and has been pre-eminently the architect 
of his own fortune. He was born on his father's 
farm, in President township, Venango county, 
Pennsylvania, June 2, 1840, and is the son of 
Thomas J., Sr., and Rhoda (Crane) Van Giesen. 
The family traces its American aucestry to 
New Jersey, where John Van Giesen, the pater- 
nal grandfather of Thomas J. Van Giesen, was 
born and reared. He served in the war of 1812, 
and afterwards removed to Venango county, 
where he followed farming until his death, which 
occurred ^vhen he was eighty-three years of age. 
He married in New Jersey and had two chil- 
dren : Thomas J., Sr., and Lettie, who mar- 
ried and lived in New Jersey until her death. 
Thomas J. Van Giesen, Sr. (father), was born 
in Essex county. New Jersey, in 1797 aud 
removed, in 1838, to President township, Ve- 
nango county, where he purchased a farm on 
the left bank of the Allegheny river and 
resided until his death, in 1849. He was an 
upright and God-fearing man of Quaker belief, 
who was of unassuming disposition, but firm in 
his convictions of right and duty. In political 
matters he affiliated with the Whig party. He 
was a man who strictly attended to his own busi- 
ness affairs. He married Rhoda Crane, a daugh- 
ter of Thomas Crane, of New Jersey, and reared 
a family of six sons aud seven daughters. Mi-s. 
Van Giesen died in 1853, aged fif^y-two years. 
Thomas J. Van Giesen was reared on the 
home farm until he was thirteen years of age, 
when, both of his parents being dead, he went out 
into the world to fight the battle of life for him- 
self. W^ithout either friends or influence, he 
worked at whatever a boy could secure, and 
after beingemployedona farm two or three years, 
he went, when only sixteen years ofage, to the oil 
region, where he became an oil driller. When 
the late war commenced he left that busiuess^ 



AmrSTRONG COUNTY. 



463 



enliste<l as a private, on August 19, 1861, in 
Co. G, 83d regiment, Pa. Vols., and served 
until 1865, when he was mustered out as first lieu- 
tenant of his company. He was twice wounded, 
the first time .severely at Malvern Hill and the 
second time was struck in the head by a bullet, 
in front of Petersburg, on the 19th of June, 
1864. At the close of the war he returned to 
the oil region,' where he was engaged for several 
years in the oil business. In 1871 he removed 
to Forest county, of which he was elected sheriff 
in 1873. At the end of his term of office he 
read law, was admitted to the bar in 1878, and 
four years later was elected district attorney of 
that county. He discharged the duties of that 
office in a very acceptable manner. When his 
term expired (1885) he removed to Edeuburg, 
Clarion county, where he practiced his profes- 
sion successfully for three years. He then 
cameto Ijeechburg, where he is rapidly building 
up a good practice. 

December 22, 1 868, he married Cynthia E. 
Sloan, daughter of Samuel S. Sloan, a promi- 
nent contractor of Tionesta, Pa. They have 
three children living : Anna Maud, T. Tjee, 
and W. R. Dunn. Mrs. Van Giesen is a mem- 
ber of the M. E. church. She is an active 
business woman, and conducts a lai'ge millinery 
store at licechburg. 

Tliomas J. Van Giesen is a member and 
the class leader of the M. E. church of Ijeech- 
burg. He is a republican in politics, a strong 
and active worker in the cause of temperance, 
and a member of Forest Lodge, No. 184, A. O. 
U. Vi., and Leechburg Council, No. 1045, 
Royal Arcanum. He is one of the many veter- 
ans of the .\rmy of the Potomac, who have their 
names on the roll of the Grand Army of the 
Republic. Three of his brothers were in the 
army with him : John H., who was a .sergeant, 
was twice wounded and died in a Confederate 
prison ; Charles C. and Ira. Mr. Van Giesen 
is a plain, nnas'^iiming man, a good lawyer and 
ft respected citizen. 



MARTIN LUTHER WANAMAKER, the 
proprietor of the gas fitters' supply store 
at Leechburg, is a son of John and Margaret 
(Wegley) Wanamaker, and was born at Leech- 
burg, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, Febru- 
ary 12, 1849. His great-grandfather, Wana- 
maker, was born in (icrmany, but emigrated 
from the Fatherland to Westmoreland county, 
wiiere he afterwards died. His son, Henry 
W^anamaker (grandfather), was born in 1792, 
and in 1813 removed to Allegheny township, this 
county, and bought a farm on which he 
remained until his death. He was a quiet, in- 
du.strious farmer and wa.s one of the elders 
of Zion Evangelical Lutheran church when it 
wasorganized. He married Susannah Silves,and 
died Augu,st 7, 1860, in the .sixty-ninth year of 
his age. Mrs. Wanamaker was born in 1794, 
and died January 14, 1880, at the advanced age 
of eighty-six years. They had ten children: 
John, Elizabeth, Annie, Cyrus, James, Henry, 
Joseph, George, Esther and Caroline. The 
eldest son, John Wanamaker (father), was born 
on his father's farm, about four miles west of 
Leechburg, February 22, 1812, and during his 
youth worked on the fiirm. He learned the 
trade of cabinet-maker and about 1 840 engaged 
in the furniture and undertaking business at 
Leechburg. In I860 he sold his furniture 
establishment and embarked in the general mer- 
cantile business, which he followed for some 
time. He then becsime proprietor of a drug 
store, which he conducted for eight or ten years. 
In 1870 he formed a partnership with his son, 
M. L. Wanamaker, and engaged in the furni- 
ture business. Nine years later he retired from 
the business and for the last ten years has lived 
a retired life. Some twelve years ago he was 
bitten by a dog and has suffered considerablv 
from the bite, which has never healed. He is a 
member of the general council of the Evangeli- 
cal Lutheran church, and is devoted to the 
interests of the Democratic party. On May 31, 
1 838, he married Margaret Wegley, who is a 



464 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTBONO COUNTY. 



daughter of John and Catherine (Beck) Wegley, ; 
and was born January 25, 1814, in Burrell 
townsliip, of which lier parents Mere early 
settlers. To Mr. and Mrs. Wanamaker have ' 
been born seven children : Mary Ann, born 
July 28, 1839, and died May 11, 1863 ; James, ■ 
born June 21, 1841, and died the same year ; 
Sarah, born July 2, 1842, and died the same | 
year; Eliza, born June 23,1844, and married to 
Henry Byrer, of Shelbj', Ohio ; Emma, born 
October 21,1847, wife of Levi Hill ; Martin i 
Luther, and Elizabeth, born October 4, 1851, 
and wife of Joseph Bowers, of Leechburg, now 
dealing in oil in Venango county. 

Martin L. Wanamaker attended the public 
schools of Leechburg, and then engaged with 
his father in the furuitui-e business. From 
1877 to 1879 he conducted a photographic ' 
gallery in connection with his furniture estab- ' 



lishment. In 1879 he and his father disposed 
of the furniture store, and he engaged in the 
confectionery business, on Market street. On 
January 1,1889, he opened a general gas fitters' 
supply store, and has since been engaged in gas 
fitting. He has secured a large patronage and 
is constantly increasing his trade. 

February 4, 1880, he united in marriage with 
Sarah Jane Artman, daughter of John Artman, 
of Armstrong county. Mr. and Mrs. Wana- 
maker have two children : Emma Irene and 
Effii Thirza. 

Originally Mr. Wanamaker was a democrat, 
liut joined the Republican party in 1884, cast- 
ing his first republican vote for James G. 
Blaine. He is a good business man and fine 
mechanic, being fully up to the times in every- 
thing connected with liis present line of busi- 



ness. 



rHEEPORT. 



Historical and Descriptive. — Freeport is a 
prosperous borough situateil on the west bauk of 
the Allegheny river, twenty-eight miles north 
of Pittsburgii, at the confluence of Buffalo creek 
with the above-named river. It was laid out by 
William and David Todd in 1796, and was in- 
corporated as a borough on April 8, 1833. It is 
supposed that a detachment of the French soldiers 
who evacuated Fort Duquesne in 1758 camped 
on its site for several months. Prior to 1792 
Craig's block-house was built on what is now 
Water street, and but a short distance down the 
river stood Reed's Station, near which the In- 
dians captured Mrs. Massey Harbison, whose 
captivity and sufferings have so often been 
related in the histories of the frontier. In 
1807 it contained but eight houses, but boat- 
building was inaugurated that year by Captain 
Edward Hart, of Boston, and by 1832 it con- 
tained over fifty dwellings. The Pennsylvania 
canal was then constructed through the town, 
and it increased rapidly in population and 
wealth, until its growth was checked for a time 
by the closing of the canal. Its present pros- 
perity dates from the building of the West 
Pennsylvania railroad through it, and the con- j 
struction of the Butler Branch of the above- 
named railroad. In 1820 salt-water and oil 
were obtained in a well sunk on the Allegheny 
river just opposite the borough, and iu 1857 
J. A. McCullough and W. S. Ralston shut off 
the salt-water and began pumping the oil. 
From 1830 to 1855 ice-cutting for the southern 
market was prosecuted very successfully. The i 
post-office was established iu 1806, with Jacob ■ 



Weaver as postmaster. Its population from 
1850 to 1880 is given by the census reports as 
follows: 1,073, 1,701, 1,640, and 1,614. In 
1855 it had two schools running five and one-half 
months, with four teachers and an enrollment 
of four hundred and sixty five pupils. Free- 
port w;is the prospective ciipital in 1845 of the 
then projected county of Madison. 

Freeport was first known as Toddstown, but 
David Todd, its founder, had intended the town 
to always be a free port for all river craft, and 
accordingly named it Freeport, under which 
name it was incorporated. The first physician 
was Dr. C. G. Snowden, who came in 1830, and 
the earliest resident lawyer was James Stewart. 
In 1855 Williamson & Rhey established a 
distillery, which in 1866 passed into the hands 
of Guckenheimcr Bros., whose Freeport distil- 
leries to-day constitute the largest manufactur- 
ing liquor plant in the United States. Their 
plant covers thirty acres of ground, and has a 
capacity of five thousand gallons of whiskey 
per day. They employ one hundred and fifty 
men, and use twelve hundred bushels of rye 
every twenty-four hours. 

The Presbyterian church was organized prior 
to 1825. The Associate Presbyterian and St. 
Mary's Catholic churches were formed about 
1826. The Baptist was organized December 11, 
1830. The Methodist Episcopal in 1833, the 
Lutheran, 1835, and the Associate Reformed in 
1850. Freeport numbers among its prominent 
industries the Long lumber and planing mills, 
the Freeport planing mill, and the Freeport 
flouring mills. 

465 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



JAMES W. CRAIG, treasurer aud general 
manager of the Buffalo Milling company, 
aud one of the energetic business men of Free- 
port, was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., Jan- 
uary 10, 1844, and is a son of Isaac and Mar- 
garet (Wolf) Craig. His paternal grandfather, 
Alexander Craig, was born and reared in Ire- 
land, from which he emigrated to the United 
States when he was a young man. He lot;ated 
in Venango county, where he was engaged in 
farming until his death. His son, Isaac Craig 
(father), was born in 1807. After he grew up 
to manhood he removed to Westmoreland 
county and purchased a packet-boat, which he 
ran for many years between Hollidaysburg and 
Pittsburgh, on the old Pennsylvania canal. He 
was a life-long democrat and died at Blairsville, 
Indiana county, on May 28, 1866. He mar- 
ried Margaret Wolf, who was born at Blairs- 
ville in 1817. She is a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church, and resides now at 
Freeport. To Mr. and Mrs. Craig were born 
ten children, of whom six are living. 

From two years of age until manhood 
James W. Craig was reared on a farm near 
Chambersburg, in Franklin county. He re- 
ceived his education in the public schools of 
Chambersburg, and was variously employed 
until 1878, when he came to Freeport. He 
secured a position on the telegraph repair line 
along the West Pennsylvania railroad. At tiie 
end of two years' service in that capacity he 
was given a position in the motive power de- 
partment, which he held till 1886. He was 
then employed as an engineer by the Buffalo 
Milling company, and after one year's faithful 
service as such he was made treasurer aud 
general manager of the company, which posi- 
tion he still occupies. 

On October 1, 1868, he united in marriage 
with Mary C. Shuman, daughter of xidam 
Shuman, of Franklin county, Pa. To this 



union has been born one child, a daughter : 
Emma U. 

James W. Craig has always been a democrat, 
and is now serving as treasurer of the school 
board of South Buffalo township, on whose 
territory he really resides, although he is in 
one of the unincorporated .suburbs of Freeport. 
He is a member and deacon of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church, and a member of Freeport 
Lodge, No. 379, I. O. O. F. 'He is a stock- 
holder in the Buffalo Milling company, which, 
under his successful raauageraent, has acquired 
a large and extensive trade. 



JAMES EDGHILL, M.D., a graduate of 
the University of Oxford, England, a man 
of intelligence and culture, and a thoughtful, 
observant and successful physician of Freeport, 
was born in Yorkshire, England, November 
29, 18-50, and is a son of Rev. James and Car- 
oline (McCaskey) Edghill. His paternal grand • 
father Edghill, and his maternal grandfather, 
McCaskey, were both natives of England, and 
fiirmers by occupation. His father. Rev. James 
Edghill, was born and reared in Yorkshire, 
where he received his education in the Morav- 
ian training-.school. He then fitted himself for 
the work of tlie Christian ministry in the 
Moravian church. After many years of active 
pastoral labors, during which he had charge of 
.several important churches, he retired from 
regular ministerial work, and now resides in his 
native county. He married Caroline McCaskey, 
of Yorkshire, and to them were born seven 
children, of whom the subject of this sketch is 
the third in order of age. 

James Edghill was reared in Yorkshire, 
where he received his elementary education in 
the Moravian institute. He then entered the 
University of Oxford, and wa,s graduated from 
that famous and grand old institution of learn- 
ing in 187.5. .\fter graduating he was var- 
iously employed in. his native country until 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



467 



1884, when he came to the United States and 
entered the Homoeopathic Medical school, of 
Cleveland, Ohio. He took the full three years' 
course, and was graduated with high standing 
in tlie class of 1887. While pursuing his med- 
ical studies he also attended the hom(eopathic 
hospital, and, by actual practice during the last 
year of his course as au assistant, derived much 
valuable experience in the treatment of diseases. 
The next year after graduating. Dr. Edgliill 
came to Freeport, where he has been engaged 
ever since in the active and successful practice 
of his profession. He is an affable and honor- 
able gentleman, of fine education and good 
address. He is a member of tlie Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. t 



JAMES S. GALLAHER, general agent for 
the widely-known Barnes Safe and Lock 
company, is one of Freeport's active and useful 
business men. He is a son of James J. and 
Susan (McCoach) Gallaher, and was born near 
Dayton, in Wayne township, Armstrong coun- 
ty, Peunsvlvania, December 19, 1855. Of the 
farming class of county Donegal, Ireland, was 
James Gallaher, the grandfatlier of James S. 
Gallaher. In 1825, James Gallaher came to 
Wayne township, where he died on his farm, in 
Dec, 1868, aged seventy-two years. He was a 
member of the Protestant Episcopal church, of 
which his wife and all of his children were 
members. His son, James J. Gallaher, was 
born in county Donegal, in 1821, and died in 
Wayne township, Dec. 30, 1876. He was an 
extensive farmer, an active worker in the Prot- 
estant Episcopal church, and was an ardent sup- 
porter of the Democratic party. He was a 
prominent man in his community and township, 
and married Susan McCoach, who was born in 
couhty Donegal, in 1830, and was brought, 
when six months old, by her parents, to Wavnc 
township. Sill! is an epi.scopalian in religious 
faith, and resides on the home farm. 



James S. Gallaher was reared on the farm, 
and received his education in the common 
schools and Dayton academy. Leaving school, 
he was engaged in farming until 1878, when he 
contracted a spell of sickness from exposure in 
threshing and hulling clover seed. He was 
thus unfitted for business for nearly a year. In 
1870 he opened a livery stable at Kittanning, 
which he conducted until 1886, when he en- 
gaged as a general agent with the Barnes 
Safe & Lock company, of Pittsburgh, Pa., and 
has held that position until the present time. 
In April, 1888, he came to Freeport, where he 
has resided ever since. He owns two farms in 
the county, upon which he has tenant farmers. 
He is also engaged in oil production, and has a 
number of paying wells besides being interested 
in several other business enterprises. 

He united in marriage, on June 5, 1887, 
with Sarah A. Jones, daughter of Michael and 
Sarah Jones, of Kittanning, this county. 

James S. Gallaher is a vestryman of Free- 
port Protestant Episcopal church, and a mem- 
ber of Freeport Lodge, No. 379, I. O. O. F. 
He is a good business man, and has always 
been popular with the public and all with 
whom he has had dealinsrs. He is a democrat 
politically. In 1882, Mr. Gallaher was honored 
by his party with the nomination for sheriff, 
and such was his popularity, that he came 
within one hundred and eighty-five votes of 
being successful, when Armstrong county was 
republican by fifteen hundred majority. 



TSAAC GUCKENHEIMER, one of the 
-■- yoimg, progressive business men of Pitts- 
burgh and the general superintendent at Free- 
port of A. Guckcuhcimcr & Bros., distilleries, 
the largest manufacturing liquor plant in the 
United States, is a sou of Asher and Ida (Wise) 
Guckenheimer, and was born in Allegheny, 
Allegheny county, Penn.sylvania, May 4, 1862. 
Asher Guckenheimer was born in 1825, in 



468 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Germany, where he was reared to manhood and 
where he married Ida Wise. In 1853 he came to 
Allegheny city, this State, where he was engaged 
for five years in droving. He next embarked in ' 
the wholesale grocery business, which he followed 
but a short time and then became a member of 
the present firm of A. Guckenheimer & Bros. 
They engaged in the jobbing liquor business 
and their trade soon became so extensive that, to 
fill their orders, they had to purchase and oper- 
ate a distillery at Freeport. As their trade 
increased the small fivo-barrel. distillery was 
replaced by a larger distillery, and to it has been 
added several more distilleries until to-day A. 
Guckenheimer & Bros, are the largest distillers 
of rye whiskies in the United States. They 
have increased their plant until it covers over 
thirty acres of ground and has a capacity of five 
thousand gallons of whiskey per day. They 
employ one hundred .and fifty men and use 
twelve hundred bushels of vye every tweuty- 
four hours. These distilleries consist of a '< 
splendid .series of buildings, equipped with all | 
the latest apparatus and machinery used in 
liquor manufacturing, and including five pow- 
erful steam engines. The finest of grain is used 
and a liquor is made that has no superior in the 
market for purity. In addition to this plant 
they have, in Butler county and opposite Free- 
port, one of the handsomest distilleries in the 
United States. This distillery is operated un- 
der the name of the Pennsylvania Distilling 
company. A. Guckenheimer & Bros, have 
their offices at Nos. 9-3 and 95 First avenue, 
Pittsburgh. Their hou.se has a well-established 
rejiutation not only throughout the United 
States, but also in Europe and South America, 
to which continents they export va.st quantities 
of their double copper-distilled pure rye whis- 
key. A.sher Guckenheimer is a democrat and 
resides in Allegheny city. His record as one 
of the leading and successful liquor Inisiness 
men of the United States is unparalleled in the 
historv of this State. 



Isaac Guckenheimer was reared in Allegheny 
and received his education in the Western uni- 
versity of that city and the New York college 
of New York city. Leaving college, he en- 
gaged in the liquor business with his father and 
has worked his way up to his present important 
position of general superintendent of the distil- 
leries at Freeport. 

On October 12, 1887, Mr. Guckenheimer 
unite<^l in marriage with Mamie L. Garson, 
daughter of Leopold Garson, of Rochester, N. 
Y., who is the senior member of the firm of 
Garson, Kerngood & Cii., one of the largest 
clothing manufacturing firms of the Empire 
State. 

In politics Mr. Guckenheimer is a democrat 
and has served twice as a delegate to State 
democratic conventions. He is a member of 
Arm,strong Lodge No. 239, F. & A. M., and 
resides in Allegheny city. 



NICHOLAS ISEMAN, one of the proprie- 
tors of one of Freeport's large flour and 
feed stores, prospected successfully for gold in 
California in 1856 and served faithfully as a 
Union .soldier in the late war. He is a son of 
George and Susan Iseman, and was born in 
South Buffalo township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, February 15, 1836. Nicholas 
Iseman (grandfather) was of German origin and 
came, at an early day, from eastern Pennsyl- 
vania into what is now South Buffalo township, 
where he died on his farm, in 1839, at sixty 
years of age. George Iseman (Nicholas' father) 
was born in 1801 and died July 23, 1861. He 
was a life-long resident and prosperous farmer 
of South Buffalo township. He was a lutheran 
and a democrat and married Susan Hollibaugh, 
a native of South Buffalo township and a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church, who diet! April 29, 
1861, aged 55 years, 6 months and 20 days. 
Their familv consisted of six .sons and five 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



469 



dauglitei-s, of whom two daughters and three 
sons are living. 

Nicholas Isemau was reared on the home 
farm. He attended the common schools and at 
twenty years of age he went to California, where 
he was one of the few who were successful in 
gold-mining. After a stay of two years in the 
Golden State he returned home, where he was 
engaged in farming until Feb. 28, 1864, when 
he enlistetl in Co. Ti, 14th Pa. Cavalry. He 
was in all the engagements of his regiment from 
the time he enlisted until the war closed. He 
was honorably discharged at Ft. Leavenworth, 
Kansas, July 31, 1865, returned home and was 
variously employed until 1879, when he made 
a second trip to California, but remained only 
eighteen months. At the end of that time he 
returned home again, and in 1883 engaged in 
his present flour and feed business at Freeport. 

October 19, 1858, he united in marriage with 
Eliza Frantz, daughter of Isaac Frantz, of South 
Buffalo township, this coiuity. To this union 
were born seven children, two sons and five 
daughters ; Annie E., Etta E., Rebecca M., 
William A., Minnie O., Maurice E. and Hattie 
B. Mrs. Iseman died December 2, 1878, aged 
thirty-eight years, two months and twelve days. 

Nicholas Iseman is a member of Henry A. 
Weaver Post, No. 32, G. A. R., at Freeport. 
He is a straight republican in politics and has 
been a councilman of his borough since 1888. 
His flour and feed store is on Market street. 
He does a good business, has a large and paying 
patronage and is popular as a business man. 



T LUTHER LONG. One of the most es- 
^ * sential industries in the growth of a town 
is that of the lumber business, and a leading 
and representative lumber manufacturer and 
dealer of Freeport is J. Luther Long. He 
is a son of William A. and Elizabeth A. 
(Cunningham) Long, and was born at Freeport, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, April 15, 



1865. His paternal grandfather, John Long, 
was of German descent. He came, about 
1840, from Westmoreland county to Freeport, 
where he died in 1868, aged seventy -three 
years. He was a carpenter by trade and a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church. His son, William 
A. Long (father), was born in Westmoreland 
county in 1820 and came to Freeport in 1840. 
He is a carpenter and contractor of many years' 
successful experience, and ranks high as a 
skilled workman. He is a republican and a 
lutheran and married Elizabeth Cunningham, 
of this county, who was a membor of the 
Lutheran church and died December 16, 1869, 
at forty-nine years of age. 

J. Luther Long was reared at Freeport, re- 
ceived his education in the public schools and 
learned the trade of carpenter with his father. 
At fifteen years of age he began to work at 
carpentering for himself and has followed it 
ever since. For the last ten yeare he has also 
been engaged in contracting. In 1885 he 
started a planing-mill, which burned down on 
September 23, 1890. In the fall of 1889 he de- 
termined to embark in business upon a larger 
scale, and accordingly opened at first a feed 
store, which venture was succes.sful, and in Sep- 
tember, 1890, he established his present gro- 
cery. To theseditfereut lines of business, which 
he is conducting very successfully, he gives the 
most of his time. 

In politics Mr. Long is a republican of liberal 
views and has been .serving for some time as a 
member of the borough council. He is a mem- 
ber of the Freeport Lutheran church, of which 
he is an elder. Mr. Long manufactures and 
deals in doors, sash, frames, mouldings, brack- 
ets, flooring, siding, shingles, lath, standard 
wall plaster, calcined plaster, lime, cement and 
other building material. He also deals in all 
kinds of country produce, grain, flour, mill 
feed, seeds, baled hay and straw. His office 
and ware-house are on High street above 
Seventh, while his general office and mill are on 



470 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Seventh street and the W. P. R. R. Mr. Long 
has been the architect of his own fortunes in 
life, and the valuable property which he owns 
at Freeport has been honorably acquired by his 
own determined, persistent efforts. 



FRANK MAXLER, president of the Bufialo 
Milling, Freeport Planiug-mill and 
Scheuley Ferry companies and proprietor at 
Freeport of one of the leading merchant tailor- 
ing establishments of the county, ■ is a son of 
John and Barbara (Helbliug) IMaxler, and was 
born at Freeport, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 4, 1844. John Maxler was 
born and reared in Byron, Germany, where he 
learned the trade of stone-mason. He came, in 
1838, to Venango county, where he settled at 
Cherry Tree, on Oil creek, and remained one 
year. He then came to Freeport, which he 
made his residence until his death, which oc- 
curred March 4, 1886, when he was in the 
seventy-sixth year of his age. He followed 
stone-masoning during the summer seasons, 
and worked at coopering during the winters. He 
was a catholic and a democrat, and was married in 
Pittsburgh to Barbara Helbliug, a native of Ba- 
varia and a member of the Catholic church, 
who died November 27, 1888, at seventy-eight 
years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Maxler were an 
honest, industrious and well respected couple. 

Frank Maxler was reared at Freeport and at- 
tended the public schools. Leaving school, he 
entered Fullerton's woolen factory and learned 
the woolen manufacturing business, at which he | 
worked for several years. On February 14, 
1865, he enlisted in Co. E, 78th regiment, Pa. 
Vols., for one year and served until September 
11, 1865, when he was honorably discharged 
at Ilarrisburg. After the war he worked in 
woolen factories until 1872, when he entered J. 
H. Shoop's merchant tailoring establishment, 
of Freeport, and served as a clerk for five years. 
At the end of that time he went to Europe, where 



he traveled through England, Belgium, Ger- 
many and Switzerland and spent several days in 
London, besides visiting the birthplace and 
early home of his parents. After returning 
from the old world he entered into partnership 
with his former employer, under the firm-name 
of Shoop & Maxler. This partnershijj contin- 
ued until 1883, when Mr. Maxler withdrew 
and built his present large two-story brick busi- 
ness house on Market street. He then engaged 
in the gents' furni.shing and merchant tailoring 
business, in which he has continued successfully 
ever since. His exquisite taste and good judg- 
ment in selection of cloths, woolens and furnish- 
ing goods, coupled with fashionable tailoring 
done at reasonable prices, has secured him his 
large and growing patronage. 

In politics, Mr. Maxler is a democrat, has 
served as assistant burgess and is a member of 
the present borough council. He is a member 
of the Catholic church and a popular business 
man who has ever retained the confidence of the 
public. 



HENRY N. MILLER, supervisor of Divi- 
sion No. 19, West Pennsylvania railroad, 
is a resident of Freeport, where he is known as 
a reliable citizen and an efficient business man. 
He is a son of Michael and Christina (Burns) 
Miller, and was born in Young township, In- 
diana county, Pennsylvania, February 6, 1835. 
The Millers are of German descent, and settled 
in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in the early 
part of the last century. Michael Miller, the 
paternal grandfather of Henry N. Miller, was 
a native of Penn.sylvania, where he was born, 
in Lancaster county, December 24, 1775. He 
was a shoemaker by trade and died in Indiana 
county, aged seventy-five years. His son, 
Michael Miller (father) was born in eastern 
Pennsylvania, and came, in an early day, into 
Indiana county, where he now resides, in Cone- 
maugh township. He learned, when young, the 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



471 



trade of shoemaker, which hefollowecl for several 
years before engaging in his main life pursuit 
of farming. Within the last few years he retired 
from all active business pursuits, and resides in 
a pleasant home witii comfortable surroundings. 
He was born Aug. 28, 1806, and has passed 
his eighty-fourth milestone on the pathway of 
life. He is a republican in politics and a member 
of the United Presbyterian church. He married 
Christina Burns, w4io was a native of Scotland, 
and was brought by her parents to the United 
States when she was only three years of age. 

Henry N. Miller was reared in Indiana 
county and received his education in the public 
schools and Jacksonville academy, which he 
attended during four summer terms between 
1850 and 1860. He commenced life for him- 
self as a teacher in the common schools of In- 
diana county, in which he taught eleven term.s. 
In April, 1863, he engaged as a laborer on the 
Pennsylvania railroad, at Blairsville, but was 
soon promoted to track foreman, and had charge 
of a work-train for over five years. On March 
1, 1874, he was appointed a.s a supervisor of 
the road, and .stationed at Freeport, where he has 
remained ever since in the discharge of the im- 
portant duties of his responsible position. In 
1887, 1888 and in 1890 he built twenty-two 
miles of the second track on the West Penn. 
R. R. east of Allegheny city, in connection with 
his regular duties as supervisor. 

On April "2, 1861, he united in marriage 
with Fannie C. Nesbit, daughter of Nathaniel 
Nesbit, of Indiana county. Pa. To this union 
have been born four children, three sons and 
one daughter : Martin E., ticket and express 
agent and telegraph operator at the W. P. R. R. 
depot at Freeport ; Thomas G., a brakeman on 
the W. P. railroad, who married, in Sept., 
1885, and resides at Freeport, Pa. ; Wilbert H. 
and Jessie E. 

Henry N. Miller is a republican in politics, 
and a member of the United Presbyterian 
church of Freeport, in which he has served for 



several years as an elder. He deals, to some 
extent, in real estate, and owns, at the present 
tiine, a very good farm in Conemaugh town- 
ship. He has served as a councilman of his 
borough, and is a member of the school board 
at the present time. Mr. Miller has had many 
years of practical experience iti railroad matters, 
and has always rendered good satisfaction in the 
position which he occupies. 



HON. J. A. McCULLOUGH, ex -member of 
the House of Representatives of Pennsyl- 
uauia and an old and prominent member of the 
Armstrong county bar, was born in Allegheny 
township, Westmoreland county, Penu.sylvauia, 
December 26, 1817, and is a son of Squire 
James and Margaret (Patterson) McCullough. 
His paternal grandfather, James McCullough, 
was born in Scotland and came to what is now 
Allegheny township, Westmoreland county, 
when there were but three white families in 
that section. He took up a large body of land 
and often had to flee trom Indians to the fort 
below the site of Freeport. He was a member 
of the Associate Reformed church, had a large 
library for that day, was a great reader and had 
quite a fund of religious . information. He 
planted the first apple-orchard that was ever in 
Allegheny township. Of his four sons, one was 
Squire James McCullough (father), who was 
born in 1785. He was a successful farmer and 
a strong democrat, and served as justice of the 
peace for twenty years before his death. 
He was a prominent member of the Associate 
Reformed church, and married Margaret Pat- 
terson, daughter of Thomas Patterson, of Loyal- 
hanna township, that county. They reared a 
family of nine children. 

J. A. McCullough was reared and received 
his education in his native township. Leaving 
school, he taught six terras, one of which was 
at Greensburg, Pa. He then read law one year 
with Albert Marchand, and then for another 



472 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



year with Noble Nesbit. Leaving Greensburg 
in 1848, he came to Freeport, and during the 
next year was admitted to the Armstrong county 
bar, of whose members now but two rank him in 
years of practice. After his admission to the 
bar he returned to Freeport, where he has been 
engaged ever since in the active and successful 
practice of his profession. He is a member of 
the Freeport United Presbyterian church, in 
which he has been a trustee for twenty-one 
years. He is a democrat in politics, was for- 
merly very active in political aifairs, and, some 
years back, frequently stumped the county in 
the interests of his party. In 1862 he was 
elected to the legislature of Pennsylvania as a 
member of the House of Representatives, and 
served very creditably during the session of 
1862-63. 

June 17, 1848, he married Caroline E. 
Hagy, who is a daughter of Philip Hagy, of 
Adams county. To their union were born three 
children : John, who read law at Greeusburg, 
Pa., was admitted to the bar and died at thirty- 
one years of age ; Dr. James T., and William, 
who died when nineteen years of age. 

James T. McCullough, A.M., M.D., the 
second son, was born at Freeport August 31, 
1851. He attended the Freeport public schools 
and Westminster college, and in 1872 entered 
Wooster university of Ohio, from which he was 
graduated in 1874. He then read medicine, 
entered Jefferson Medical college, from which 
he was graduated in the class of 1877 and 
located at Parker City. In September, 1881, 
he came to Freeport, where he has built up a 
good practice. He is a democrat and a lutheran, 
and married Catherine Evans, daughter of 
Lewis Evans, of Parker City. They have two 
children : Caroline and Catherine. 



HERMAN H. SCHWIETERING, a well- 
established and prosperous merchant of 
Freeport, and one of the survivors of the old 



and well-known 14th Pennsylvania Cavalry, 
was born at BuflFalo, Butler county, Pennsylva- 
nia, June 11, 1843, and is a son of Frederick 
D. and Elizabeth (Walters) Schwictering. Fred- 
erick Schwietering was born and reared in 
Germany, where he received his education in 
the excellent schools of that country. In 1831 
he became a member of the colony that was 
formed, to come to the United States, by the 
great bridge builder, John Roebling, whose son 
built the wonderful Brooklyn bridge. When this 
colony arrived in this country Mr. Schwieter- 
ing settled at Saxonburg, Butler county, where 
he remained until 1863, when he came to Free- 
port, and was engaged in the general mercan- 
tile business until his death, which occurred 
July 12, 1888, at eighty-one years of age. He 
opened the first store at Saxonburg, and during 
his long career of forty- seven years as a mer- 
chant, he so conducted his business as not only 
to secure good success, but to command the 
confidence and esteem of the communities in 
which he resided at different times. He was 
a consistent member of the Evangelical Lu- 
theran church, and a man whose word was as 
good as his bond. Straightforward, reliable, 
generous and energetic, he possesssed a host of 
friends and enjoyed the respect of all who 
knew him. He was a republican in politics, 
and married Elizabeth Walters, who was born 
iu Butler couuty in 1812. She is a member of 
the Lutheran church and resides at Freeport. 
They were the parents of nine children, of 
whom four are living. 

Herman H. Schwietering was reared at Sax- 
onburg and received his education in the com- 
mon schools. Leaving school, he assisted his 
father in the mercantile business until Febru- 
ary 23, 1864, when he enlisted in Co. L, 14th 
regiment, Pa. Cavalry. He participated in the 
various skinuishes and battles of his regiment, 
and was honorably discharged at Ft. Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, in August, 1865. Returning 
home from the army, he became a paitner with 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



473 



his father in the mercantile business, under the 
firm-name of Schwietering & Co. This part- 
nership continued from 1865 to 1885, when he 
withdrew and removed to his farm, in South 
Buffalo township, where he was engaged in 
farming for five years. In the spring of 1890 
he returned to Freeport and opened his present 
general mercantile establishment. He has a 
well-arranged building which is eligilily located, 
and carries a choice stock of the best and most 
desirable goods. His trade is rapidly assuming 
the large proportions of his former patronage 
of five years ago. 

On June 26, 1866, Mr. Schwietering united 
in marriage with Sadie E. Burtner, daughter 
of Philip Burtner, of Allegheny county, this 
State. Seven children have ble.st this union, 
three sons and four daughters : Lizzie L., a 
talented and accomplished musician, had a music 
class of forty-seven pupils at Freeport, in 1890, 
when she was cut down by the baud of death ; 
Mary E., who died in infancy ; Frederick P., 
Walter R., Minnie C, Herman B. and Nina A. 

Herman H. Schwietering is a member of the 
Freeport Lutherau church and Henry S. Wea- 
ver Post, No. 32, Grand Army of the Republic. 
He is a republican in politics, has held various 
borough offices, and for the last ten years has 
been a member of the sciiool board. Reliable 
and respected as a citizen, he is a man of enter- 
prise and business merit. 



SAMUEL TURNER, senior member of the 
furniture and undertaking firm of S. 
Turner & Son, is one of the old and substan- 
tial citizens and business men of Freeport. He 
was born near Noblestown, Allegheny county, 
Pennsylvania, July 8, 1828, and is a son of 
Samuel and Charlotte (McCarty) Turner. His 
father and grandfather were native-born citizens 
of Allegheny county. 

Samuel Turner was reared at Leechburs:, 
28 



where his father had located Aprifl, 1839. He 
received his education in the public school and 
then served an apprenticeship of four years at 
the trade of cabinet-maker with John Wana- 
maker, of Leechburg. He then engaged in 
cabinet-making, and worked for various firms 
until 1853, when he came to Freeport and 
opened a shop in partnership with his brother, 
John Turner, in a small frame building which 
stood on the corner of Fifth and High streets. 
They did business under the firm-name of 
Turner & Brother. John Turner retired from 
the firm in 1856, accepting a situation in the grain 
and mercantile establishment of P. S. Weaver, 
which position he held until May, 1859, at 
which date he formed a partnership with A. N. 
Hamor in the grocery and provision business at 
Freeport, under the firm-name of Hamor & 
Turner, selling out his interest to A. N. Hamor 
in April, 1861, engaging for a short time in the 
early oil business, but became a partner of Levi 
Bush, January 1, 1862, in drug, grocery, pro- 
vision and shoe business under tiic firm-name of 
Turner & Bush, which did a profitable and suc- 
cessful business up to 1871, when by mutual 
consent the busine-ss was closed out entire, since 
which time John Turner has been eugaged in the 
different oil producing fields with the usual ups 
and downs incidental to the business. He is at 
present operating and producing some oil in 
Greene county, Pa., and has resided permanently 
at Freeport since March 31, 1845. 

Samuel Turner removed in 1856 to his pres- 
ent location on Fifth street, purchasing from 
his brother John the lot and brick portion of 
the present building and from which date to 
the present has continued to hold the entire 
control of the undertaking, and we may safely 
say, monopoly of the furniture business of Fi'ce- 
port and vicinity. On February 2, 1885, Mr. 
Turner associated his sou, William Fred, with 
him, under the present firm-name of S. Turner 
& Son. In 1888, Mr. Turner erected the addi- 
tional handsome two-story frame building, mak- 



474 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ing it a nioflel, if not the most complete fur- 
niture establishment in western Pennsylvania. 

The aggregate floor space of the entire build- 
ing is 9000 square feet; they carry a complete 
stock of furniture, comprising many grades to 
suit the tastes of their numerous patrons. In ad- 
dition to their full and complete line of furni- 
ture, they have a fully equipped undertaking 
department. 

On July 10, 1863, Mr. Turner united in 
marriage with Margaret Jane Clark, daughter 
of Joseph and Jane (Loughery) Clark. Two 
children have been born to this union : Wil- 
liam Fred, born April 28, 1864, and an infant 
daughter, who died. Mrs. Turner passed away 
on December 29, 1883, aged fifty-three years. 

Samuel Turner is a republican in politics, 
has been a member of the borough council and 
was once elected burgess, but refused to serve- 
He is enterprising and reliable in business, and 
has always been ready to give his assistance to 
whatever would advance the interests of his 
borough. 

William Fred Turner, the junior member of 
tiie firm and only son of Samuel Turner, was 
reared and educated at Freeport ; in addition to 
attending the public schools he took the full 
course at the " Actual Business college," of Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. Ever since attaining his majority he 
has been actively and successfully engaged in 
business; in addition to his responsible position 
in the furniture firm he has been treasurer of 
the Freeport Building and Loan association 
since its organization, January 1, 1877, and 
gives some attention to other business matters, 
and is at present serving as burgess of the bor- 
ough, to which he was elected by an overwhelm- 
ing majority in February, 1889. On January 
20, 1887, he married Lida Bricker, daughter of 
John L. Bricker, of Freeport, Pa. Mr. Turner 
is a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M. and the 
Masonic fraternity. 



J FULTON WATT. The jewelry estab- 
• lishment of J. Fulton Watt, of Freeport, 
is one of the most reliable, responsible, substan- 
tial and representative in its line in Armstrong 
county. J. Fulton Watt, who has been promi- 
nently identified, for the last seven years, with 
the jewelry trade in Pittsburgh aud at Freeport, 
was born in Westmoreland count}', Pennsyl- 
vania, April 26, 1856, and is a son of David 
and Mary (Thompson) Watt. Of the Scotch- 
Irish who were early settlers of Westmoreland 
county was the Watt family. The Christian 
name of the founder of the family in this part 
of the State has been lost, but one of his sons 
was John Watt, grandfather of J. Fulton Watt. 
John Watt was born in Allegheny township, of 
that county, where he married and spent his life 
in farming. His son, David Watt (father), was 
born in 1819, on the homestead farm, and is one 
of the active farmers of his town.ship, although 
verging rapidly on his .seventieth year. He is 
a republican politically, and has been a consist- 
ent member of the United Presbyterian church 
for mauy years. He married Mary Thompson, 
who was a native of the county and a member 
of the same church as him.self She died in 
1857. 

J. Fulton Watt was reared on the farm and 
attended the common schools until he was four- 
teen years of age, when he went to Franklin 
county to learn wood engi-aving with a firm who 
was engaged in magazine illustration. In a 
short time, however, he went to Wheeling, W. 
Va., where he completed his trade with John H, 
Zevly, then a contractor for furnishing the post- 
office department with wood engraving work. 
Leaving Wheeling, he worked at his trade some 
time and then went to Lancaster, Pa., where he 
entered the Lancaster watch factory and learned 
watch-making. He then repaired to Pittsburgh 
and served a full apprenticeship in the manu- 
facture of jewelry in the large establishment of 
Terheyden. Having thus thoroughly mastered 
watch-making and the manufacture of jewelry 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



475 



in all of their branches, he was prepared to enter 
those lines of business for himself with every 
prospect of success. He engaged in 1884 with 
T. B. Barrett & Co., the well-known wholesale 
jewelers of Pittsburgh, and was employed for 
five years in artistic engraving and upon the 
manufacture of the finest lines of jewelry. In 
April, 1889, Mr. Watt came to Freeport, where 
he established his present large and thoroughly 
equipped jewelry house. 

In 1876 he united in marriage with Eva M. 
Kenneston, daughter of Mary E. Kenneston, of 
Freeport. To their union have been born si.\ 
children, two sons and four daughters : Frank, 
Maggie M., Mary, Eva, Euth and Paul. 

J. F. Watt is a member of the United Pres- 
byterian church, and a republican in politics. 
He is a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M. and 
the Knights of the Golden Chain. With a practi- 
cal and business experience of nearly twenty 
years, Mr. Watt is enabled to oifer advantages 
that are only to be obtained at a few jewelry 
establishments in western Pennsylvania. His 
stock of goods is from the leading jewelry and 
watch manufacturers of Europe and America, 
and is remarkable for delicate beauty and 
superiority of workmanship. His display of 
silver-ware is fine, while his gold and silver 
watches are late in style and reasonable in price. 
His trade is large and is extending rapidly over 
a wide area of territory. His great success has 
been achieved on the broad basis of merit. Mr. 
Watt has established his business upon such au 
extended scale as to be a benefit to Freeport, 
and his ability, energy and honesty have gained 
him an enviable reputation both as a business 
man and a private citizen. 



DAVID ALTER, M.D.— "Among tho.se 
members of the medical profession of 
Armstrong county who have earned high repu- 
tation in the walks of science, Dr. David. Alter, 
who died in 1881, deserves to be mentioned. 



" Dr. Alter was born on the 3d of December, 
in the year 1807, in Westmoreland county, 
Penna., in what is now Allegheny township, and 
within a few miles of the town of Freeport, in 
which he lived a great part of his life, and died, 
on the 18th of September, 1881. 

"In the year 1878," says Dr. Cowan, "I 
called upon him at his residence in Freeport, 
and found him, in appearance, an old man, with 
a calm and kindly countenance, in stature above 
the ordinary, albeit stoojjed and shrunken with 
age, still pursuing his profe.ssion, that of a 
physician, for a livelihood, while in effect he 
was the puzzle or sphinx that every philo.sopher 
must be to those around him who cannot appre- 
ciate the work of his hands in an objective 
form in the open day, much less encompass in 
the depth, the distance, and the darkness of his 
windowless mind, the complexity of cerebration 
and entanglement of thought from which his 
work has been evolved. 

" The ultimatum attained by Dr. Alter in 
science and invention, namely, the discovery 
and application of the principles of the prism 
in that marvelous mode of investigation uni- 
versally known to-day as spectrum analysis. 
And here, in setting forth his claim to this 
achievement, which in effect has added almost a 
new sense ;to mankind, beyond the statement 
which the doctor made to me that he made his 
discovery in 1853, I desire to give in evidence 
only that which is unimpeachable and indisput- 
able, namely, the documents setting forth the 
discovery in detail, which were published in a 
leading scientific journal and spread before the 
eyes of investigators and inventors throughout 
the world. And in doing so I doubt not that 
I shall do all that my lamented friend, were he 
here, would ask or allow to preserve his name 
among his fellow-men, without condemning 
either the encyclopaedists for ignoring him, or 
(he distinguished scientist, who, perhaps uncon- 
scious of the prior claim of another, wears the 
crown of glory to which he, Dr. Alter, is entitled. 



476 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTROXO COUNTY. 



"The first paper of Dr. Alter appeared in 
November in the year 1854, or no less than five 
years before the anuounceinent of the discovery 
of spectrum analysis as his own achievement by 
Gustav Robert Kirchoff, of Kbnigsberg, Ger- 
many, for a sketch of whose life and works the 
reader is referred to the leading encyclopsedias 
of the day. 

" It appears in Silliman's Amenca^i Journal 
of Science and Art, 2d Series, vol. xviii., for 
November, 1854, pp. 55-57, under the follow- 
ing head : ' Article VI. On Certain Physical 
Properties of Light, Produced by the Com- 
bustion of Different Metals in the Electric 
Spark, Reflected by a Prism. By David Alter, 
M.D., Freeport, Pa.' 

" A second article appeared in the same scien- 
tific journal for May, 1855, vol. xix., pp. 
213-14, under the caption, ' Article XXI. On 
certain Physical Properties of the Light of the 
Electric Sjjark within certain Gases, as seen 
through a Prism. By Dr. Alder, M.D., of 
Freeport, Pa.' In this explicit article a para- 
graph is found indicating the application of his 
discovery to the detection of the elements in 
combustion in shooting-stars or luminons 
meteors ; in other words, to the application of 
spectrum analysis to the study of celestial phe- 
nomena, ad infinitum. 



" Dr. Alter daguerreotyped the dark lines of 
the solar spectrum, two of which he sent, along 
with his communication, to Professor Silliman, 

" It is a little matter in comparison with the 
above, but it is curious, and perhaps not with- 
out its use, to know that the prism with which 
Dr. Alter made his remarkable experiments 
was made by him from a fragment of a great 
mass of very brilliant glass found in the pot of 
a glass-house which had been destroyed in the 
great fire of Pittsburgh, on the 10th of April, 
1845. Thus remotely was the burning of Pitts- 
burgh the solution of the combustion of the sun 
of the solar .system, and of the otherwise incom- 
prehensible conflagrations of more distant fur- 
nace spheres in illimitable space. 

" Besides the achievements of Dr. Alter, 
referred to above^ he accomplished much 
more that is deserving of note. Of other in- 
ventions, I may mention here a rotating retort 
for the extraction of coal-oil from oannel-coal 
and the oleiferous shales. With this apparatus 
in operation by a company with ample capital, 
the philosopher was on the high road to mak- 
ing a fortune, when, pre.sto ! E. L. Drake, at 
the depth of only seventy feet, in Venango 
county, struck oil or petroleum, and the days 
of coal-oil and Dr. Alter's affluence were at an 
end." 



DAYTON AND PARKER CITY, 



Historical and Descriptive. — 'Dayton, a pro- 
gressive borough of over five hundred popula- 
tion and a well-known school town of western 
Pennsylvania, is situated in Wayne township, 
eighteen miles northeast of Ivittanning, which is 
its bunking and shipping point. It was laid 
out in 1850, on lands of Robert Marshall and 
John Lias, was incorporated June 5, 1S73, and 
is said to have been named after Dayton, Ohio- 
There were two or three houses and a store on 
the site of Dayton prior to 1850. The post- 
office was established July 13, 1855, with Jamcg 
McQuown as postmaster. The iNIethodist Epis- 
copal church was organized about 1821 and the 
United Presbyterian church was the old Glade 
Run Associate Presbyterian church, which was 
formed in 1831. Dayton Union academy was 
established in 1852. On December 1, 1873, 
the Dayton Soldiers' Orphans' school was incor- 
porated. Prior to its incorporation the com- 
pany erecteil school buildings which were burned 
in 1873 and were replaced by the present school 
buildings. The Dayton Soldiers' Orphans' 
school, opened under the charge of Rev. T. M. 
Elder, and has accom[)lished a most remarkable 
and highly useful work. The growth of Dayton 
in population and business has been .slow but 
steady. 

Parker City, the metropolis of the oil region 
of Armstrong county, is situated on the Alle- 
gheny river and the P. K. and A. V. railroads 
and is forty miles northwest of the county seat 
and eighty-two miles above Pittsburgh. It is 
named for Hon. John Parker, who laid out a 



part of it in 1819 under the name of Lawrence- 
burg. In 1840 the iron industries on Bear 
creek went down and Lawrenceburg slowly de- 
clined until 1865, when it did not-contain over 
fifty inhabitants. The oil excitement of 1869 
came, and Lawrenceburg in a few months could 
enumerate its population by hundreds. At the 
same time Parker's Landing, which contained a 
few houses, increased likewise in population, 
and March 1, 1873, both places were incorpor- 
ated as Parker City. In 1873 and again in 

1879 the place was visited by destructive fires. 
In 1879 the oil production decrease<l largely, 
and Parker City went down from four thousand 
population to about fifteen hundred. Several 
industries had been established prior to 1879, 
and in time they caused an increase of popula- 
tion and business. The borough is now in a 
prosperous condition, with nearly two thousand 
population. It has five churches, seven schools, 
an opera-house, one newspaper — the Pluenix^— 
and good gas and water works. It also contains 
two foundries, a glass works and a plauing-mill. 

The Parker City water works were erected in 
1872, the gas works were built in 1877 and in 

1880 the planing-raill was erected. In 1880 
Parker City glass works were built and now 
employ near one hundred hands. Its news- 
papers have been: Oilman^ sJ<Mrnal,\%'l\-1 2; 
Parker City Daily, 1874-79; and the Phm\ir, 
which was established in 1880. 

The first physician was Dr. Boggs, who 
located about 1824, and the oldest resident 
physician is Dr. A. M. Hoover. Among the 

477 



478 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



prominent physicians are : Drs. Hoover, Eggert 
and McCullougli. The Petroleum Agricultural 
association was formed in 1881. The churches 
of Parker City are : Presbyterian, organized in 
1819; Catholic, 1831; United Presbyterian, 
1834; Methodist Episcopal, 1836; Baptist, 
1875; and Lutheran, 1879. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



REV. MATTHEW S. ADAMS is an active 
business man and a useful citizen of 
Parker City, who enjoys the respect and good- 
will of his fellow-men. Rev. Matthew S. Adams 
is a protuinent local minister in the Methodist 
Episcopal church. He was born near New 
Salem, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
May 23, 1820, and is a son of Rev. Alexander 
and. Esther (Arraantage) Adams. Rev. Alex- 
ander Adams was of English descent. He was 
born in Bedford county, in 1776, removed to 
Westmoreland county, where he remained until 
1823, when he came to the mouth of Cowan- 
shannock creek (above Kittanning) and engaged 
in milling. He afterwards removed, about 1849, 
to Butler county, in which he died in Sep- 
tember, 1859, aged eighty-three years. He was 
a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal 
church and lived an exemplary Christian life. 
He married Esther Armantage, who was a 
daughter of Benjamin Armantage, of Bedford 
county, and died in January, 1828, aged thirty- 
eight years. She ^as a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church and left, at her death, a 
family of ten children, of whom three are liv- 
ing: Matthew S. Adams, Alexander Adams 
and Sarah Milligan. 

Matthew S. Adams was reared principally in 
Armstrong county, where he received his edu- 
cation in the rural schools of his boyhood days. 
In 1844 he removed to Fairview, Butler coun- 
ty, where in the same year he embarked in the 



foundry business. Six years later he engaged 
in the mercantile business and conducted both 
his foundry and store until 1854, when he went 
seven miles north of Fairview and purchased 
Maple furnace, which he operated up to the 
fall of 1865. His iron was of good quality 
and in much demand. He hauled it to Parker's 
Landing, ou the Allegheny river, and from 
thence transported it on flat-boats to Pittsburgh. 
In connection with the furnace he had a 
large store. In 1868 he engaged in oil pro- 
duction at Pit Hole and Parker's Landing. 
He has continued these different lines of 
business successfully until the present time, 
and during several years of this period was 
one of the heaviest oil producers in Arm- 
strong county. He came, in 1870, to Parker 
City, where he owns the Adams House and has 
considerable other property. He also owns a 
farm of five hundred acres in Butler county, on 
which is situated a flouring-mill. 

June 3, 1841, Mr. Adams united in marriage 
with Nancy A. Scott, of Brady's Bend, Arm- 
strong county, Pa. They have had eight 
children : Angle E., mai'ried to W. D. Blygh, 
of Grove City, who is engaged in the drug busi- 
ness; Mary E., married to W. J. Parker, who 
is engaged in the hotel business at Parker City; 
Edwin D., who is engaged in the hotel business 
at Parker City ; Libbie E., wife of J. S. 
Foster, a druggist of Petrolia, Butler coimty, 
this State; James T., engaged in the oil busi- 
ness in Warren county ; and Charles W., now 
in the oil business in Butler county, and Homer 
C. and Theodore L., who are both dead. Mrs. 
Adams was a member of the M. E. church for 
forty years and passed away October 10, 1889, 
aged sixty-nine years and one month. 

In politics Rev. Matthew Adams is a repub- 
lican. He commenced his career in life with 
nothing but good health, unbounded energy and 
inflexible honesty, and as succe.ss cro'S'ned his dif- 
ferent business enterprises, he was enabled to 
wield a wider influence for morality and 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



479 



Christianity. He employed a large number of 
hands at different times in the iron business, but 
always saw that they were rightly dealt with in 
his iron-works. He is public-spirited and 
charitable, always willing to assist in any move- 
ment for the benefit of his city and ever ready 
to aid the sick and needy. He is a member of 
the Masonic fraternity and has been a local 
minister in the Methodist Episcopal church for 
over thirty years. Rev. Matthew S. Adams, 
amid all the cares of various business enter- 
prises, has preserved his reputation for honesty, 
integrity and morality, and has never neglected 
the cause of religion, but has valued it above 
all others. 



EDWIN D ADAMS, the popular proprietor 
of the well-known Parker House, was 
born at Martinsburg, Butler county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 27, 1851, and is the third son 
and fifth child of Rev. Matthew S. and Nancy 
A. (Scott) Adams. His paternal grandparents 
were Rev. Alexander and Esther (Arraantage) 
Adams, who were both natives of Huutingdon 
county, and of English descent. His father. 
Rev. Matthew S. Adams, has been for over half 
a century one of the prominent and honorable 
business men of Butler and Armstrong coun- 
ties, and an efficient local minister in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church. His life has been one 
of usefulness in the different communities in 
which he has successively resided. (For further . 
ancestral history of E. D. Adams see sketch of i 
Rev. Matthew S. Adams.) 

Edwin D. Adams was reared in Butler coun- 
ty, where he attended the district schools, and 
then spent his last days of school-life at a lead- 
ing educational institution of Erie county. He 
was carefully trained in his father's store and 
mill for business pursuits. In 1869 became to 
Parker City, where he was engaged for five 
years in pumping oil wells. He then accepted 
a position ae mail-agent on the Parker and 



Karns City R. R. At the end of one year's 
.service as such he became a brakesman, which 
position he only held one year until he was pro- 
moted to a passenger conductor, and served 
as such for eight years, making in all ten years 
of continuous .service on the P. & K. C. R. R. 
He next (188.5) embarked in the oil producing 
business at Hooks City, Butler county, which 
lie only followed one year, until he disposed of 
his territory aud wells, and in May, 1886, 
became proprietor of his present hotel, the fav- 
orably known " Parker House." It is a frame 
structure, on River avenue. While it makes a 
pleasant smnmer resort, it is also arranged to be 
kept warm and cosy in winter, so that when- 
ever a traveler finds shelter beneath its roof he 
can be comfortable aud happy. 

In the spring of 1875, Mr. Adams united in 
marriage with Martha L. Gibson, daughter of 
John L. Gibson, of Perry township, this 
county. Their union has been blest with one 
child, a daughter : Libbie E., who was born in 
February, 1876. 

In political affairs Edwin D. Adams supports 
the Republican party. He is a member of 
Parker Council, No. 179, Royal Arcanum. He 
and his pleasant and estimable wife vvell know 
how to conduct a first-class hotel, and make 
their guests at home. Mr. Adams, while agree- 
able and genial, is yet a thorough-going and 
active business man of experience, perseverance 
and enterprise. 



riAPTAIN WINFIELD S. BARR, ex-dep- 
^' uty sheriff of Armstrong county, and the 
present postmaster of Parker City (P. O. Park- 
er's Landing), is one of the surviving captains 
of the old 105th regiment of Pennsylvania 
Volunteers. He was born at Brookville, Jef- 
ferson county, Penn.sylvania, November 28, 
1841, and is a son of Thomas M. and Sarah C. 
(Corbett) Barr. His paternal grandfather, 
Alexander Barr, was born and reared in Scot- 



480 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



land, from which he came to Pennsylvania 
when quite a young man. He first settled in 
Dauphin county, but subsequently removed to 
Indiana county, where he remained but a short 
time, and then went to Preble county, Ohio, in 
which he died. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion, and one of the sons born to him in 
Dauphin county was Thomas M. Barr, the 
father of the subject of this sketch. Thomas 
M. Barr was born in November, 1803, and 
moved, in 1830, to Brookville, where he re- 
sided until his death, July 4, 1882, at eighty- 
three years of age. He was a bricklayer, 
stone-mason and building contractor by occupa- 
tion, lie was a republican politically, had been 
a ruling elder for forty-five years in the Presby- 
terian church at the time of his death, and dur- 
ing his unusually long life he had never been 
sued or brought suit against any one. He mar- 
ried Sarah C. Corbett, daughter of William 
Corbett, of Lewistown, Mifflin county. She 
was reared, however, in Clarion and Jefferson 
counties, was a devoted presbyterian, and died 
at her home in Brookville, July 4, 1876, when 
in the seventy-eighth year of her age. Mr. 
and Mrs. Barr reared a family of four sons and 
two daughters, all of whom are living. 

Winfield S. Barr was reared at Brookville, 
Jefferson county, and received his education in 
the schools of that town and county. Leaving 
school, he worked on his father's farm until 
April 19, 1861, when he enlisted for three 
months as a private in Co. I, 8th regt.. Pa. 
Vols. He served his term, and re-enlisted on 
August 26, 1861, entering Co. B, 105th regt.. 
Pa. Vols., as a private, but was raised by suc- 
cessive promotions, until he was commissioned 
captain for meritorious conduct at the battle of 
Gettysburg. He commanded his company un- 
til its time of service had expired, January 1, 
1864, when he and the most of his men re-en- 
listed. He served until he was discharged May 
15, 1865, from the hospital at Philadelphia on 
account of wounds. He was slightly wounded 



at Fredericksburg, then received a minie ball 
in his knee at Gettysburg, and was shot in the 
head at Deep Bottom, Va., August 16, 1864. 
From the last wound he carries an ugly scar. 
When he was discharged he returned to Brook- 
ville, where he remained until 1869. In July 
of that year he came to Parker City, and 
entered the oil business, in which he has con- 
tinued ever since. He has been engaged on the 
pipe lines. 

In 1865, Capt. Barr married Hannah R. 
Emery, daughter of Jacob Emery, of Brook- 
ville, Pa. Capt. and Mrs. Barr have two sons 
and four daughters: Amy, wife of Henry E. 
Kelly; Winifred, Alice, Cad M., Bessie and 
Ralph. 

Capt. Winfield S. Barr is a republican polit- 
ically, has served as chief of police of Parker 
City, and deputy sheriff of Armstrong county, 
and has held many other offices of trust and 
responsibility. He is a member of Parker 
City Council, No. 179, Royal Arcanum, and 
Col. C. A. Craig Post, No. 75, Grand Army of 
the Republic. On July 12, 1890, Capt. Barr 
was appointed postmaster of Parker's Landing, 
Pa., by President Harrison. As an officer he 
was well liked in the army, as a public official 
he always discharged his duties so as to com- 
mand the confidence of the public, and as a 
business man he is honorable and trustworthy. 



JACOB J. BECK, a respected citizen of the 
borough of Dayton, and formerly a jjros- 
perous farmer of Wayne township, is a son of 
Jacob and Catherine (Wagle) Beck, and was 
born in the Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, December 17, 1815. His 
paternal grandfather, George Beck, was of Ger- 
man descent, and settled in an early day in 
eastern Pennsylvania, probably Montgomery 
county, but soon came to Crooked creek, where 
he resided until his death. He was a farmer 
and a gunsmith, and built and operated a gun- 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



481 



powder factory on the Kittanning road, not far 
from the county-seat. He was a member of 
the Lutheran church, and in politics a demo- 
crat. He married Elizabeth Holsopple, and 
their union was blessed with nine children, six 
sons and three daughters. One of his sons, 
Jacob Beck (father), was born on Crooked 
creek, and lived there until after his marriage, 
when he went to the Ligonier Valley. He 
built a powder factory, which he operated for ' 
some time, and removed to Sewickley creek, 
Westmoreland county, where he engaged quite 
extensively in the manufacture of salt. In i 
1818 he came to Armstrong county, and located 
on Pine creek, in Wayne township, where he 
purchased a farm, and erected a saw-mill and 
carding-factory. During the latter years of his 
life he gave his time mainly to his mill and 
factory. In politics he was a democrat at first, 
but afterwards became a whig, and served as 
county commissioner for several terms. He 
held nearly all of his township's offices, and 
was a member of the Lutheran church in his 
youth, but afterwards became a methodist. He 
was twice married ; his first wife was Catherine 
Wagle, and to their union were born eleven 
children : Elizabeth, George, Isaac, Margaret, 
Jacob J., John, Catherine, Adam, Martin, Si- 
mon and Christiana. His second wife was 
Barbara Clever. Mrs. Catherine (Wagle) Beck 
was a daughter of Abraham Wagle (maternal 
grandfather), who was a farmer on Crooked 
creek, where he reared a family of two sons 
and several daughters. 

Jacob J. Beck was educated in the schools of 
his time, and commenced life as a common 
laborer. At twenty-five years of age he entered 
his father's mill, where he worked until his 
marriage (1841), when he engaged in farming 
in Wayne township. In 1875 he retired from 
active business, and came to Dayton, where he 
has resided ever since. 

September 28, 1811, he married ^Margaret 
Rupp, daughter of Jacob Rupp. Mr. and Mrs. 



Beck are the parents of two children : George, 
a traveling salesman for a Williamsport candy- 
house, who married Harriet Sease, and has two 
children, — Ira and Carrie ; and Sarah, who 
married William A. Fleming, and has six 
children, — Cloyd, Maggie, George, Mary, Le- 
ona and Grace. 

Jacob J. Beck is a stanch republican, has 
always been a warm friend of education, and 
has served for several years as a school direc- 
tor. He formerly was a member of the Re- 
formed church, but some years ago united with 
the Methodist Episcopal church of Dayton, of 
which he is a trustee. 



SAMUEL H. BREWER, an estimable citi- 
zen aud one of the foremost merchants and 
successful business men of Parker City, is the 
present deputy sheriff of Armstrong county, be- 
ing appointed to that position in the year 1882. 
He was boru at North Washington, Washing- 
ton township, Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- 
vania, July 29, 1852, and is a son of Daniel and 
Isabella (Beatty) Brewer. Daniel W. Brewer 
was a native of western Pennsylvania, was born 
May 16, 1823, and died in Kiskiminetas town- 
ship, this county, March 2.5, 185-3, at nearly 
thirty years of age. He was a wagon-maker 
by trade and was engaged in that business at 
North Washington, this State, for many years. 
He married Isabella Beatty, daughter of Wil- 
liam Beatty, of this county, August 14, 1845, 
and they had five children. Mrs. Brewer died 
in Kiskiminetas township, this county, December 
10, 1853, aged thirty-one years. She was a 
native of western Pennsylvania aud, like her 
husband, was a member of the Presbyterian 
church. 

Samuel H. Brewer was reared in this county 
and attended the public schools. Leaving school, 
he learned the carpenter's trade, at which he 
worked for five years, when in 1873 he came to 



482 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Parker City, where he worked first for N. H. 
Beatty, a coal merchant, and then for six years 
was employed by E. H. Randolph, a liveryman, 
also of that place. In 1886, Mr. Brewer began 
teaming, which he has continued ever since. In 
connection with his teaming, he engaged in the 
grocery business in 1887, and has been very 
successful in his commercial enterprise. His 
grocery establishment is eligibly located on the 
corner of Washington and Jackson streets and 
is well filled with selected and first-class staple 
and fancy groceries, flour, feed and provi- 
sions. 

April 28, 1887, Mr. Brewer was married to 
Mrs. Annie (Blymiller) Teerkes, of Butler 
county. Their union has been blest with one 
child, a son, George W. , who was born Febru- 
ary 22, 1889. 

S. H. Brewer is a republican in politics and a 
member of the Parker City Presbyterian 
church. He is a member of the town council 
and chairman of the street committee and was 
constable for ten years, part of which time he 
was chief of police. He is now and has been 
for the last eight years holding the office of 
deputy sheriff. He is a very energetic man and 
an influential and enterprising citizen. His 
parents died when he was two years and five 
months old — too young to remember them — 
and he had to make his own way in the world 
from childhood. He has been very successful 
in his business pursuits, employs a great many 
men and owns some very valuable property at 
Parker City. His efiiciency and executive 
ability as a correct business man and successful 
public official is attested by his continued re- 
tention as deputy sheriff. He was first ap- 
pointed to his present position by Sheriff James 
H. Chambers iu 1882 and re-appointed in 1890 
by the present sheriff, AV. W. Fiscus. He is one 
who loses no time by idleness or inaction. As 
a borough officer he looked well to the prosper- 
ity of his town, and as deputy sheriff he never 
neglects the interests of his county. 



"VrOAH F. CALHOUN, M.D., one of the 

•1-" leading physicians of the progressive bor- 
ough of Dayton and of his .section of the coun- 
ty, is a son of James and Sarah A. (Calhoun) 
Calhoun, and was born in Boggs township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, October 9, 
1844. His paternal grandfather, Noah Abra- 
ham Calhoun, was a farmer of Boggs township, 
where he resided until his death, at eighty-four 
years of age. He was a member of the United 
Presbyterian church, and in politics was first a 
whig and ne.xt a republican. He married a 
Miss White, by whom he had six children : 
Jame.s, Margaret, Mary, Susanna, Rebecca and 
Robert, who died young. James Calhoun 
(father) was born May 11, 1816, in Boggs 
township, where he has been engaged in farm- 
ing .since attaining his majority. He owns 
over two hundred and fifty acres of land, is a 
member of the United Presbyterian church, 
and supports the Republican party. He mar- 
ried Sarah Calhoun, who died in 18.56. To 
their union were born six children : John 
Calvin, who received a good education, died 
while engaged in reading law at Kittanning ; 
Dr. Albert J., a graduate of the Jefferson Med- 
ical college, of Philadelphia, and for some time 
a practicing physician of Goheenville, took 
typhoid fever in Philadelphia while on his way 
to attend the College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, of New York, and came home, where 
he died; Noah F., Ezra Jackson (deceased); a 
babe that died in infancy, and William C. 
Calhoun. 

Noah F. Calhoun was reared in his na- 
tive township and received a good education. 
Leaving school, he read medicine and attended 
the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of 
Baltimore, and the Jefferson Medical college, 
uf Philadelphia, from which latter institution 
he was graduated iu 1877. He then came to 
Dayton, where he entered upon the practice of 
medicine, whicli he has followed actively e\er 
since. In 1883 he took part of a post-graduate 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



483 



course at the Jeffei"son Medical college. By his 
skill and close attention to his cases he has suc- 
ceeded in building up a large and remunerative 
practice. 

On April 12, 1877, he united in marriage 
with Sarah W. White, daughter of John White, 
of Wayne township. To their union have been 
born six children, of whom five died in early 
infancy, while the si.xth child, Arthur Wallace, 
is still living. 

In politics Dr. Calhoun is a pronounced re- 
publican. He and his wife are members of the 
Reformed Presbyterian church. His profes- 
sional duties are such as to leave him but little 
time to engage in either business affairs or po- 
litical matters, although he is well-informed 
upon the current events of the day and every 
enterprise that iu any way affects his borough 
or countv. 



JAMES ROBERT CALHOUN, burgess of 
Dayton, and a descendant of an old, honored 
and influential family, is a son of Hon. John 
and Elizabeth (Anthony) Calhoun, and was 
born in Wayne township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, March 25, 1817. The Calhouns 
trace their ancestry to Ireland, from which 
James Calhoun (grandfather) emigrated to the 
United States during the Revolutionary war. 
He enlisted in the Continental army, and was 
wounded iu one of the battles of that great 
struggle. After peace was declared he came to 
Indiana county. He was a weaver by trade, but 
followed farming. He married a Miss Temple- 
ton, by whom he had two children: Samuel and 
William. After her death he married, for his 
second wife, Mrs. Mary Walker [nee Adams), 
the mother of the celebrated Indian spy, Col. 
Robert Walker. To this second union were 
born several children, one of whom was Judge 
John Calhoun, who was born January 16, 1784, 
in Indiana county, and removed with his parents 
to Armstrong county when young. He was a 



carpenter by trade, but for many years was ac- 
tively engaged in farming in Boggs and Wayne 
townships. He purchased a large tract of land 
near Dayton. He was an active democratic 
politician, and was for many years justice of the 
peace in Plum Creek and Wayne townships. 
On August 30,1811, he was commissioned lieu- 
tenant-colonel of a militia regiment and on 
March 30, 1818, he was appointed by Governor 
Snyder, captnin of an Armstrong county com- 
pany. In 1845 he was appointed by Governor 
Porter as associate judge of Armstrong county 
to serve out the unexpired term of Judge Beatty, 
who had died, and afterwards was appointed to 
the same ofSce by Gov. Shunk. He served with 
credit to himself and satisfaction to the public, 
.ludge Calhoun was a prominent member of the 
Presbyterian church, and was one of the found- 
ers of the Glade Run and Concord Presbyterian 
churches, in each of which he held the office of 
elder. He died in 1865, in the ninety-first year 
of his age. He married Elizabeth Anthony, 
daughter of Jacob Anthony, a German farmer, 
who married a Miss Johnson, by whom he had 
three sous and three daughters. To Judge and 
Mrs. Calhoun were born eight children : Noah 
A., born December 26, 1806, and died in 1889; 
William J., born July 22, 1809, and now dead ; 
Mary, born in 1812, married to Thomas Ritchey, 
and both are dead ; Nancy (deceased), who was 
born September 18, 1814, and married Samuel 
H. Porter; James R., Sarah, born October 4, 
1819, wife of James Calhoun ; Samuel S. S. N., 
born March 22, 1823, and Hon. John K., who 
was born February 26, 1825, became a lawyer, 
served in 1856 and again in 1858 as a member 
of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives 
and in 1863 was captain of Co. G, emergency 
men of Kittanning. 

James R. Calhoun was reared on liis father's 
farm, received a common school education, and 
until 1882 was engaged in farming in Wayne 
township. For the la.st eight years he has liveil 
at Dayton. Besides his home and four acres of 



184 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



land at Dayton, he owns a good farm of one 
hundred and seventy acres of land which he j 
has always kept in first-class condition. 

April 8, 1841, he married Nancy S. Cochran, 
daughter of William and Mary (Marshall) 
Cochran. To Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun have been 
born five children : Ephraim A., who was born 
Julys, 1843, enlisted in 1862, in the 155th 
reg., Pa. Vols., and was killed in the battle of 
the Wilderness, May 5, 1864; Elmira A., born 
January 5, 1845, received an academic educa- 
tion, and has taught several terras of school ; 
Lavina Clara, born September 26, 1846, and 
married to J. H. Mateer, a farmer of Boggs 
township ; Jefferson, born May 20, 1849, a far- 
mer of Indiana county, who married Kate R. 
Steele, daughter of Samuel Steele, of Westmore- 
land county; Leauder S, born October 25, 
1850, married Lina Ambrose, daughter of John 
Ambrose, of Franklin township, and lives on 
the homestead farm. Mrs. Calhoun was born 
December 20, 1816. She is one of a family of 
eleven children. Three of her brothers enlisted 
in the Union army ; William enlisted in Co. K, 
14th Pa, Cavalry, was wounded in the Shenan- 
doah Valley and died in 1864, from the effects 
of his wound ; Robert served in an Illinois 
regiment and is living in Nebraska, and David 
Sloan entered Co. K, 78th reg.. Pa. Vols., and 
resides now at Dayton. 

James R. Calhoun and his estimable wife 
have been members for fifty years of the Con- 
cord Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Cal- 
houn has been repeatedly a trustee and the treas- 
urer. He is a democrat and has held the offices 
of school director for twelve years, and tax col- 
lector and road supervisor of Wayne township 
for four years. He served one term as councilman 
of Dayton borough. He is now burgess of Day- 
ton, and has served for two terms in that capac- 
ity in such a manner as to give general satisfac- 
tion. 



GEORGE COOPER, one of the foremost oil 
producers of his day in western Pennsyl- 
vania, and a highly respected and very charita- 
ble citizen of Parker City, was a son of Charles 
and Margaret (Morgan) Cooper, and was born 
in county Wicklow, Ireland, on the last day of 
December, 1832. He came with his parents to 
the United States, in 1842, and twelve years 
later removed with them to Parker's Landing, 
now Parker Cit}-. (See sketch of James S. 
Cooper.) He attended the public schools of 
his native country and the common schools of 
Pennsylvania. Leaving school, he was em- 
ployed at different kinds of work until the oil 
excitement came in western Pennsylvania and mo- 
nopolized public attention from everything else. 
In the opening up of the first oil territory he 
was interestetl. He was a .stockholder in some 
of the first wells put down, was successful and 
by continued and fortunate investments in pay- 
ing oil territory, soon became, with his brothers, 
John T. and James S., among the leading pro- 
ducers of the oil region. The name of Coojier 
Brothers soon became widely known in connec- 
tion with the wonderful oil indu-stry of Penn- 
.sylvania. In their extensive operations he was 
active and energetic, and discharged faithfully 
every duty that devolved upon him. He was 
an active oil producer until a few years before 
his death, which occurred February 7, 1890, 
when in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His 
remains were consigned, amid many sorrowing 
friends, to their last resting-place in a beautiful 
cemetery. 

In 1861 he married Louisa McGlaughlin, 
daughter of James McGlaughlin, of Butler, Pa. 
Their union was blessed with one child, a son : 
James H. Cooper. Mrs. Cooper is an estima- 
ble woman and a cousi.stent member of the Pres- 
byterian church. 

George Cooper was a republican in political 
opinion and had served as .school director of 
his borough. He was an earnest and faithful 
member of the Presbyterian church, in whose 



ARMSTRONO COUNTY. 



485 



work for the betterment of human society he 
always took a deep interest. The following 
account of his death appeared in one of the 
leading county papers : 

" Friday moruiug last the spirit of Mr. 
George Cooper left its tenement of clay for 
realms above. The deceased was one of the 
prominent oil producers during the palmy days 
of the Upper creek and also in this region. 
The name of Cooper Brothers, at that time, was 
very familiar. The past few years disease set- 
tled upon him, preventing active business. For 
many months prior to his denii.se he was con- 
fined to the house. He was a quiet, unobtru- 
sive man, shunned public notoriety, was no 
office seeker or taker, but lived retired. He 
leaves a wife and one son, James H., and a 
large number of relatives and friends to mourn 
his departure. The funeral exercises were held 
in the Presbyterian church. Rev. J. W. Miller 
officiating. The address was delivered with 
true Chri.stiau kindness and affection ; the feeling 
words and manner of the speaker were very 
impressive." 

George Cooper always yielded undeviating 
devotion to any duty which devolved upon him. 
His kindness to the poor was remarkable. In 
private life he was a most affi'ctionate and 
devoted husband and father. The pleasures of 
social intercourse he fully appreciated ; espe- 
cially in the company of those in whom he 
placed confidence, and to whom he felt attach- 
ment. His death was sincerely lamented by 
numerous fi-iends whose respect and love he had 
secured by his honorable course of action in 
life. 



JOHN THOMAS COOPER. One of the 
*^ most widely known and successful oil 
producers in the United States was the late 
lamented John Thomas Cooper, of Parker City, 
a representative man, whose highest aim was to 
serve his fellow-men. He was born in county 



Wicklow, Ireland, April 22, 1837, and was a 
son of Charles and Margaret (Morgan) Cooper. 
He came with his parents from Ireland to the 
United States in 1842, and in 1854 he located 
at Parker City. 

He received his education in the public schools, 
and was variously engaged in honest labor until 
September 7, 1861, when he enlisted as a soldier 
in Co. A, 103d regiment. Pa. Vols., but at the 
end of about one year's service around Wash- 
ington City he was discharged on account of 
disability. He then returned home and after 
having recovered his health, to a considerable 
degree, he again engaged in business pursuits. 
In the fall of 1868 he was one of the first to 
put down a paying oil well on the Butler- 
Clarion belt at Parker's Landing. Other wells 
were put down in rapid succession, and here on 
the flat beneath the vertical cliffs of the Alle- 
gheny river and on the terraces hundreds of 
derricks arose. They stood as thick as trees in 
a forest and drained the " Third Oil Sand," 
which lies eight hundred feet beneath the bed 
of the river. In this great oil excitement at 
Parker's Landing, Mr. Cooper was a prominent, 
active and successful producer. He associated 
with him his brothers, George and James S., in 
various oil enterprises, and the Cooper Brothers 
became well-known throughout the entire oil 
region as experienced and successful producers. 
John Thomas Cooper soon became a leading 
operator throughout the oil regions and remained 
as such until his death, of consumption, which 
occurred on Saturday, June 9, 1883. At the 
time of his death he resided in the first ward, or 
Lawrenceburg, and his late residence, which 
stands on a commanding site, is one of the finest 
mansions in western Pennsylvania. His re- 
mains lie entombed in a beautiful spot in the 
Presbyterian cemetery at Parker City. 

On October 2, 1867, he united in marriage 
with Sarah Bailey, who still survives him. 
She is a daughter of E. H. Bailey, of Parker 
City, and is an amiable and intelligent woman. 



48(5 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



To Mr. and Mrs. Cooper were born five sons 
and three daughters : Albert H., now an oil pro- 
ducer; Elizabeth, Thomas, Margaret, Charles, 
Hope B., Kenneth and Catherine. 

John Thomas Cooper was a republican in 
politics, a member of the Parker Oil Exchange 
and a director of the Parker Savings bank. 
He was a member and an elder of Parker City 
Presbyterian church, whose session, iu.resolntions 
passed upon his death, and sent to his bereaved 
family and the local and religious press, said : 
" We desire to bear testimony to his worth as a 
Christian, unassuming, tender-hearted, faithful, 
and as a member of this session, able in counsel 
and zealous in execution. We hold his mem- 
ory precious." 

A gentleman who is well acquainted with 
Mr. Cooper Las recorded his high estimate of 
him in the following true and beautiful tribute 
to his memory : " As a citizen he was patriotic 
and enterprising. His attachments, not readily 
formed, were as deep and abidiug as the worthi- 
ness of their object. His disposition was very 
sensitive and retiring, and forbade his taking 
prominence in public exercises; but for eight 
years he served conscientiously and ably as an 
elder in the Presbyterian church. His death is 
a bereavement common to the whole community. 
Many among the poor and wretched will miss 
his kindly word and open hand. While he was 
quick to mark and denounce a wrong, his heart 
was tender as a mother's and responded to every 
nobleness. A mean thing was utterly foreign 
to his nature. Such a life is the richest inherit- 
ance his friends can have. The integrity which 
was universally recognized under the severest 
tests; the patriotism which meant with him not 
merely a sentiment, but a sacrifice; the generos- 
ity which, while quiet, was all the more genuine 
and worthy ; the piety which grounded and 
rounded all his other virtues. These our mem- 
ories love to linger over and retain as the bright 
monument of John Thomas Cooper." 



JOSEPH EGGERT, M.D., resident of Par- 
^ ker City, is one of the oldest and most 
successful physicians of northern Armstrong 
county. He was born in Unity township, West- 
moreland county, Pennsylvania, Christmas, 
182.3, and is a son of George and Elizabeth 
(Fritts) Eggert. His paternal grandfather, John 
Eggert, was a native of Germany and came, 
when sixteen years of age, as a cook with some 
soldiers to Canada. He soon deserted and en- 
listed in one of the Continental armies, in which 
he served throughout the Revolutionary war. 
At its close he settled in Westmoreland county, 
where he drew a pension until his death, in 
1840, at ninety-three years of age. Of the 
children born to him in his Westmoreland 
county home was George Eggert (father), who 
was a large landholder in Salem township of 
that county. He was a member and an elder of 
the German Reformed church, and died at Mas- 
sillon, Ohio, in 1859, aged sixty-three years. He 
was a whig, and, although a very quiet man, 
)'et was very energetic in whatever enlisted his 
attention or engaged his efforts. He married 
Elizabeth Fritts, a native of Northampton 
county, and a daughter of Coonrod Fritts, who 
died on his farm in Westmoreland county, in 
1834, aged seventy-five years. Mrs. Eggert 
was a member of the Reformed church and 
passed away at her home in Stark county, Ohio, 
in June, 1888, when in the eighty-sixth year of 
her age. 

Joseph Eggert was reared on his father's 
farm, and received his education in the schools 
of his neighborhood and Greensburg academy. 
In 1844 he entered the office of Drs. Onusby 
& Fowler, of Green.sburg, as a medical student, 
and in 1847 attended a course of lectures in 
Cincinnati. He afterwards attended Cleve- 
land Medical college, from which well-known 
medical institution he was graduated in Febru- 
ary, 1853. He commenced the practice of 
medicine in 1848 at North Washington, in But- 
ler county, which place he left in 1856 to 



ARMSTnONO COUNTY. 



487 



locate at Callensburg, Clarion county. He left 
the latter place in 1856 to engage, at Oil City, 
in the drug business, which he followed for 
only three years. In 1870 he came to Parker 
City, where he opened an office, and has been 
engaged ever since in the continuous practice of 
his profession. 

On December 1, 1853, he married Margaret, 
daughter of John Parker, of Parker City, 
They are the parents of three children, two 
sons and one daughter: Rev. John E., a pres- 
byterian minister at Kansas, Illinois ; Dr. 
Gteorge L. G., a practicing physician and drug- 
gist of Parker City ; and Lizzie A., wife of 
Dean FuIIerton. 

Dr. Eggert is a member of the Royal Tem- 
plars and the Equitable Aid association, and a 
member and an elder of the Parker City Presby 
terian church. He is a republican in politics. 
While having his office in Parker City, how- 
ever, he resides just in the edge of Butler 
county. His practice extends over a portion of 
both Armstrong and Butler counties. Not 
desirous of office and not prominent in political 
matters, Dr. Eggert is never lacking in public 
spirit. He gives his full time to his profession 
and its manv duties. 



REV. THOMAS McCONNELL ELDER. 
Among the useful and public-spirited cit- 
zens of Dayton, well respected and highly es- 
teemed by all who know him and ever watchful 
for the progress and prosperity of the place 
where he has so long had his home, is Rev. 
Thomas McConnell Elder. 

He was born near New Alexandria, West- 
moreland county, Pennsylvania, March 24, 
1826, and is a son of Thomas and Mary (Mc- 
Connell) Elder. He is a descendant of the 
Dauphin county Elder family, of whose mem- 
bers many were pioneer settlers of western 
Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Robert Elder, 
served five yeai-s as a soldier in the Revolution- 



ary war, and at its close (soon after the burn- 
ing of Hannastown) came to near New Alex- 
andria, where he died many years later at the 
ripe age of eighty-six years. He was a cabinet- 
maker by trade. He settled on, and became 
owner of, a portion of a large body of land, 
still known as the " Richlands," taken up by 
Thomas Anderson, a relative of his. Of these 
lands, the tract known as " Hannasburg " de- 
scended through the mother, Mrs. Hannah 
Elder ; the other, known as " Andersonia," by 
will of said Anderson. Robert Elder was in 
politics a democrat, a consistent member of 
" Old Salem " Presbyterian church (Salem, in 
whose church-yard still stands an ancient grave- 
stone marked " Thomas Anderson, aged 103 
years"), was married and survived his wife, 
by whom he had two children ; Hannah, who 
married James Richards, and resided and died 
on part of the home tract, and Thomas, the 
father of the subject of this .-sketch. 

Thomas Elder was born in Dauphin county, 
January 18, 1782, and iu 1784 was brought by 
his parents to Westmoreland county, where he 
was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his 
death, in April, 1855. He was a good citizen, a 
strong democrat and wits a member of the old 
school Presbyterian church, which he left some 
years before his death to unite with the Re- 
formed Presbyterian churdi. On June 2, 1812, 
he married Mary McConnell, of Lancaster 
county, who was of the same religious faith as 
her husband. Their children were : Violet W., 
born March 13, 1813 ; Patsey M., born Sep- 
tember 27, 1815; Robert A., born Septem- 
ber 22, 1817; Harriet E., born December 
27, 1820; David, born September 4, 1823; 
Rev. Thomas M., Mary, born November 6, 
1828; James M., born November 14, 1829; 
John M., born December 22, 1832, and Wil- 
liam P., born April 12, 1835. All of these 
children are dead except Rev. Thomas M. and 
John M., who still resides on the old home 
farm. 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Mrs. Elder was born August 24, 1792, and 
died October 3, 1881. She was a daughter of 
David McConnell, a Scotch-English farmer of 
Lancaster county, who came to near New Alex- 
andria, Westmoreland county, after the Revolu- 
tion. He afterwards removed to Salem town- 
ship, that cc>unty, where he died. He was an 
earnest presbyterian, and married Martha 
Whitesides, January 10,1788, by whom he had 
twelve children : Daniel, Thomas W., David 
and Samuel, and Margaret, Prudence, Mary, 
Martha, Violet, Elizabeth, Hannah and Rebec- 
ca. These have now all passed away. 

Thomas M. Elder was educated at Geneva col- 
lege, from which he was graduated in 1853. He 
afterwards took a four years theological course 
at the Reformed Presbyterian seminary, now of 
Allegheny city. He has been always greatly 
interested in mattei-s educational. He was the 
first teacher of the female seminary at North- 
wood, Ohio ; he founded and was principal of 
the Loyalhanna institute for two years; he was 
principal of Dayton Union academy from 1862 
to 1866, and in the latter was largely instru- 
mental in establi.shing the Dayton Soldiers' 
Orphan school, of which he M'as principal until 
1871. He was licensed to preach the Gospel 
in 1858, was ordained May 11, 1859, and set- 
tled as pastor of the congregation of Rehoboth. 
He also supplied many important vacancies and 
had several important calls, among them being 
one to Baltimore and two to Boston, which he 
did not accept. 

In 1863 he had charge of the mission schools 
of his church at Fernandina, Florida, where, in 
the absence of the regular chaplain, he did 
chaplain work for the 11th Maine Volunteers, 
and in 1864-65 he superintended church mis- 
sions in Washington City, D. C. On account 
of hereditary illness he has largely withdrawn 
from active church work for some years past, 
and now lives in comfortable retirement in the 
village of Dayton. 

On September 14, 1848, Mr. Elder was mar- 



ried to Tirzah Mason, daughter of Thomas 
Mason, of Hannastown, Pa., and the youngest 
of a family of seventeen children. To them 
were born two children, one of which died in 
infancy and McLeod M., a Pullman palace car 
conductor, new resides in Allegheny city and 
married to Hannah Kuox. Mrs. Elder died in 
the summer of 1851, and on October 10, 1854, 
Mr. Elder was again married, this time to Mary 
Parker, daughter of Mr. John Lindsay, of 
I'hiladelphia. This wife died September 12, 
1868. To this second uniou were born 
three children : Tirzah T. M., wife of C. S. 
Marshall, a merchant of Dayton ; one which 
died in infancy, and Argyle W., now engaged 
as shipping clerk with a wholesale firm in 
Pittsburgh and married to Edith C, daughter 
of C. W. Ellenberger. 

Rev. T. M. Elder is a republican and was 
one of the early abolitionists. He has lived a 
busy, active life, and very many useful and im- 
portant enterprises attest his industry, energy 
and the value of his counsel. 

He is a man of fine presence and impressive 
manners, six feet two inches in height, two hun- 
dred and twenty-five pounds in weight, and, al- 
though gray, has still the years and ability, to 
add other work to a very successful life. He 
owns a part of his father's landed estate, and 
two farms in Armstrong county, besides several 
houses and lots at Dayton. He is a partner of 
the mercantile firm of C. S. Marshall & Co., is 
president of Dayton S. O. School association, 
also of two oil and gas companies, and has 
been interested and active in every business 
enterprise of any importance which has existed 
at Dayton, where he has resided for the last 
thirty years. 



SAMUEL J. ERVIN, of Irish extraction, 
and a well-known and popular furniture 
dealer, undertaker and embalmer of Parker 
City, was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



489 



October 12, 1835, and is a sou of Samuel and 
Eliza (Boan) Ervin. Samuel Ervin (grand- 
father) was a native of Westmoreland county, 
and came to Butler county in 1804. He pat- 
ented over five hundred acres of land in Butler 
county, near what is now Martinsburg. He was 
physically a strong man, and lived to the ad- 
vancefl age of seventy-seven years. Samuel 
Ervin (father) was boru in Butler county in 
1795, and was a farmer of that county all his 
life. He was a member of the United Presby- 
terian church, an old-line whig and afterwards 
a republican. He died in his native county in 
the spring of 1861, when sixty-six years of age. 
He married Eliza Boan, who was born on the 
ship on which her parents were coming from 
Ireland to the United States, and by whom he 
had several children. Mrs. Eliza Ervin was a 
consistent member of the United Presbyterian 
church, and died in 1842, at forty years of 
age. 

Samuel J. Ervin was reared on his father's 
farm until fourteen years of age, and received 
his educational training in the public schools. 
In 1849 he went to Callensburg, Clarion county, 
this State, where he served an apprenticeship of 
three years in learning the cabinet-maker's 
trade, and went from there to Fairview, Butler 
county, where he worked as a journeyman for 
five years. He afterwards purchased the furni- 
ture and cabinet-making establishment of his 
employer, William M. Thorn, and remained 
there until 1862. In that year, during the oil 
excitement at Oil City, he removed to that place, 
where he was engaged in the furniture and 
undertaking business until March, 1871, then 
came to Parker City and opened a furniture 
and undertaking establishment, which he has 
been successfully conducting ever since. He 
carries a stock worth $10,000, and does a good 
and paying business. He has a large stock of 
furniture and also carries a full and complete 
line of undertaker's supplies. He is perfectly 
acquainted with the wants of his section of the 



county, as well as being experienced in every 
detail of his business. 

In 1857 Mr. Ervin married Mary J. Thomp- 
son, daughter of John Thompson, of near But- 
ler, this State. Four children have been born 
to them, one son and three daughters: Cordelia 
B., married to K. M. Turk, who died in the 
spring of 1887 ; Elmer E., married to Carrie 
Russell, daughter of Capt. Russell, a veteran 
steamboat pilot of the Allegheny river ; Kate 
R., wife of W. W. Miller, ticket agent for the 
P. & W. R. R. at Parker City, and Clara C, 
married to William Orr, of Parker City. 

S. J. Ervin is a republican in political mat- 
ters, and a member of the M. E. cluireh. He 
has been class leader for many years, has held 
nearly all the ofliees of his church and takes an 
active part in church work. He has been a 
member of the town council for a number of 
years, and has served as mayor of his borough. 
He carries a large and well-assorted stock of 
first-class goods, and pays special attention to 
undertaking and embalming. His furniture is 
of the latest style, embracing all kinds and 
qualities of everything needed in his line of 
work, and he is conducting his large business 
with ever-increasing success. He is interested 
and assists in everything that will be of ben- 
efit to the town. 



HENRY REESE FULLERTON. During 
a long, useful and honorable life, Henry 
Reese Fullerton took part in so many matters 
of importance to Parker City that a mention 
in the record of his life of his more import- 
ant business enterprises will embrace the ma- 
terial history of Parker City from 1872 to 
1886. He was born in Clearfield county, 
Pennsylvania, June 27, 1827, and was a son 
of James and Susan (Reese) Fullerton. When 
he was quite small his parents removed to 
Jefferson county, where he was reared to man- 
hood and received his education in the com- 



490 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



moD schools. He learned the trade of brick- 
maker, which he soon abandoned to enter the 
lumber business, as affording him a wider field 
for the employment of his active mind and 
tireless energy. He frequently increased his 
operations in the lumber business until he was 
one of the largest lumber dealers in the 
county. In 1865 he lost a limb, and five 
years later disposed of his lumber interests. 
He then came to Parker and embarked in the 
oil business, but the control and management 
of that important undertaking did not absorb 
his entire attention or require all of his time, 
and he engaged in several other important 
enterprises. He leased the ferry, which he 
operated until 1872. He was one of the 
projectors and stockholders of the company 
which built the Parker City bridge. He was 
instrumental in securing the erection of the 
Parker City glass-works, in 1880, was one of 
the organizers and stockholders in the Parker 
Exchange bank, of which he was vice-president, 
and was one of the projectors and stock- 
holders of the Parker & Karns City and 
Karns City & Butler railways, wliich were 
built in 1873, and became important factors 
in the development of the Butler oil field. 
In 1874 he purchased the water- works, of 
which Parker City is very proud to-day, en- 
larged their capacity and laid several miles of 
additional pipe. He was also one of the owners 
of the planing-njill and box-factory. In every 
leading business enterpri.se of Parker City 
Mr. Fullerton was not only interested, but was 
active, prominent and useful. He took a great 
pride in the growth and progress of his town, 
and his aim was to contribute in every way 
possible to its development and prosperity. A 
man of great business ability, he was also a 
man of unusual energy and great method ; and 
was thus enabled, at the same time, to actively 
manage and successfully control several different 
business enterprises. He was a republican in 
politics, and, in addition to his many business 



interests, served one term as mayor and several 
terms as justice of the peace. He was a mem- 
ber of the M. E. church and the Masonic fra- 
ternity, and was a consi.stent temperance man, 
who never drank as much as a glass of beer or 
used tobacco in any form. His life closed when 
he was still actively engaged in business. He 
pas.sed away at his home in Parker City, June 
5, 1886, when in the sixty -second year of his 
age, and his remains were interred in Parker 
City cemetery. H. R. Fullerton had been for 
many years one of the most prominent and ac- 
tive citizens of his borough. He was highly 
esteemed and respected in private life, and his 
death left a wide blank in the business and so- 
cial circles of his town. He was a kind hus- 
Ijand, an affectionate father and a good friend to 
the poor. 

In 1848 he was married to Harriet Pearsall, 
of Brookville, Jefferson county, this State. 
Mrs. Fullerton is a daughter of Arad Pearsall, 
and resides in her well-appointed and elegant 
home at Parker City. Mr. and Mrs. Fullerton 
had three children : Dean W., in the banking 
business; Lily, who is married to G. W. Butt, 
and resides at Warren, Pa. ; and Elliot Y., a 
very promising young man, who died Septem- 
ber 7, 1885, when in the twenty-sixth year of 
his age. 



JOHN ALLISON HENRY, M.D., of Day- 
*J ton, is a physician who has specially fitted 
himself for his profession and who has enjoyed 
a continuous and successful practice of thirteen 
years in Jefferson, Clarion and Armstrong 
counties. He is a .son of Robert T. and Hester 
(Allison) Henry, and was born in Monroe 
township, Clarion county, Pennsylvania, Janu- 
ary 29, 1848. The Henrys are of English 
descent and one of them, William Henry 
(grandfather), of England, came to Westmore- 
land county, Penu.sylvania, from whence he re- 
moved in 1802 to Monroe townshij^. Clarion 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



491 



county, where he took up seven hundred acres 
of land. He served as a soldier in a Pennsyl- 
vania regiment in the Mexican war. He was a 
democrat and married Nancy Gibson, a sister of 
James Gibson, of Indiana county. To their 
union were born seven children, two sons and 
five daughters. One of these sous, Robert T. 
Henry (father), was born on the homestead 
farm, in Monroe township, in 1818, where he 
engaged in farming and stock-raising until his 
death, in 1881, when he was in the sixty-fourth 
year of his age. He was an extensive farmer, 
raised fine horses and sheep and was the first 
man to introduce blooded stock into his section 
of that county. He was a prominent democrat, 
and filled the offices of school director and tax 
collector for ten years and was held in such 
high esteem by his neighbors that many of 
them who served as soldiers in the late war, 
placed their families under his care while they 
were in the Union army. He married Hester 
Allison, a daughter of John Allison, of Indi- 
ana county, who was of Scotch-Irish descent. 
John Allison was a whig and afterwards a re- 
publican in politics. He was a member of the 
Presbyterian church and married a Miss Henry, 
by whom he had seven children, two sons and 
five daughters. 

Dr. John A. Henry was reared on his father's 
farm and received his education in the common 
schools and Reid Institute. Leaving school, he 
read medicine with Dr, T. C. Lawson, of 
Greensville, from 1872 to 1876, when he 
entered the University of Iowa at Iowa City. 
In 1876 he was matriculated in the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa, 
from which medical institution he was gradu- 
ated June 14, 1877. He then returned to his 
native State and during the next two years 
practiced medicine at Ringgold, in Jefferson 
county. At the end of that time he returned to 
Clarion county, where he practiced until 1881, 
when he went to Bellevue college. New York City, 
where he took a post-graduate course in me<li- 



cine. He then came to Dayton, where he has 
an extensive and remunerative practice. He 
owns the old homestead farm in Clarion county, 
on which he raises some very fine horses. 

September 21, 1871, he married Maggie E. 
Sayci"s, a daughter of Orr Sayers, of Clarion 
county. To their union have been born two 
children : Laura D., a telegraph ojjerator at 
East Brady ; and Bird Brown. 

Dr. J. A. Henry is a democrat in politics. 
He is a member of Lodge No. 963, Indeisen- 
dent Order of Odd Eeliows, of West Millville ; 
Lodge No. 45, Knights of Pythias, Putney- 
ville; Council No. 400, Senior Order of United 
American Mechanics, of Dayton ; Assembly 
No. 10,644, Knights of Labor, New Bethlehem, 
and is a Free and Accepted Mason. 



ALBERT M. HOOVER, M.D. One of 
the most public-spirited citizens and suc- 
cessful physicians of Parker City is Albert M. 
Hoover, M.D., who has been engaged in the active 
l)ractice of his j)rofession for over twenty years. 
He was born iu BuSalo township, Butler 
county, Pennsylvania, October 31, 1844, and is 
a son of David L. and Mary (Myers) Hoover. 
The Hoover family came to America from 
Saxony, in Germany, and settled in eastern 
Pennsylvania at an early day iu the Colonial 
history of the Quaker province. John Hoover, 
the paternal grandfather of Dr. Hoover, was 
born in Dauphin county, where he owned and 
operated a distillery for several years. He 
then removed to Greensburg, Westmoreland 
county, and after a residence of some years at 
that place came to Armstrong county. He 
finally went to Clarion county, where he died in 
1850, aged eighty years. He was a farmer by 
occupation and a member of the German Re- 
formed church. One of his sons was David L. 
Hoover (father), who was born in Dauphin 
county, in 1805. He accompanied his father 
to Greensburg, Pa., from which he soon went 



492 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



to Buffalo township, Butler county, where he 
has been engaged in farming ever since. He is 
a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church 
and was an old-line whig until that party went 
out of existence, since which time he has been a 
republican. He has been successful in farming, 
is remarkably active for one of his advanced 
years and never has allowed himself to weary or 
worry over any trouble however .serious. He 
married Mary Myers, a native of Dauphin 
county, who was a presbyterian and passed away 
in 1881, at seventy-seven years of age. Her 
grandfather, Baltser Myers, was one of the 
Hessian soldiers who were hired by the Eng- 
lish government and brought to New Jersey to 
aid in capturing Washington's army. Baltser 
Myers was told that he was to serve against the 
Indians, and when he learned the true state of 
affairs, and against whom his services were 
needed, he escaped from the British army and 
settled in Pennsylvania. 

Albert M. Hoover received his education in 
the common schools, Ijeechburg academy and 
Witherspoon institute. After a three years' 
academic course he enli.sted, on February 14, 
1865, in Co. H, 78th regt., Pa. Vols., and 
served until September 9th of that year, when 
he was discharged from the United States 
general hospital at Philadelphia. In 186G he 
commenced reading mediciue with his l)rother, 
Dr. N. M. Hoover, of North Hope, Butler 
county, and afterwards entered Cleveland Med- 
ical college, from which he was graduated Feb- 
ruary 10th, 1870. In the same year he came to 
Parker City, where he practiced for nearly three 
years and then entered Jefferson Medical college 
of Philadelphia, from which he was graduated 
March 1, 1873. Leaving Philadelphia, he 
returned to Parker City and resumed his prac- 
tice, which is now very large and remunerative. 
Dr. Hoover is a member of the Armstrong 
County Medical Society, Parker City Lodge, 
No. 521, Free and Accept al Masons, and 
Parker Lodge, No. 761, Independent Order of 



Odd Fellows. In politics he is independent 
and has served for five years as school director 
of his borough. In 1888 he established his 
present drug store, which affords the citizens of 
the borough and vicinity an opportunity to get 
pure drugs and have prescriptions filled under 
the personal supervision of a careful and skilled 
physician. 

On December 24, 1872, he married Elvira 
Brenneman, who was a daughter of Abner Bren- 
neman, of Freeport, and died October 6, 1873, 
leaving one child, a daughter named Elvira. On 
July 12, 1880, he united in marriage with Sarah 
Hicks, daughter of Richard Hicks, of this 
county, but formerly of England. To this sec- 
ond union have been born four children, two 
sons and two daughters : Sarah, Albert M., 
Harriet and Nicholas M. 



GEORGE W. LIAS, one of the prominent 
and energetic business men of Dayton, and 
proprietor of the Lias carriage factory, is a son 
of John and Susanna (Pontius) Lias, and was 
born (in the brick house at Dayton now owned 
by William Marshall) in Wayne township, Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1884. 
His paternal grandfatb.er, Jacob Lias, came 
from Germany to Maryland, and subsequently 
removed to Huntingdon county, where he died. 
He owned a lai'ge farm and was a methodist 
and democrat. Several of his brothers and two 
of his sons, David and Henry, served in the 
Revolutionary war. His sou, John Lias (fa- 
ther), was born in Maryland, May 22, 1788, 
and in 1820 came witli Jacob Pontius to the 
site of Dayton when it was an unbroken forest. 
He built his cabin on the site of William Mar- 
shall's brick house, and purchased a tract of 
three hundred and seventy acres of land, on 
which he lived until his death, November 5, 
1852. He was a democrat and methodist, and 
married Susanna Pontius, a daughter of Jacob 
Pontius, who emigrated from Germany to east- 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



493 



em Pennsylvania, but subsequently came to 
near Dayton, where he followed farming until 
his death, in 1852, at sixty-three years of age. 
They had nine children ; Ezra and Mary A., 
■ who are dead ; Eliza M., widow of Dr. Gootl- 
heart ; Sarah B., wife of G. W. Thonijjson ; 
Lovina, wife of Samuel Byers, and late widow 
of Rev. Joseph Neij^li ; Caroline, who married 
J. K. Miller, of Blairsville, Pa. ; Rebecca, wife 
of J. C. Gray, of Beaver Ealls, this State; 
George W. and Harriet, who died young. 

George W. Lias was reared on the fi\rm, at- 
tended the common schools and was engaged 
in farming until 1865. Before he (juit farming 
he learned the trade of blacksmith and carriage- 
builder, and has followed that business at Day- 
ton ever since. 

October 29, 1857, he married Ciiarlotte 
Hutchins, of Allegheny city, who died March 
4, 1877. They had seven children : Cora S., 
wife of D. B. Travis, a farmer of Red Bank 
township; Edwin B., Frank E., who died at 
eighteen years of age ; Minnie R., married to 
Calvin AValker, an uu<lertaker of Indiana coun- 
ty ; Martha F., who is a woman of educational 
ability, has a fine academic education, has 
taught four terras and holds a professional cer- 
tifieate as the residt of successful teaching; 
Mary B., who has taken a full academic course, 
is teaching her third term and takes a promi- 
nent part in the W. C. T. U., of Dayton, of 
which she was the delegate to the State conven- 
tion, at Seranton, in 1890; and Laura E., at 
home. Mr. Lias was re-married on February 
14, 1878, to Mrs. Eliza (Newell) McCutcheon. 

During Buchanan's administration Mr. Lias 
left the Democratic and joined the Know- 
notliing party, and finally became a republican. 
At the present time he favors the Prohibition 
party, and, although never asking for office, was 
elected school director, besides serving his bor- 
ough for five years as justice of the peace. 
He is a charter member of Dayton Lodge, 
No. 400, Senior Order of United American 



Mechanics, and has been a steward of the 
Mcthotlist Episcopal church for twenty-seven 
years. He owns valuable real estate in the 
borough besides his valuable carriage factory 
and blacksmith shop. His est^iblishment is 
40x50 feet with a 20x40 feet wing, two stories 
iiigli. It is well ecpiipped with late machinery 
and all appliances necessary to carry on his 
business. Mr. Lias has achievetl success and 
won respect by his energetic and honorable 
course in life. On August 6, 1884, the de- 
scendants of John and Susanna (Pontius) Lias 
held a re-uniou at Dayton, at which two sons, 
six daughters, forty-two granilchildrcn and 
forty-two great-grandchiklren were present. 



rPHOMAS H. MARSHALL, a member of 
-»- the leading general mercantile firm of 
Dayton, a remarkably successful business man 
and a grandson of William Marshall, the first 
white settler of Wayne township, was born one 
and one-half miles from Dayton, in Wayne 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
July 29, 1824, and is a son of Robert and 
Mary (Hyndman) Marshall. His great-grand-' 
Either, William Marshall, a native of Ireland, 
went to Scotland, wdiere he married Eliza- 
beth Armstrong, and in 1748 settled in the 
southeastern part of Pennsylvania. He had 
six children, of whom three, William, John 
and James, were respectively the founders of 
the Marshall families of Armstrong, Indiana 
and Westmoreland counties. (See sketch of 
William Mai-shall.) William Marshall (grand- 
father) removed to what is now Black Lick 
township, Indiana county, but on account of 
Indians and a failure to get a perfect title to 
the land on which he had located, he came, in 
1803, to what is now Wayne township, in 
which he was the first white settler. Ho w'as a 
democrat and an elder of Glade Run Presby- 
terian church, and in 1779 married Catherine 
Wilson, of Indiana county, by whom he had six 



494 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



sons and three daughters. His son, Eobert 
Marshall (father), was born August 19, 1799, 
and died in 1881, aged eighty-two years. 
He owned a large tract of land, was a whig 
and afterwards a republican in politics, and 
held membership in the United Presbyter- 
ian church. He was interested in the mercan- 
tile and farming business, and married Mary 
Hyndman, who was born in 1801 and died in 
1869. After her death he married Mary J. 
Armstrong. By his first marriage he had eleven 
children, of whom three sons and five daughters 
lived to maturity. Mrs. Mary (Hyndman) j 
Marshall was a daughter of Thomas Hyndman, 
who was killed while helping to raise a bridge 
at Saltsburg, Indiana county, where he resided 
at the time. 

Thomas H. Marshall was reared on his fa- 
ther's farm and received his education in the 
early schools of Wayne township. At twenty- 
six years of age he engaged, at Day ton,, with 
his father, in the mercantile business, which he 
has followed ever since. He and his brother 
William are now members of the firm of Mar- 
shall Bros. They have a large establishment 
well filled with general merchandise, and enjoy 
a substantial patronage at Dayton and from the 
surrounding country. 

On March 14, 1850, he married Rosetta P., 
daugliter of Robert Neal, of Cowanshannock 
township. Their children are : Silas W., of 
Dayton, a farmer, who married Agnes Craig 
and has five children ; David D., married to 
May Haines, by whom he has two children, 
and is a miller and a butcher; Robert N., a 
merchant of Forest county, who married Mary 
Marshall, of Allegheny city ; Rev. Clark H., 
a graduate of Princeton college and Theological 
seminary, who married Elizabeth Stewart, of 
Parnassus, and is a minister in the United 
Presbyterian church ; and Mary S. 

Thomas H. Marshall and his wife and chil- 
dren are members of the United Presbyterian 
church, of Dayton, of which he is a trustee. 



He is a republican, was formerly a whig, and 
has served his borough as school director, be- 
sides holding the office of justice of the peace 
for two terms. Mr. Marshall makes a specialty 
of raising blooded stock, especially hogs and 
sheep. In connection with his other lines of 
business he is engaged extensively in the lum- 
ber business in Forest county, where he and his 
sons own a half-interest in twenty-three hun- 
dred acres of timber which they are working 
up into lumber. His life has been one of ac- 
tivity and usefulness. 



JOSEPH W. MARSHALL, the well-known 
^ proprietor of one of the leading livery, 
sales and feed stables of Dayton, is a son of 
Samuel and Mary (Wadding) Marshall, and 
was born in Wayne township, Armstrong coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, December 11, 1830. The 
Marshalls are of Irish descent, and Archibald 
Marshall (grandfather) was born in 1762, and 
in early life removed from Westmoreland to 
Armstrong county, where he settled near Day- 
ton. He was engaged in agricultural pursuits 
until his death, in 1835. He was a member of 
the United Presbyterian church, and married 
Catherine Wilson, by whom he had eight 
children, six sons and two daughters. One of 
these sons served in the U. S. army during the 
war of 1812. Another son was Samuel Mar- 
shall (fiither), who was born June 9, 1808, in 
Westmoreland county, from whence he came to 
Wayne township, this county, where he pur- 
chased one hundred and sixty acres of land and 
engaged in farming. He was a democrat in 
politics and a member of the Presbyterian 
church. He died December 14, 1879, when he 
was in the seventy-second year of his age. He 
married Mary Wadding, and to their union 
were born five children, three sons and two 
daughters : Joseph W., George W., born July 
4, 1832, and a carpenter at Punxsutawney; 
Caroline, born January 7, 1834; Mary J., born 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



495 



March 12, 1836, and widow of W. G. Travis, 
of Indiana; and Samuel H., born December 
30, 1837, who married Malissa Turk and lives 
on the homestead farm. He died November 
23, 1890. Mrs. Marshall is a daughter of Josepii 
Wadding (maternal grandfather), a native of 
Scotland, who came in early life to Pennsylva- 
nia and settled iu Huntingdon county, but 
afterward came to Wayne township, this county, 
where he died and was buried in a private 
grave-yard on tiie farm now owned by Harvey 
Irwin. He married Jane Travis, by whom he 
had six children, three sons and three daugh- 
ters. 

Joseph W. Marshall was reared on his 
father's farm, attended tiie public schools of 
Wayne township and, leaving school, commenced 
farming, whicii he followed until 1885, when he 
came to Dayton, where he has been engaged in 
the livery business ever since. He owns a good 
farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres in 
Wayne township, which well repays its cultiva- 
tion. 

January 29, 1856, he married Mary Ann 
Travis, who was born August 28, 1832, and is 
a daughter of John and Catherine (Chrisman) 
Travis. She came from Huntingdon county 
when she was eleven years of age, and lived 
with James Gahaghen until she was married in 
1829 to John Travis, who lived near Good's 
Mills. John Travis was a farmer and miller 
and had a family of five children, of whom one 
only is living: Mrs. Marshall. Her brother, 
AVilliam F. Travis, died June 15, 1886, aged 
fifty-six years. To Mr. and Mrs. Marshall 
have been born five children, four sons and one 
daughter: Emma R. J., born March 8, 1857, 
wife of William M. Latimore, and has two 
children, Cora Belle and Eva Blanche; Syl- 
vester M., born December 28, 1859, who 
married Elmira J. Russell (had four children, 
one dead and three living — William B. (dead) 
and Claude B., Fannie B. and Alfred Russell 
Marshall), and is engaged in farming in Wayne 



township; William Travis, born October 8, 
1865, and died October 18, 1865; Leander A., 
born July 25, 1869, and died August 17, 1873; 
and Forbes D., born December 22, 1875. 

Joseph W. Mai-shall is an adherent of the 
principles of the Democratic party, and he and 
liis wife are members of the Presbyterian church 
i)f Dayton. Mr. Marshall is well prepared iu 
his present particular line of business to accom- 
modate the wants of the traveling public, and 
keeps a good assortment of buggies and a first- 
class stock of driving and riding horses. 



WILLIAM MARSHALL, a leading mer- 
chant of Dayton and a descendant of 
the old pioneer Marshall family of western 
Pennsylvania, is a son of Robert and Mary 
(Hyndmau) Marshall, and was born in Wayne 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
September 24, 1822. The trans-Atlantic an- 
cestor of the Marshall family was William 
Marshall (great-grandfather), who was born in 
Ireland in 1722, and when a young man went 
to Scotland, where he met and married Eliza- 
beth Armstrong, a native of that country. In 
1748 he came to the United States and settled 
in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania, about 
sixty miles northwest of Baltimore, Maryland, 
iu what was known as the Conecocheaffue set- 
tlemont where he reared a family of six 
children. Three of his sons, William (grand- 
father), John and James, came to what is now 
Indiana county, but wei-e driven away by the 
Indians. John returned to Conecocheague ; 
James stopped at the Sewickley settlement, in 
Westmoreland county; while AVilliam located 
on Conemaugh creek, where he took up a large 
tract of land, which he sold iu 1803 and then 
moved to Armstrong county. He there settled 
on a tract of land on a part of which is the 
present Dayton fair grouud, and about ten years 
later he bought and built on the farm of the 
subject of this sketch. He was one of the first 



496 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



elders of the Glade Run Presbyterian church, 
and in 1830 he died upon the jjroperty now 
owned by William Marshall (subject). He 
married Catherine Wilson, of Indiana county, 
in 1779, and to their union were born nine 
children. One of their sons, Robert Marshall 
(father), was born August 19, 1799. He was a 
farmer and merchant, and his first enterprise 
was a distillery on Glade run. He also bought 
grain and other farm products which he hauled 
to Phillipsburg, Old Town and Curwensville 
and exchanged for merchandise. In 1850 he 
opened a store at Dayton under the name of R. 
Marshall & Sons, with which he was connected 
until his death, on October 1, 1881. He was 
also interested financially in the Enterprise 
Lumber com})any, and the Dayton Soldiers' 
Orphan school, and was prominent in the organ- 
ization of the Dayton academy. He married 
Mary Hyndman, by whom he had eleven chil- 
dren, and after her death, in 1869, he married 
INIary J. Armstrong. 

William Marshall was reared on his father's 
farm (and followed farming all his life, in con- 
nection with other business). After receiving a 
good business education, he engaged, in 1850,' 
in his present general mercantile business at 
Dayton. He is connected with the Enterprise 
Lumber company and owns 550 acres (290 of 
it under cultivation) of productive farming land 
in W^yne township. 

On April 19, 1860, he married Mary Ann 
Blair, a daughter of William and Anise (Pat- 
tei-son) Blair, of Westmoreland county. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Mai shall have been born .seven 
children : Laura D., who is the wife of James 
Storey, an oil-well driller of Ohio, has two 
children: Clarence and Mary; C. Reed, super- 
intending store at Dayton, who married Mollie 
Ellenberger and has two children: Ethel and 
Alice T. ; Rebecca, married January 2, 1880, to 
John W. Lias, a commercial traveler and has one 
child: William Raymond; Jemima, wife of 
John Bott, a well-driller of Idlewood, Pa., and 



has two children : Virginia T. and Margaretta ; 
Caroline S., a teacher; Blair P., and Tirzah M. 
Mrs. Marshall is a granddaughter of James 
Blair, of Ireland, who married a Miss Hunter, 
of Scotch descent, and came to Huntingdon 
county, from which he removed to Westmore- 
land county. Her maternal grandfather, 
Thomas Patterson, came from Ireland, and 
married a Miss Lytle, of Derry township, 
Westmoreland county. Pa. 

William Marshall is an active rejuiblican, 
and has filled various township offices and is an 
elder in the United Presbyterian church, of 
which he and his wife are both esteemed mem- 
liers. He is a man of business ability and has 
frequently been executor and administrator, in 
which offices he has always served very credit- 
ably and efficiently. 



WESLEY AVADE MILLER, one of the 
energetic and rising young business men 
of Parker City, is a son of John Wesley and 
Hannah (Pearsall) Miller, and was born at 
Brookville, Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, May 
27, 1866. His father, John W. Miller, was 
born in Ohio, and came to Pennsylvania when 
about eighteen years of age. He was a carpen- 
ter and ciibi net-maker by trade, which he fol- 
lowed for a number of years. For eighteen or 
twenty yeai-s before his death he was engaged in 
the grocery business in both Brookville and 
Parker City. He moved from the latter place 
in 1888 to Allegheny city, this State, where he 
died June 1, 1890, at sixty-nine years of age. 
He had been a member, since he was twenty 
years of age, of the M. E. church. He was a 
republican and a very active and stirring busi- 
ness man. He married Hannah Pearsall, 
daughter of Arad Pearsall, and a native of 
Brookville, Pa. She was also a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church and died March 16, 
1876, when forty- six years of age. They were 
the parents of seven children. 



ARMSTHONG COUNTY. 



497 



Wesley Wade Miller was reared in Jefferson 
county until he was eight years of age, when he 
came to Parker City with his father. He re- 
ceived his (ilucation in the public schools, and 
after leaving school served an apprenticeship of 
three years in the Phanix printing office, of 
Parker City. Not liking the printing business, 
he in 1882 entered the office of the P. & W. 
railroad, at Parker City, where, in addition to 
regular office duties, he learned telegraphy. On 
May 1, 1883, he took charge of the P. & W- 
railroad office .-it J5yromtown, Forest county, 
and was transferred from there to Clarion Junc- 
tion, from which, in a short time, he was sent to 
Foxburg, Clarion county, where he remained 
about three years as traiu tlispatcher. In 1887 he 
came to Parker City, where he has served as 
ticket and freight agent ever since. He is also 
express agent for Wells, Fargo & Co., and has 
served faithfully and diligently in his different 
and responsible positions. 

In 1885 Mr. Miller united in marriage with 
Kate Ervin, daughter of S. J. Ervin, of Parker 
City (see his sketch). To this union has been 
born one child, a daughter, Ethel Lucile, born 
November 22, 1885. 

W. W. Miller is a republican and is serving 
his second term as city auditor. He is a mem- 
ber of the M. E. church, Parker Council, No. 
179, Royal Arcanum, and Parker Lodge, No. 
761, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 



DAVID MILLIRON. Few, if any, indus- 
tries have received more attention in the 
last few years than that of carriage-building, 
and one of the successful carriage manufacturers 
of this county is David Milliron, of Dayton. 
He is a son of Philip and Catherine (Precious) 
Millirou, and was born in Porter township (now 
Ringgold), Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, Au- 
gust 2, 1833. The Milliron family is of Ger- 
man descent, and David Milliron, the grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 



Westmoreland county, from whence he removed 
in 1817 to Jefferson county, and afterwards went 
to Michigan, where he was engaged in farming 
until his death. He was a democrat, and a 
meniber of the Methotlist Episcopal church. 
He marrie<l Barbara Cribbs, who was born in 
Germany and was brought by her parents to 
America when she was four years of age. They 
had five children, two sons and three daughters. 
One of these sons, Philip Millirou (father), was 
\ born August 9, 1809, in Westmoreland county, 
and went with his parents to Jeffei-son county, 
where he is engaged in farming in Ringgold 
township. He owns one hundred and thirty 
acrcsofland in that township,aud, like his father, 
is a democrat and methodist. He married 
Catherine Procious, daughter of Nicolas Pro- 
cious, a lutheran, who owned a farm near the 
Westmoreland and Armstrong county line. 
They had seven children, five sons and two 
daughters. After the death of Mrs. Milliron, 
he married for his second wife Mrs. Eliza 
Weaver. 

David Milliron was reared on his father's 
farm, received a conmion-school education, and 
learned the trade of blacksmith, which he fol- 
lowed for about twenty-five years. In July, 
1863, he enlisted as a sergeant in Co. H, 57th 
regiment, Pa. Vols., and assisted in the capture 
of Gen. Morgan. He was mustered out of ser- 
vice on August 17, 1863. In the spring of 
1873 he removed to Dayton, where he has since 
been engaged in the manufacture of carriages, 
and makes a specialty of all kinds of light work 
in his line of business. He is also engaged in 
drilling artesian wells with a steam drill, and in 
testing for coal and other minerals. 

On August 19, 1855, he married Dorcas 
Freese, who was born in 1838 and is a daughter 
of Henry Freese, of Jefferson county, and to 
their union have been born five children, four 
I sons and one daughter : Samuel F., who married 
j Maggie Pontius, and is car-inspector at the coal 
works at New Bethlehem ; Wesley C, who 



498 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



married Minnie Davis and follows his trade of 
blacksmith at Dayton ; George B., who died 
September 22, 1865 ; Philip, who married Clara 
Rupp (now deceased) and is engaged in carriage 
manufacturing at Dayton, where he is a member 
of the Sr. O. U. A. M. ; and Eflfie C. 

David Milliron and his three sons are all 
stanch democrats. He has served three terms 
as justice of the peace in Jefferson county, and 
also two terms in the same office at Dayton. 
He is a trustee of the Metiiodist Episcopal 
church, and a member of Council No. 400, >Sr. 
O. U. A. M., of Dayton, and at one time was 
connected with the I. O. O. F. Mr. Milliron 
has a well-arranged carriage manufactory, en- 
joys a large trade and is a skilled mechanic in 
his line of business. 



EPHRAIM MORROW, postmaster of Day- 
ton, and one of four brothers who served 
in the Union armies, ranked high as a station ! 
commander in the U. S. sig-nal service. He is 

O I 

a son of Andrew and Mary (Coclirane) Mor- ' 
row, and was born in South Mahoning township, I 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Dec. 3, 1839. 
The Morrow family is of Irish descent, and one 
of its members, John Morrow (grandfather), was I 
born in county Down, Ireland, from whence he 
emigrated to the United States in 1808, and 
settled in Cowanshannock township, Armstrong 
county, where he was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits until his death, which occurred in 
1845, when lie was in the eightieth year of his 
age. He was a member of the United Presby- ■ 
terian church, and an old line whig. One of 
his sons, Andrew Morrow (fatiier), was born in 
Ireland about 1804, and came to Armstrong 
county wit!) his father, but in 1836 he removed 
to South Mahoning township, where he en- 
gaged in farming. He died in 1884, when he 
had attained the age of eighty years. He was 
an elder of the United Presbyterian church for 
about fifty years, aud supported the Republican 



party. He held various township offices. He 
married Mary Cochrane, daughter of William 
Cochrane, of Armstrong county, and_^ to their 
union were born eight children, five sons and 
three daughters, of whom four are still living. 
Of the sons, John enlisted in 1863 in Co. G, 
102(1 regt., Pa. Vols., and died in York,l Pa., 
in 1864 ; William, who enlisted in Co. A, 2d 
Battalion, Pa. Vols., and served six months; 
and Dr. James J., entered the service of the 
United States in the fall of 1862, as ca^itain of 
Co. G, 103d reg. Pa. Vols., served three years 
in the Army of the Potomac, was captured at 
Plymouth, N. C., by the Confederates, and held 
a prisoner of war for eleven raontlis, during 
which time he escaped three times. Twice he 
was recaptured and taken back to Charlotte- 
ville, N. C, but the third time he succeeded in 
reaching Sherman's army. After he was mus- 
tered out of service, Dr. Morrow practiced 
medicine in Philadelphia, and in Crawford and 
Mercer counties. He died in Lawrence town- 
ship, Mercer county. Mrs. Morrow's fatlier, 
William Cochrane (maternal grandfather), was 
a native of Ireland, and settled in Armstrong 
county, where he was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits until his death, in 1850. He was a 
democrat in politics, and a member of the 
Presbyterian church. 

Ephraim Morrow was reared on his father's 
farm, and after attending the subscription 
.schools of his native township, he took an 
academic course, and taught two terms of school, 
after which he learned the trade of carpenter. 
On May 15, 1861, he enlisted in Co. K, 13th 
Penna. Reserves, and was transferred to the 
U. S. signal corps, in which he served one and 
one-half years, and then was in General Banks' 
Red river expedition in Louisiana. He was 
afterwards sent back to the U. S. signal corps, 
and placed in charge of a signal station on the 
coast of North Carolina, where he remained 
until he was mustered out of service, May 18, 
1864. Returning to Pennsylvania, he went 



ahmstrong county. 



499 



into the oil region, where he followed carpenter- 
ing. In 1874 he came to Dayton, which he 
has since made his home. On October 16, 
1880, he was appointed by President Harrison 
as postmaster of Dayton, whicii office lie still 
holds, and whose duties he carefully discharges. 

On February 15, 1872, he married Nancy 
C. McKay, daughter of D. W. McKay, a sol- 
dier of the Union army, wiio was captured at 
Gettysburg and died in prison. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Morrow have been born two children, a 
son and a daughter : Mary J. and James E., 
now a printer at Kittanning. 

Ephraim Morrow is a stanch repulilican, and 
in 1880 was appointed census-taker of the 
borough of Dayton and Wayne township. He 
is a member of J. Ed. Turk Tost, No. 321, 
G. A. R., Union Veteran Legion, and Dayton 
Lodge, No. 400, Jr. O. U. A. M., of Dayton. 
Reliable as a citizen, faitiiful as a soldier and 
efficient as a public official, Mr. Morrow has 
many warm friends. 



FRANKLIN OTTINGER. In these days, 
when so many accidents are occurring 
through ignorance and carelessness in the prep- 
aration of drugs and medicines, it is a matter 
of the greatest importance to the public to know 
where they can tind reliable drug houses and 
competent pharmacists. One of the best quali- 
fied and most careful and attentive druggists of 
western Pennsylvania is Franklin Ottinger, of 
Parker City. He is a son of George and Eliza- 
beth (Haines) Ottinger, and was born in Bur- 
lington county, N. J., July 2, 1848. As the 
name indicates, the Ottingers are of German 
origin, and the American branch of the family 
is traced back in its residence in Pennsylvania 
to Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, where Franklin 
Ottingcr's paternal grandfather, Alexander 
Ottinger, was burn, reared, lived and died. lie 
was a farmer, and of his sous who grew to 
manhood, one was George Ottinger (father), who 



was born in 1812, and died in 1875, aged 
si.xty-three years. When a young man he 
removed to Mt. Holly, the county-seat of Bur- 
lington county, N. J., where he became the 
proprietor and editor of the Mt. Holly Herald, 
a democratic paper of considerable force and 
extended circulation. The events of the last 
war changed Mr. Ottingcr's political opinions, 
and he affiliated with the Reijublican party 
from 1861 to his'death, which occurred in 1875. 
He was a prominent and useful member of the 
Baptist church, and married Elizabeth Haines, 
of Burlington county, N. J., who was reared in 
the Quaker faith, which she held until in the 
latter years of her life, when she united with 
the Baptist church. She was born in 1817, and 
passed away in 1882. 

Franklin Ottinger was reared at Mt. Holly 
and in the city of Philadelphia. After obtain- 
ing a good English education he attended the 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, from which 
institution he was graduated in 1868. Two 
years later he located in Pittsburgh, where he 
was engaged in the drug business until 1878, 
when he came to Parker City and established 
his present drug house. He keeps a full assort- 
ment of fresh and pure drugs, chemicals and 
pharmaceutical preparations, all of whicli are 
up to the standard demanded by the United 
States Pharmacopreia, besides toilet and fancy 
articles and proprietary remedies of established 
reputation. His drug house is complete in all 
its arrangements, and careful attention is given 
to the wants of a large and constantly increasing 
patronage. 

In 1878 he married Ella S. Bair, daughter 
of W^illiam Bair, of Sharon, Pa. Their union 
has been blest with two children : George B. 
and Sue H. 

Franklin Ottinger is a member of Parker 
Lodge, No. 761, I. O. O. F., Parker Council, 
No. 179, Royal Arcanum, and the Order of 
Solon. He is a republican in politics, has held 
various borough offices, and frequently, al- 



500 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



though not a politician, serves as a delegate to 
State and county conventions of his party. Mr. 
Ottinger lias been engaged for several years as 
an oil producer. He is a pharmacist of skill, 
has a wide range of practical experience, and 
conducts his establishment upon the principles 
of integrity and correct business. 



FULLERTON PARKER, whose name will 
long live in the recollections of the citizens 
of Parker City as a brave and kind-hearte<l 
man, was one of that class of strong, honest, 
active and courageous men, so essentially neces- 
sary to the growth and development of any 
town or city. He was a son of Judge John 
and Jane (Woods) Parker, and was born on the 
old Parker homestead, on the hill above Park- 
er City, in Parks township, Butler county, 
Pennsylvania, December 15, 1806. In the 
days of pioneer danger, privation and ad- 
venture in western Pennsylvania, the Parker 
family settled in what is now Washington coun- 
ty. Col. William Parker, the grandfather of 
Fullerton Parker, and in all probability a son 
of the founder of the family in western Penn- 
sylvania, came from Washington county, in 
1798, and settled near the site of Bear Creek 
furnace on Bear creek. He built the first grist- 
mill of northern Armstrong county, and 
although it was a log structure, equipped with 
machinery of the most j)rimitive description, 
yet it was the main dependence for grinding of 
the settlers for many miles around. He was an 
influential man in his section, and prominent in 
military matters. One of his sons, George, 
was drowned at Pittsburgh, when Col. Parker 
was moving to Armstrong county. Another 
son was Hon. John Parker (father), who was 
one of the first associate judges of Butler coun- 
ty, and served as such for thirty-five years. 
He surveyed the northern part of the county, 
laid out Parker City as Lawrenceburg, in 1815, 
engaged largely in farming, and was one of the 



most prominent public men and highly re- 
spected citizens of his day. He was a presby- 
terian, and died in 1842, aged seventy-six 
years. He married Ann Woods, by whom he 
had eight sons and one daughter: James, John, 
Julietta, who married John Gilchrist; William, 
Fullerton, George (see his sketch), Thomas and 
Wilson. 

Fullerton Parker was reared on the home 
farm, and receive<l his etlucation in the schools 
of his neighborhood. In early life he operated 
a tannery, and afterwards was successively 
engaged in most of the leading business enter- 
prises of Parker City until his death, in 1883. 
He owned the farm on which Parker City was 
principally built, and was a republican in pol- 
itics. In the year 1832, he married Amelia 
Harris, daughter of Ephraim Harris, of Har- 
risville, Butler county. To them were bora 
two sons and six daughters: Ephraim (de- 
ceased), William J., of Parker City; Jane M., 
wife of A. J. Haldeman ; Mary A., married to 
P. M. Hollister; Juliet, wife of J. M. Agnew; 
Ella P., Intermarried with W. H. Spain; Liz- 
zie, wife of W. C. Mobley ; and Amelia, mar- 
ried to S. M. McGough. Mrs. Parker, who is 
a very intelligent and aftable woman still, re- 
sides in the home mansion, where she is sur- 
rounded with all the comforts and enjoyments 
which make life happy and pleasant. 

We leave to the pen of one well conversant 
with the history of Parker City to tell the 
story of Fullerton Parker's life, which he has 
ably done in the following article : 

"Fullerton Parker, after a long and severe 
illness, died Wednesday, December 26, 1883. 
The name of Mr. Parker is well-known to 
many citizens of this city, and of the entire oil 
country, as he was identified with many of the 
imjDortant business interests and enterprises of 
the lower oil regions. Mr. Parker was one of 
the oldest residents of this section of the 
State. He was one of the projectors and 
principal stockholders of the Parker & Karns 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



501 



City and Karns City & Butler R. R., which, 
being built in 1873, were important fac- 
tors in the development of the Butler oil 
field. He was also one of the projectors and 
leading stockholders in the Parker bridge, 
which was built in 1872. Through his enter- 
prise the Exchange Bank of Parker City was 
founded in 1871, and he was, for years, its 
president. Indeed, there was not any important 
enterprise connected with tiie growth of Parker 
City and the lower oil country in which he was 
not interested. Being a man of splendid phy- 
sique and indomitable energy, his enterprises 
were pushed vigorously and successfully, and 
the name of 'Uncle Fullerton,' as he was 
commonly called by his friends, was the syno- 
nym of courage and energy. With all his 
physical energy and mental shrewdness, Mr. 
Parker was a man of undoubted moral char- 
acter and courage. He was a consistent mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church, an<] a man of 
decided convictions in regard to intemperance 
and Sabbath desecration. Many a time, in the 
palmy days of Parker, when the town was 
overrun by gamblers, Uncle Fullerton did the 
work of a half-dozen policemen, and he had 
the respect as well as the fe;ir of the lower 
classes. With all his blunt and courageous 
manner, he was a true gentleman, and of a 
tender heart, and the children on the street all 
knew him, and welcomed the smile which he 
ever had for them. Having reached a good old 
age, having attained to the hoary head, which 
was to him 'a crown of glory,' he has passed 
away." 



GEORGE PARKER. Descended from an 
old and honorable Pennsylvania family, 
George Parker lived a life of activity and use- 
fulness, and died enjoying the respect, good- 
will and confidence of his fellow-men. George 
Parker was the son of Judge John and Jane 
(Woods) Parker, and was the seventh of nine 
children, and was the last of the family to pass 



away. He was born on the home farm adjoin- 
ing Parker and in Butler county, Penn.sylva- 
nia, September 8, 1812. His paternal grand- 
father. Col. William Parker, move<l from 
Washington county in 1798 to Bear creek, 
where he erected a mill. (See sketch of Ful- 
lerton Parker.) One of his sons, George 
Parker, was drowned, and another was Judge 
John Parker, a nephew of Hon. John Moore, 
the first president-judge of Westmoi-eland 
county. Judge Parker learned surveying with 
Judge Moore. In 1794, as a deputy for a sur- 
veyor by the name of Moore, Judge Parker 
surveyed most of the northern part of Arm- 
strong, and the .southern part of Butler county. 
In 1797 he settled on si.\ hundred acres ot 
land in Butler county, adjoining the site of 
Parker City, which he afterwards purcha.sed, 
and on which, in 1815, he laid out the village 
of Lawrencel)urg (now the second ware! of 
Parker City). He was an active and energetic 
business man, and one of the most prominent 
and respected citizens of his day. He was one 
of the first associate jtidges of Butler county, 
and filled that office for thirty-five years. He 
was principally engaged in farming and stock- 
raising. He was very influential and useful, 
and did much to promote and secure the settle- 
ment of his section of the county. He died in 
1842, aged seventy-si.x years, and .sleeps in 
Parker City cemetery. Judge John Parker 
was a strong presbyterian, and married Jane 
Woods, by whom he had nine children: Jame.s, 
John, Juliette (wife of John Gilchrist), AVilliam, 
Fullerton (see his sketch), Washington, George, 
Thomas and Wilson. 

George Parker was reared on the homestead 
which he inherited, and obtained a good etlu- 
cation in the schools of his boyhood days. He 
was chiefly engaged in farming and stock- 
raising, and was very successful in business. 
He also dealt in oil with good success. He 
was a republican politically and a member of 
the Presbyterian church. 



502 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



On June 20, 1843, he united in marriage 
with Jane D. Pollock, a vvoiuan of intelligence, 
refinement and distinguished ancestry. She is 
a daughter of Robert Pollock, and a grand- 
daughter of Margaret (Jackson) McCaughey, 
who was an aunt to Andrew Jackson, seventh 
president of the United States. Robert Pol- 
lock, son of Col. John Pollock, a large land- 
owner of Jefferson county, Ohio, was born in 
1776, near Baltimore, Md., and died at Mt. 
Pleasant, Jefferson county, Ohio, in the year 
1823. Mrs. Parker's grandmother, Margaret 
McCaughey, was, previous to marriage, Mar- 
garet Jackson, daughter of Dr. Joseph Jackson, 
of Ireland, who married Lady Mary Carr, sis- 
ter to Lord James Carr, and was the grand- 
father of President Andrew Jackson. 

On December 10, 1887 (when in the sev- 
enty-sixtii year of his age), life's labors closed 
with George Parker, and his spirit winged its 
flight from earth. His remains were interred 
in Parker City cemetery, and the following 
faitiiful and accurate delineation of his charac- 
ter as a Christian appeared in the public 
press: 

" George Parker was born September 8, 
1812, on the farm where he spent his life, 
close to the place where he fell asleep, and 
within sight of the spot where his body now 
rests awaiting the voice of the Archangel and 
the trump of God. In 1848 he united with 
the Presbyterian church, and soon afterwards 
was elected a member of the board of trustees, 
aud held that office up to his death. Fre- 
quently the congregation desired him to hold 
the office of elder ; but, unassuming and diffi- 
dent, he did not think himself qualifietl, and 
therefore always declinetl. He was a man 
faithful in all his relations of life, — a loving 
husband, a kind, generous and sympathetic 
friend, and a consistent member of the church. 
His deep interest for his church and his desire 
for her prosperity he manifested in many ways. 
He always kept himself informed in regard to 



her condition and needs, and out of his abim- 
dance he contributed cheerfully and liberally to 
the support of the Gospel. He loved the house 
of God, delighted in the worship of the sanc- 
tuary, especially in the songs of Zion, and Sab- 
bath morning always found him in the congre- 
gation of God's people. Some two weeks 
I before his death, failing health compelled his 
retirement from active life. From the beirin- 
uing of this sickness he seemed to feel that the 
end was near ; yet the thought of death did not 
alarm him. He set his house in order, ar- 
ranged his temporal affairs, and then dismissed 
those matters from his mind, though he had a 
beautiful home here, and was surrounded by 
many dear to him, who honored and loved 
him ; yet he was not reluctant to depart. 
When the summons came, he was ready. All 
is well, he said, and fell asleep. When, on the 
following morning, we assembled in the sanc- 
tuary at the usual hour for worship, his famil- 
iar form was not to be seen in its accustomed 
place. His seat was vacant; his voice we could 
not hear; but we knew, in the sanctuary above, 
he, too, was engaged in praise and worship. 
He is missed at his home and in his church." 

Mrs. Parker resides in the old Parker home- 
stead mansion, from which is obtained a com- 
manding view of many miles in the counties of 
Armstrong, Butler, Clarion and Venango. 



AUGUSTUS T. PONTIUS, ex-commissioner 
of Armstrong county, and a Union vete- 
ran who lost an arm in the storm of battle be- 
foi-e Petersburg, is one of the successful mer- 
chants and business men of Parker City. He is a 
son of Ezra and Emily (Turner) Pontius, and 
was born at Dayton, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, December 24, 1841. His paternal 
gfaudfather, Jacob Pontius, was born Novem- 
ber 3, 1783, in Germany, aud came to Centre 
county, from which he removed in 1812 to the 
vicinity of Dayton, where he was eugaged in 



ARMSTRONO COUNTY. 



503 



farmiDg until his death in 1845, at fifty-eight 
years of age. His son, Ezra Pontius (father), 
was born near Dayton, December 15, 1814, 
and died in 1888, aged seventy-four years. 
He followed merchandising and farming, 
was an old-line whig and republican, and 
served in the Methotlist Episcopal church for 
forty-five years as a steward and class leader. 
Although of limited education, yet he was some- 
what noted for business ability and financial 
success in his undertakings. He married Eliz- 
abeth Turney, daughter of Jacob Turney, a dry- 
goods merchant of Kittanning. Mrs. Pontius, 
who was a member of the M. E. church, was 
born in 1822, and passed away in 1862, at forty 
years of age. 

Augustus T. Pontius was reared on a farm. 
He received his education in the common 
schools and Dayton Union academy. He re- 
mained on tlie farm until he was nineteen years 
of age, and taught several terms of school. He 
then entered the office of Dr. J. R. Crouch, of 
Dayton, and read medicine until 1862, when he 
enlistetl as a private in Co. B, 139tli re'gt.,Pa. 
Vols. He was successively promoted from fifth 
to first duty sergeant, and was in tiie line of 
promotion to a commissioned officer when his 
right arm was shattered in front of Petersburg, 
and had to be amputatetl at the shoulder. He 
was taken from Petersburg to the hospital at 
Chester, Pa., from which he was discharged 
June 14, 1865. He was in the various battles 
of his regiment, and always performed his duty 
unflinchingly and with alacrity. The next year 
after he returned home, in 1865, he was elected 
on the republican ticket as county commissioner, 
and was re-elected in 1869. From 1872 to 
1880 he was engaged in the fire insurance busi- 
ness at Parker City and Kittanning. In 1876 
he came to Parker City, where he was commis- 
sioned as postmaster by Hayes in 1878, and 
served as such until 1885, when he was removed 
by Cleveland for making political speeches. He 
then engaged in the general mercantile business. 



which he has followed successively until the 
present time. 

In 1867 he married Laura S. Goodheart, 
daughter of Dr. George Goodheart, of Dayton, 
this county. 

In politics Mr. Pontius is a straight republi- 
can, and although active in behalf of his party, 
yet is not a ward politician. He served as 
mayor of Parker City in 1887 and 1888, has 
been a member of the common and select coun- 
cil and is now a member of the common coun- 
cil. He is a steward of the Parker City M. E. 
church, in which he has been choir leader for 
several years. As a soldier he was faithful, as 
a business man he is energetic and successful, 
and as a public official he has always been and 
is now prompt, accurate and reliable. 



ERASMUS H. RANDOLPH, ex-mayor of 
Parker City and proprietor of the well- 
known Randolph Livery stables, was born in Ze- 
lienople, Butler county, Pennsylvania, January 
30, 1837, and is a son of John and Priscilla 
(Hall) Randolph. The Randolph family is of 
Scottish origin, and the American ancestors of 
Erasmus H. Randolph settled in New Jersey 
some time during the last century. John Ran- 
dolph (father) was born in 1805, in New Jer- 
sey, where his father died in 1812. His mother 
then brought him to Butler county, where he 
was reared and learned the trade of saddlery and 
harness-making. He conducted a shop at Zeli- 
enople until 1856, when he purchased a farm 
near Whitestown, that county, which he tilled 
until 1863. He then sold his farm, retired 
from active life and the ensuing year visited his 
brother, W. H. H. Randolph, who lived in Iowa, 
and at whose house he died Oct. 8, 1865, aged 
fif\y-nine years, nine months and twenty-three 
days. He was a democrat in politics and had 
always been an industrious and honest man. 
He married Piiscilla Hall, who was born in 
1812, and is a member of the Presbyterian 



504 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



church of Butler, Pa., where she now resides. 
Their family consisted often children, five sons 
and fi%'e daughters, of whom six are living, four 
sons and two daughters. 

Erasmus H. Randolph was reared at Zelieno- 
ple and received his education in private and the 
common schools of Butler county. In 1858 he 
went to Kansas territory, where he worked for 
three years at the plastering business with his 
brother Joseph V. From 1861 to 1864 he 
was traveling over the western territories and 
during the winter seasons of that time was 
engaged in teaching. The death of his father> 
in 1865, rendered necessary his return iiorae, 
where in a short time he bought a portable saw- 
mill, which he operated for three years in Butler 
county. In July, 1869, he came to Parker 
City, where he was engaged successfully in the 
oil business for some ten or twelve years. In 
1870 he established his present livery business, 
in which he has continued up to the picsent 
time. He has a selected assortment of fine 
buggies and a large stock of excellent saddle 
and harness horses and gives careful attention 
to the wants of his numerous patrons. 

December 20, 1871, he united in marriage 
with Mary Seaton, daughter of Hiram Seaton, 
of Bntler county, who was a soldier in the late 
war and fell in defence of the liberties of his 
country. They have two sons and three 
daughters: John M., Mary, Edna, Alma and 
Louis S. 

In addition to his livery stables, Mr. Ran- 
dolph owns considerable real estate in Parker 
City. He is an unswerving republican, but 
liberal in his political views and served his city 
as mayor for two terms (1880 to 1884) and as 
a councilman for several terms. He was tlie 
first city clerk of Parker City, which he has also 
served as overseer of the poor. He is a member 
of Parker City Lodge, No. 521, Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons, and has been a Free Mason for 
over twenty-five years. Erasmus H. Randolph is 
one of the reliable business men of his city. 



whose interests have always commanded his ac- 
tive support. 



ALEXANDER RUSSELL, owner and pro- 
prietor of the Russell Iron and Engine 
works, of Parker City, sustains a high reputa- 
tion as a skilled machinist and a reliable busi- 
ness man. He is a son of Robert and Elizabeth 
(Gillchrist) Russell, and was born in the city 
of Glasgow, Scotland, June 9, 1852. Robert 
Russell was a native of Scotland, where he 
learned the trade of block-cutter or cutting 
stamping prints for calicoes. He worked at his 
trade until 1855, when he came to the United 
States and four years later located in Pittsburgh, 
where he followed millwrighting until the com- 
mencement of the "Great Rebellion." He then 
enlisted in the Union service and served as an 
engineer in the Mississippi Valley until the 
Confederacy went down at Appomattox Court- 
house. After the close of the war he returned 
to Pittsburgh, where he has been engaged in 
engineering ever since. He is a machinist as 
well as an engineer, and has built many engines. 
He resides in Allegheny city and is a member 
of the Presbyterian church, and a republican in 
politics. He married Elizabeth Gillchrist, who 
was born in the Highlands of Scotland and is a 
member of the Presbyterian church. 

Alexander Russell was reared principally in 
Pittsburgh, where he attended the public schools. 
At seventeen years of age he commenced to 
learn the trade of machinist, and served an ap- 
prenticeship of three years. In 1877 he came 
to Parker City, where he formed a partnership 
with O. S. Tinsman, under the firm-name of 
Tinsman & Russell. This partnership con- 
tinued until 1885, when Mr. Russell established 
his present iron and engine works on River 
avenue. His works are extensive and completely 
equipped with all late machinery and appliances. 
Mr. Russell manufactures shafting, pulleys, mill 
working machinery, engines and fittings. He 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



505 



builds engines from ten to one hundred horse- 
power, and makes a specialty of oil engine repair- 
ing. His office and works are in a large brick 
building. He is a practical and expert machinist 
of twelve years' successful experience, and is a 
thorough master of his art in all of its branches. 
Work is done in his establishment in the most 
expeditious and excellent manner, and all orders, 
whether large or small, are promptly and reli- 
ably executed. In politics Mr. Russell is a re- 
publican from principle and supports the men 
and measures of liis party. He is a good citizen 
and a reliable man and has served his borough 
for one term as a member of the town council. 
Alexander Russell was married in 1879 to 
Margaret Lambing, daughter of Jacob Lambing, 
of Parker City. To their union have been born 
si.x children, four sons and two dauffhters : 
Elizabeth S., Alexander C, John J., Robert W., 
Neal and Margaret L. 



DR. JOSEPH W. SHARP, a grandson of 
the old Revolutionary hero and frontier 
Indian fighter, Capt. Andrew Sharp, and a suc- 
cessful physician of Dayton, is a son of Joseph 
and Sarah (Ram.sey) Sharp, and was born in 
Armstrong township, Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, December 28, 1834. His paternal grand- 
father was Capt. Andrew Sharp, one of the 
pioneer settlers of the Plum Creek region. He 
was a native of Scotland, served as an officer 
under Washington and died at Pittsburgh, July 
8, 1794, of bullet wounds received in his boat 
on the Kiskimiuetas in a fight with Indians (see 
Plum Creek township). Joseph Sharp, son 
of the Revolutionary veteran and pioneer settler, 
Capt. Andrew Sharp, was born on Crooked 
creek, this county, in 1785, and died in 1860. 
He owned a good farm and the first flouring- 
mill at Sharp's Mills. He was a miller by trade, 
a United Presbyterian in religious belief, and an 
old-time democrat in politics. He was justice 
30 



of the peace for several years before his death 
in 1860, when his son Thomas was elected as 
his successor and has served in that office ever 
since. He married Sarah Ramsey, daughter of 
Hugh Ramsey, who was a native of Scotland 
and a member of the Dis.senters' or Covenanters' 
church. To Josepli and Sarah Sharp were born 
seven children, four sons and three daughters : 
Andrew, Dr. Joseph W., John, of Johnstown, Pa.; 
Mary A., who married Morrison Hosack, of 
Clarion county, and is dead ; Alexander, who en- 
tered Hampden's battery and served through the 
late war, after which he went to Ft. Smith.Arkan- 
sas, where he died ; Sarah A., wife of J. T. 
Hosack, of Jackson county, Kansas;^ and Sarah 
T., a teacher of Benezettc, Pa. 

Joseph W. Sharp was reared on the home 
farm and i-eceived a good English education in 
the schools of his neighborhood. Leaving school, 
he commenced the study of medicine, entered the 
Medical college of Cinciunati, where he pursued 
his studies for one year, and then located at 
Perryville, Ohio, where he practiced for four 
years. In 1868 he came to Dayton, where he 
has been engaged in continuous and successful 
practice ever since. 

He married Mary A., daughter of Alex- 
ander Walker. To Doctor and Mrs. Sharp 
have been born three children, one son and 
two daughters : Dr. Otis S., who gradu- 
ated in 1884 from the Cincinnati Medical col- 
lege, married Emma Gilhausen and has been 
engaged in the active practice of his profession 
at Dayton for the past six years ; Margaret K., 
wife of M. C. Hagan, an oil-driller; and Etta 
M., wife of Edgar S. Hilliard, a locomotive 
engineer of Ft. Worth, Kansas. 

Dr. J. Sharp, while supporting most of the 
principles of the Republican party, yet is rather 
independent in his views of political measures, 
and votes for the candidate whom he thinks 
best qualified for the office. Without solicita- 
tion, and often against, his protest, he has i)eeu 
elected to various borough offices, which, in obedi- 



506 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ence to the wish of his fellow-townsmen, he 
always accepted and filled very creditably. 



JOHN T. SMITH, who is successfully en- 
^ gaged in the merchant tailoring business 
at Dayton, was born in Centre county, Penn- 
sylvania, October 2, 1824, and is a son of Capt. 
Henry and Catherine (Beal) Smith. His pater- 
nal grandfather, Henry Smith, Sr., was a native 
of Germany, where he married. He came to 
eastern Pennsylvania and subsequently removed 
to Centre county, where he followed farming. 
He was a methodist in religious faith, and after 
arriving in the United States became a demo- 
crat in political opinion. His son, Capt. Henry 
Smith, the father of John T. Smith, was born 
near the city of Philadelphia, and went with his 
father to Centre county, where he was engaged 
in farming until his death. He was a lutheran 
in religious faith, a denaocrat in politics and a 
scrupulously honest man in business. He served 
for several years as captain of one of the militia 
conjpanies of the State. He married Catherine 
Beal, whose father Wiis a native of England, 
who had settled in eastern Pennsylvania some 
time after the close of the Revolutionary war. 
Captain and Mrs. Smith reared a family of 
seven children, four sons and three daugh- 
ters. 

John T. Smith was reared on a farm and 
received his education in the subscription and 
common schools of Centre county. He learned 
the trade of tailor and establishetl himself in 
the tailoring business at Spring Mills, that 
county, where he remained for two years. At 
the end of that time he removed to Smicksburg, 
Indiana county, which he left after a residence 
of fifteen years and came (1866) to Dayton, 
where he opened his present merchant tailoring 
establishment. He has a large patronage and 
does a good business. 

He married Mary Walker, daughter of Wil- 
liam Walker, and they have three children, two 



sons and one daughter : William H., who re- 
sides in Pittsburgh ; Webster L., engaged in a 
store in Kansas City, and Eva S., wife of James 
R. King, who resides at Kittanning, and is pres- 
ident of the Young Men's Christian association 
of that place. 

John T. Smith owns a good house and lot at 
Dayton, and is comfortably situated to enjoy 
life. He is a good workman, has the benefit 
of over forty years' experience in his line of 
business and generally gives satisfaction to his 
numerous patrons. He is a republican in poli- 
tics and a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church of Dayton. He has served creditably 
as a member of the borough council, although 
he takes no part in politics. 



OLIVER TINSMAN, proprietor of the 
Tinsman machine shops of Parker City, 
and a thorough-going and active business man, 
is a veteran of the late war, during which he 
served as a soldier from Pennsylvania and af- 
terwards from New Jersey. He was born at 
Rigglesville, New Jersey, January 10, 1843, 
and is a son of William and Abigail (Fosben- 
ner) Tinsman. The American branch of the 
old and substantial Tinsman family of Holland, 
that traces its ancestry back into the early his- 
tory of that country, was founded by a Tinsman, 
who came from Amsterdam and settled in New 
Jersey some time before the Revolutionary war. 
One of his sons was Peter Tinsman, the grand- 
father of Oliver Tiusman,Jand who was engaged 
in farming and lumbering in New Jersey until 
his death. He married and reared a family, 
and one of his sons was William Tinsman 
(father), who was a life-long resident of New 
Jersey. Like his father before him, he turned 
his entire attention to farming and lumbering. 
He was a democrat in political opinion and a 
lutheran in church membership and died in 
1878. He marrietl Abigail Fosbenner, who 
was a daughter of a Mr. Fosbenner, of Bucks 



ARif STRONG COUNTY. 



507 



county, Pa. She was a member of the Lutheran 
church and died at her home in New Jersey, in j 
1879. 

Oliver Tinsman was reared on his father's 
farm and attende<l the public schools of New 
Jersey. At sixteen years of age he commenced | 
to learn the trade of machinist, but in 1862 
left the shop to enlist iu Co. C, 37th regiment, 
Pa. Vols., for a term of ninety days. He 
served this time and re-enlisted in 1863, in the 
3d regiment. New Jersey Cavalry, for a term of 
three years, and served until the close of the 
war, when he was honorably discharged in ' 
Trenton, New Jersey, August 5, 1865. He 
was on Gen. Burnside's staff at the Wilder- 
ness fights, Spottsylvania Court-house, Cold 
Harbor and the siege of Petersburg. At Bridge- 
water he w;is captured by the Confederates, but 
in a few minutes was re-captured by his own 
company. At the close of the war he returned 
home and finished his trade of machinist. 
He then (1870) came to the oil region of Penn- 
sylvania, where he worked at his trade until 
1876, when he came to Parker City and estab- 
lished his present machine shops. He is well 
prepared to do all kinds of work, and makes a 
specialty of repairing. He gives personal sup- 
ervision to all work done in his establishment 
and has secured a large trade. He is an exper- 
ienced and skilled workman, an enterprising and 
successful business man and a peaceable and re- 
spected citizen. 

Oliver Tinsman, iu 1876, united in marriage 
with Olive Sage, daughter of James Sage, of 
Venango county. 

In politics Mr. Tinsman is a republican and 
has been serving for some time as a member of 
the borough council. He is a prominent Odd 
Fellow, and holds membership in Parker Lodge, 
No. 761 and is a member of the encampment 
branch of that order. He has some valuable 
property in Parker City, where he owns a half- 
interest iu the water-works. He also owns a 
half-interest in the Apollo water-works. He has 



also been engaged, at different times, in the oil 
business and met with very good success. He 
is energetic and active in every enterprise in 
which he engages. 



DR. WILLIAM J. WINSHEIMER. 
Among the many inventions of the uiue- 
teenth century none are of more importance than 
those of the dental profession, which science is 
practiced iu all its branches by Dr. William J. 
Winsheimer, of Parker City. He is a son of 
Lawrence and Margaret (Zeise) Winsheimer, and 
was born at Greensburg, Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, March 28, 1850. His grand- 
father, Michael Winsheimer, was a native of 
Germany, c;une to the United States and located 
in Indiana county, of which he was a farmer 
and where he died in 1878. Lawrence Win- 
sheimer (father) came from Germany to the 
United States, with his parents, and loca- 
ted in Indiana county. In 1840 he went 
to Greensburg, Pa., where he engaged in the 
tailoring business until 1875, when he retired 
fi'om active life. He still resides at Greens- 
burg, is iu the seventy-third year of his age and 
is a member of the Lutheran church at that 
place. He is a strong democrat. He was 
appointed by Judge Logan (republican), then of 
Greensburg, to fill an unexpired term of county 
coroner, to which office he was afterwards twice 
elected and filled satisfactorily both times. He 
married Margaret Zeise, who is a native of 
Franklin county, and went with her parents to 
Westmoreland county when quite young. She 
is a member of the Reformed church, and is 
now in the sixty-third year of her age. Mrs. 
Winsheimer's father, Frederick Zeise, was a 
native of Germany and came to Westmoreland 
county, of which he was a farmer. He died at 
Greensburg, in 1873. 

William J. Winsheimer was reared at Greens- 
burg, where he received his education in the 
jjublic schools and high school. After leaving 



508 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



school he assisted his father in the store until 
1874, when he began the study of dentistry 
with Dr. Z. L. Waugaman, a prominent dentist 
of that place. In 1875 he formed a partner- 
ship with Dr. Boden, which continued until 
1876, when he came to Parker City, where he 
has continued successfully in the practice of 
dentistry ever since. His work is always satis- 
factory, as is shown by the large and permanent 
patronage he receives in the town and surround ■ 
ing country. He was engaged in the oil busi- 
ness for several years, at the end of which time 
he withdrew, giving his entire attention to den- 
tistry. He is a brother of T. R. Winsheimer, 
who is one of the editors and proprietors of the 



Westmoreland Democrat, one of the early jour- 
nals west of the Allegheny mountains, which is 
published at Greensburg. His partner is B. F. 
Vogle. On April 28, 1887, Dr. Winsheimer 
was married co Jennie Agnew, daughter of 
J. N. and Julia Agnew, of this place. 

Dr. W. J. Winsheimer is a strong democrat 
and has been a member of the county democratic 
committee for six years. He is a member and an 
elder of the Lutheran church, and has also been 
trustee of his church for six years. He is a 
member of the Order of Solon, and E. A. U. 
Dr. Winsheimer is a skilled and perfect work- 
man and has wou the highest respect and 
esteem of his many patrons. 



EAST FRANKLIN, PINE, BOGGS, VALLEY, 
MANOR AND KITTANNING TOWNSHIPS. 



THE territory of these six townships con- 
stitute the central part of Armstrong 
county. 

East Franklin Township was organized from 
the eastern part of Franklin, on January 27, 
1868, and contains an area of tweuty-si.x and a 
quarter .square miles. One of the early settlers 
was Col.' James Sloan, and many of the early 
tracts were known by peculiar name.s, such as 
Polignac, Hoji Yard, Quimper and Loire. In 
1859 a company was organized for the purpose 
of making oil from cannel coal, but the burning 
of their refinery and the development of petro- 
leum in 1860 caused it to cease operations after 
having made one hundred barrels of oil. 

Montgomery ville was founded in 1851, 
Belleville in 1855, and Adrian post-office was 
established June 26, 1862. 

Pine Township was formetl from Kittanning 
on June 20, 1836, and deriveil its name from 
Pine creek. A Mound-builder's earthwork was 
near Slabtown, and an Indian village was on 
Mahoning creek, from which the Lcebouf trail 
led out of the county toward Lake Erie. Fort 
Muncy or Wallis was erected in 1778 at the 
mouth of Wolf creek, and on August 8th of 
that year an Indian war party attacked some 
reapers in a field, and killed two of them. 
Orrsville was laid out in 1819, and Goheenville 
was founded in 1850 by G. W. Gohecn. Wni. 
Turnbull built a saw-mill in the township prior 
to 1790, and shortly after 1807 William Peart, 
Sr., erected a grist-mill. The Midland Oil 



Mining association drilled unsuccessfully for 
oil in 1876, but in a well at 1060 feet struck 
a strong vein of gas. The legal name of Pine 
township is Pine Creek township; but custom 
has dropped the word Creek. Out of its ter- 
ritory Valley township was erected in 1855, 
and Boggs township taken in 1878. 

Boffffs Township was erected out of the 
southern part of Pine township on June 10, 
1878, and its history is included in that of 
Pine township. 

Valley Township was erected out of Piue 
town.ship on December 13, 1855, and was 
named by Judge Buffington, who declined to 
have it named for him. Robert Beatty erected 
a grist and saw-mill in 1810 on the "Monti- 
cello " tract of land. Monticello furnace was 
built in 1859, and the post-office of the .same 
name was established July 15, 1864. Troy 
Hill was laid out some time after the year 
1870. Dewalt Mechling settled between 178-1 
and 1790 on the "Roan" tract in this town- 
ship. In 1872 natural gas was struck at a 
depth of 1005 feet. 

3Ianor Toionship was erected in December, 
1849, from Kittanning township. It was 
named Manor on account of Kittanning or 
Appleby manor (one of the forty-four manors 
surveyed under Penn's directions in Pa.), which 
was within its territory. On this manor, along 
the Allegheny river, between Tub INIill and 
Fort runs, was a military fortification, consist- 
ing of a fosse, parapet and fort. Relics found 

609 



510 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



about it and around it indicate that it had been 
built by the Mound-builders, and subsequently 
used by the Indians and the French. James 
Claypole, John Guld and others, between 1790 
and 1795, used it as a fort during threatened 
Indian invasions. Fort Armstrong was built 
during the Revolutionary war on tlie site of 
Kittanning, and Claypoole's Block-house was 
erected between 1790 and 1795 on the Alle- 
gheny river. Bloody run is said to take its 
name from the fact of three men being shot on 
it by Indians, who were followed and surprised 
by a company of soldiers at the mouth of Pine 
creek, where three red warriors were killed by 
the pursuing party. In 1787 William Green 
and his sons, James, John and Samuel, from 
Fayette county, settled in the southern part of 
the township when the Indians had their war- 
dances on the site of Rosston. On April 28, 
1791, the Indians attacked the house of James 
Kirkpatrick on Crooked creek, and killed two 
men, and wounded a child. Manorville was 
laid out June 28, 1854, and incorporated June 
6, 1866, and Rosston was laid out Sept. 18, 
1854. 

KiUanning Township was taken from Arm- 
strong township on April 11, 1807, and since 
then it has been reduced to its present propor- 
tions by the erection of Plum Creek, Cowan- 
shannock, Manor, Burrell and Wayne, and the 
larger part of three other townships. It con- 
tains the battle-field of Blanket Hill and the 
post-office of the same name, which was estab- 
lished May 1, 1850, and is now kept by Mrs. 
Nancy J. Blose. Fergus Moorhead (see sketch) 
was captured near Blanket Hill. John Guld, 
an Indian scout, was an early settler, and is 
said to have built Beers' Mills. The paper 
town of Benton, one of the lost towns of the 
county, was laid out Feb. 10, 1836; but its site 
was never graced by a single house. 

The Lower Barren measures, carrying the 
Freeport Upper Coal bed, extend through the 
central part of East Franklin, the southern 



part of Pine, the northern part of Boggs town- 
ship, and occupies the larger part of Valley, 
and nearly all of Manor and Kittanning town- 
ships. The remaining portions of these town- 
ships (embracing all of their main, and many 
of their minor creek valleys) are in the Lower 
Productive Coal measures. In East Franklin, 
Pine, Boggs and Valley townships are many 
heavy beds of ferriferous limestone. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 

JOHN ADAMS, a prudent, industrious and 
^ comfortabl}' situated farmer of Valley 
township, was born in the city of Allegheny, 
Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, January 25, 
1842, and is a son of Robert and Eliza (May) 
Adams. Robert Adams was born during the 
earlier years of the present century, in Ireland, 
wiiere his family had been settled for many 
years. He was reared in his native county, 
and received his education in the public schools 
of Irelaud. Leaving school, he was engaged 
for several years in various agricultural jjiir- 
suits, and especially that of gardening. In 
1840 he emigrated from Ireland to the United 
States, and soon after landing at New York, 
he came westward as far as Allegheny city, 
where he was engaged in market gardening for 
three years. At the end of that time he came 
to Armstrong county, where he followed farm- 
ing steadily for thirty-four years. He died in 
October, 1877, when he had reached man's 
allotted three-score and ten years. He was a 
republican, and a member of the United Pres- 
byterian church. Before leaving Irelaud he 
married Eliza May, a resident of his native 
county, who was a member of the U. P. church, 
and passed away at her home in this county, in 
1854. 

John Adams was reared in this township, 
where he enjoyed the advantages of the early 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



511 



common schools of Pennsylvania, He has 
always been engaged in farming, owns a well- 
improved farm of eighty -two acres, and is well 
situated to enjoy life and its substantial com- 
forts. In addition to farming, Mr. Adams 
deals sonic in stock. He is an elder in the 
Reformed church, of which he has been a mem- 
ber for many years. In political affairs he iuis 
always supported the Republican party and its 
principles. 

In 1871, Mr. Adams married Jane Barker, 
daughter of Joseph Barker, of this county. 
To their union have been born three children : 
Mary, Maud and Eliza. 



HENRY BOLTZ, an intelligent citizen, and 
highly prosperous farmer of East Frank- 
lin township, is emphatically a self-made man. 
He is a sou of Henry and Catherine (Able) 
Boltz, and was born in Prussia, July 18, 1829. 
His parents were natives of Prussia, and mcm- 
bei-s of the Reformed church. They came to 
Armstrong county in 1852, where the father, 
Henry Boltz, was a farmer, but also followed la- 
boring until his death, in 1881. He was born in 
1794, in Prussia, where, after arriving at man- 
hood, he was a laborer until he came to this 
country. He was an honest and industrious 
man of fair education and good business abil- 
ity. His wife, Catherine (Able) Boltz, was 
born in 1794, and passed away in 1851, aged 
fifty-seven years. They were the parents of 
four children, of whom Barbara (Schultz) and 
Henry are living. 

Henry Boltz was reared in Prussia, and re- 
ceived a good education in the excellent schools 
of that cotmtry. Leaving school, he was var- 
iously employed for several years. On Decem- 
ber 23, 1852, he landed with his parents at 
New York city, and came with them to Brady's 
Bend, this county, where he was engaged in 
mining for twenty years. The last two years 
of that time he served as mining-boss, which 



position he resigned in order to engage in farm- 
ing in Sugar Creek township. In 1874 he 
purchased and moved on his present farm in 
East Franklin township. This farm is six 
miles from Kittanning, and contains one hun- 
di"ed and sixty-four acres of good farming land 
which is well improved, and in a high stjite of 
cultivation. Mr. Boltz has erected on this farm 
a very fine frame dwelling-house and large 
barn, together with many neat and ta-steful out- 
buildings. His Sugar Creek farm contains two 
hun<lre(l and thirty-five acres of well-improved • 
land with a good new house, roomy barn and all 
needed out-buildings. 

November 27, 1853, Mr. Boltz married Mar- 
garet Rohrbach, daughter of John Rohrbach, 
of Germany. They have eight children: 
Catherine, wife of George Miller, who is a 
farmer of West Franklin township; Adam, 
married Maggie Heidrick, and is a farmer in 
Sugar Creek township ; John, a farmer of the 
same township, who married Laura M. Simp- 
son; Lizzie, Maggie, Christina, Mary and 
George. 

Henry Boltz is a republican, has served four 
years as school director, and while firm in his 
political as well as religious views, yet does not 
seek to force them on any one. He is a mem- 
ber of the Union Pi-esbytcrian church, and 
Activity Lodge, No. 715, I. O. O. F., and 
formerly was a member of Alpine Lodge, No. 
479, for twenty-seven years. His energy, good 
judgment and untiring industry have won him 
a competency which is more remarkable, as well 
as more complimentary to Mr. Boltz, when the 
fact is taken into consideration that he landed 
in this country without a single dollar. 



CHARLES S. BOVARD, an active, useful 
and influential member of the Presbyter- 
ian church and a leading merchant of Manor- 
ville, is a son of George and Mary Ann (Rob- 
inson) Bovard, and was born in Butler county, 



512 



BIOORAPIIIES OF 



Pennsylvania, February 23, 1849. His pater- 
nal grandfather, Hon. James Bovard, was born 
in Ireland and came to Pennsylvania at the age 
of twelve years. His parents settled in West- 
moreland county, but soon after removed to 
Butler county, of which he afterwards became 
an influential citizen. He served as associate 
judge of that county for forty-five years, and 
died in 1853, at seventy-nine years of age. 
His son, George Bovard (father), was born in 
181 G. He was in partnership with Henry 
Graif, in the general mercantile business, at 
Maple Furnace, in Butler county, which he 
built and operated for several years. In 1851 
he removed to Manor township, where he was 
engaged, at Manorville, in the general mercan- 
tile business until 1870. In that year he em- 
barked in the oil business, which he followed 
until 1880, when he retired from active life. 
He has been a member of the United Presby- 
terian church, of Kittanning, since 1851, is an 
active republican in politics and has filled all 
of his township's offices. On November 10, 
1840, he married Mary Ann Robinson, a 
member of the United Presbyterian church, 
who was born near Parker, in 1819, and on 
November 10, 1890, they celebrated their 
golden wedding. 

Charles S. Bovard was reared in Manor town- 
ship, and after attending the public schools 
spent two years at Elderton academy and the 
same length of time at Westminster college. 
Since 1870 he has been engaged in the general 
mercantile business at Manorville, where he 
has a large and well fitted up establishment 
which is filled with a carefully selected stock 
of goods adapted to the various wants of his 
numerous patrons. He and his brother own 
one hundred and sixty acres of land in the oil 
region of Venango county, and their tract is now 
being developed with very favorable results. 

In 1869 he married Alice H. Dice, daughter 
of George Dice, of Lawrence county. They 
have five children, two sons and three daugh- 



ters : Anna M., who was married, on September 
9, 1890, to Frank C. Stoeltzing, of Pittsburgh ; 
M. Jeannette, now attending the young ladies' 
seminary at Washington; Walter G., at school; 
Kitty R., at school; and John K. G., who was 
born April 14, 1886. 

Charles S. Bovard is a stanch republican, 
and for six 3'ears was a member of the school 
board of Manorville, besides filling the office 
of auditor and serving as councilman. In 1878 
he removed from Manorville to his present 
residence in the township, and has been a school 
director of Manor township for nine years since 
that time. He was for several years an elder 
in tiie United Presbyterian church, and was a 
commissioner to the General Assembly of that 
church at its session of 1882, in Moiunouth, 
Illinois. He remained in the United Presby- 
terian church until the organization of the 
Second Presbyterian church, at Kittanning, in 
1884, when he united with that church, of 
which he is now an elder. Mr. Bovard is a 
Ij^rge man of fine personal appearance, and is 
courteous and accommodating to all whom he 
meets. 



JAMES CUNNINGHAM, of Manorville, 
one of the representative business men and 
prominent merchants of central Armstrong 
county, is a soti of James and Nancy (Weaver) 
Cunningham, and was born at Manorville, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1862. 
The Cunningham family is of Irish descent, and 
, one of its members, Elisha Cunningham (graud- 
' father), was born in Armstrong county, and was 
a bricklayer by trade. He died in 1860, when 
he was about fifty-seven years of age. One of 
his .sons, James Cunningham, (father) was born 
in Armstrong county in 1823, and followed his 
trade of bricklayer until 1855, when he en- 
gaged in the general mercantile business at 
Manorville, where he soon secured a lucrative 
trade. When Manorville post office was estab- 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



613 



lished, in 1862, he was appointed postmaster, 
which position he held for twenty years. He 
was tici<et, freight and express agent from the 
time the station was established at Manorville 
until 1882, when, in crossing the railroad track, 
he was struck by a train and received injuries 
from which he died March 21, 1882. He was 
a republican in politics, a member of the Kit- 
tanning Methodist Episcopal church, an Odd 
Fellow of high rank and an energetic, active 
business man. He married Nancy Weaver, a 
native, who was born in 1827. She is the 
postmistress at Manorville and has l^een for 
many years an esteemed member of the Meth- 
otlist Episcopal church. 

James Cunuino'ham was reared at Manorville 
and received his education in the public schools 
of that town. Leaving school, he assisted his 
father in the geueral mercantile business until 
the death of the latter, when he purchased the 
store and was appointed ticket, freight and ex- 
press agent. In 1887 he resigned his railroad 
positions on account of failing health. 
Since then he has given his undivided attention 
to the interests of his general merchandise bus- ; 
iness. During the summer of 1890 he built a 
large and commodious establishment which is 
well stored with everything in the line of for- 
eign and domestic dry-goods, groceries and 
other general merchandise required by his 
numerous patrons. [ 

On July 8, 1883, he married Annie M. 
Asche, daughter of J. F. Asche, of Butler 
county. Their union has been blessed with one 
child, a daughter, named Bessie. 

James Cunningham is a republican and has 
been for some time a member and secretiiry of 
the borough school board. He is a deacon of I 
the Evangelical Lutheran church and a member 
and seci'etary of Manorville Lodge, No. 290, 
Junior Order of United American Mechanics, 
and the Union Sabbath-school, of Manorville. 
Mr. Cunningham is a good citizen and a capa- 
ble and energetic business man. 



pYRUS A. EVERHART, a faithful soldier 
^ of the Army of the James and one of the 
best and most progressive farmers of Kittanniug 
township, was born in Franklin township, 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Indepen- 
dence Day, 18.33, and is a .son of Henry and 
Susan (Keck) Everhart. The Everharts were 
early settlers west of the Allegheny moun- 
tains. Cyrus A. Everhart's paternal great- 
grandfather, Everhart, was born on board the 
ship which brought his parents from Germany 
to this country. Christian Everhart (grand- 
father) came from Huntingdon to Westmore- 
land county in an early day and frequently left 
his farm to seek safety in a neighboring fort 
from the Indians. He was an elder in the 
Lutheran church, served in the war of 1812 
and died in Franklin township, aged sixty-six 
years. He married Mary Snyder and one of 
his sons was Henry Everhart (father), who was 
born in 1808. He came in 1847, from West- 
moreland county to Kittanning township, where 
he died October 1, 1888. He was a farmer by 
occupation, a democrat in political faith and a 
lutheran in religious belief. He had been an 
elder in his church for many years and had 
held various offices of his township. All his 
methods of business were honorable and he en- 
joyed the respect and esteem of his friends and 
neighbors. Although an unassuming man, yet 
he was an active worker in his church and an 
energetic business man. He married Susan 
Keck, who was born in Mercer county Novem- 
ber 25, 1810, and died in this township April 
24, 1875. She was a lutheran and her father, 
Christian Keck, a soldier of the war of 1812, 
was a native of Mercer county, where he died 
in 1854, aged seventy years. Henry and Susan 
Everhart had six children, of whom five are 
living. 

Cyrus A. Everhart was reared in Westmore- 
land and Armstrong counties and received his 
education in the common schools. On April 
15, 1864, he enlisted in Co. H, 199th regiment, 



514 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Pa. Vols., aud served in the Army of the James 
around Petersburg, where he was in some of the 
severest and bloodiest engagements of the war. 
He was honorably discharged from tlie Union 
service in Philadelphia, on July 8, 1865, and 
returned home, where he remained until 1878, 
when he was appointed as one of the attendants 
at the Soldiers' Home at Dayton, Armstrong 
county. He held this position for eighteen 
months and then was engaged, during 1880-81, 
in the agency business. Since then his health 
has been impaired to such an extent as to disable 
him from physical labor and he has given his time 
chiefly to managing his farm. At the present 
time he is serving as jury constable of the courts 
of Armstrong county. 

In 1854 he united in marriage with Sarah 
Hcilman, daughter of Fi-ederick and Margaret 
Heilman, of this township. They have been 
the parents of seven children, of whom five are 
living : R. "Frederick, married to Mollie Heil- 
man, and now assisting in the management of 
liis father's farm ; James Parks, engaged in the 
dairy business at Ford City; David Lee, a 
teacher; Angeline, wife of U. F. George, of 
Kittanning; and Mary E., at home. 

Cyrus A. Everhart owns one hundred acres 
of the homestead farm in Kittanning township. 
It is well improved and productive land, and 
Mr. Everhart has brought it into a high state 
of cultivation. He has studied well the nature 
of his land and uses methods of farming which 
give him the largest returns in crops while thev 
do not exhaust the soil. He is a democrat in 
political sentiment and has held various town- 
ship offices. Genial, courteous and obliging, 
he is justly popular in his community. 



"TOHN FAIR, a prosperous merchant of 
^ Adrian, and a justice of the peace for East 
Franklin township, is a son of Peter and Sarah 
(Fair) Fair, and was born in Washington town- 
ship, Arm.strong county, Pennsylvania, August 



31, 1831. The Fair family is of German de- 
scent, and one of its members, John Fair (grand- 
father), was a native of Pennsylvania, and a 
farmer of Indiana county, where he died, 
near Black Lick station. His son, Peter Fair 
(father), was born in Indiana county in 1796, 
and removed about 1817 to Armstrong county, 
where he settled in what is now Washington 
township. He engaged in farming as well as 
working at his trade of blacksmith. He was the 
first blacksmith in Washington township, was 
an active member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church and died in 1 878, when he had reached the 
advanced age of eighty-two years. He married 
Sarah Fair, who was born in Armstrong county 
in 1800, and is a member of the Lutheran 
church. She is now in the ninety-first year of 
her age, resides with the subject of this sketch 
and is very active for a woman of her advanced 
years. 

John Fairat the age of two years became a per- 
manent cripple, caused by severe sickness, so that 
all through life he has been comijelled to walk 
with the help of a cane. He was reared on his 
father's farm in Washington townshij>, and after 
attending the common schools of that township 
(not being able to work on the farm) engaged in 
teaching, \vhich he followed for seventeen years. 
From 1865 to 1872 he was employed as a clerk 
with different mercantile firms in the states of 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in the latter- 
named year he came to Adrian, where he opened 
his present general mercantile establishment. 
Mr. Fair has made it an object to study the 
wants of his customers, and with good taste al- 
ways selects a large stock of goods that never 
fail to please his many patrons in and around 
Adrian. In addition to his mercantile business 
he has an interest in a large farm near Adrian. 

September 5, 1881, he married Emma D. 
Quigley, daughter of R. O. Quigley, of East 
Franklin township. To their union have been 
born three children : James F., Lawrence H. 
aud Carrie B. For the past eight years Mrs. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



515 



Fair has been postmistress at Adrian, where the 
post-office is located in her husband's store. 

John Fair is a prominent republican, and in 
May, 1880, was elected justice of the peace of 
East Franklin township. He served his term 
in such a desirable manner to the public that 
he was re-elected in 1886. He is a member of 
the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which he 
is a trustee. 



pHAMBERS FRICK, one of the leading 
^ business men and public-spirited citizens 
of Adrian and of East Franklin township, is a 
blacksmith by trade, as was his father, grand- 
father and trreat-trrandfather before him. He is 
a son of Abraham and Delilah (Bowser) Frick, 
and was born at Adrian, in East Franklin 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
November 26, 1852. His great-grandfather, 
F'rick, was of German descent, and came about 
1840 from Westmoreland into Armstrong 
county, where he purchased a large tract of land. 
He was a blacksmitii by trade and his son, 
Michael Frick (grandfather), learned black- 
smithing with him. Michael Frick followed 
farming in connection with his trade in this and 
Butler county, to which he removed in 1854. 
He was a republican and died in 1863. He was 
a class leader in the M. E. church, and while in 
one section where there was no chiu'ch he gave 
his house for religious services, in which he gen 
erally led. His sou, Abraham Frick (father), 
was a blacksmith by trade and a very fine work- 
man. He was a resident of this county from 
1839 until his death, in 1862, when he was in 
the thirty-third year of his age. He and his 
wife were members of the Baptist church, and 
in politics he affiliated with the Republican 
party, but was not an ultra partisan. He fol- 
lowed his trade at Adrian during the last eight 
or ten years of his life. He married Delilah 
Bowser, daughter of Abraham Bowser, and who 
died March 15, 1873, aged forty-one years. 



Chambers Frick was reared at Adrian, and 
received his education in the common schools. 
He learned the trade of blacksmith, and after- 
wards became mining boss at Monticello fur- 
nace, which position he held for three years. In 
1878 he opened a blacksmith .shop at Adrian, 
which he operated until 1881, when he removed 
to Templeton, where he was engaged in the 
manufacture of carriages for three years. He 
then became a clerk in the hardware and agri- 
cultural implement house of James McCul- 
lough, Jr., of Kittanning, and also acted as a 
traveling .salesman during a ])ortion of the two 
years he remained with Mr. McCullough. In 
1887 he returned to Adrian and engaged in his 
present general mercantile business. In con- 
nection with merchandising he operates a large 
blacksmith shop, in which special attention is 
given to general repairing. He has a neat and 
tasteful store which is well stocked with first- 
cla.ss dry- goods, groceries and notions, and has 
the public approval of his business in tiie large 
patronage which he enjoys. Mr. Frick was 
only ten years of age at his father's death, and 
from that time on had to do for himself. He 
has made his own way in the world and the 
success which he has won and the competency 
which he has acquired are the results of his 
own unaided efforts. 

In 1870 Mr. Frick married Nancy Flinncr, 
daughter of David Flinner, of this county. 
They have seven children : Mary, Ada, Rose, 
Lottie, Lillie, James McCullough and Frances. 

Chambers Frick is a republican, and a mem- 
ber of the Jr. O. U. A. ]\I. and Montgomery- 
ville Baptist church. 



WILLIAM A. GRAHAM, a descendant of 
an old and substantial family, and one of 
the young and energetic fai-mers of Kittanning 
township, is a son of William and Catherine 
(Blaney) Graham, and was born in Kittanning 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 



516 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



July 25, 1864. The Graham family settled in 
Kittanning township at an early day. They 
were of that sturdy and honest class of j^eople 
who predominated so largely in the early settle- 
ment of Armstrong county, in the commence- 
ment of the present century. James Graham 
(grandfather) c;inie to the United States and 
settled in this county, where he resided until 
his death. His son, William Graham (father), 
has always followed farming and stock-raising 
in this township. He is a member of the Pres- 
byterian church, and is a man who gives most 
of his time to his farm and its improvement. 
A democrat in politics, he always gives his 
jiarty a hearty support, and has been chosen, at 
different times, to fill township offices. He 
married Catherine Blaney, who died some years 
after their marriage. 

William A. Graham was reared on his father's 
farm in Kittanning township, and received his 
education in the public schools. Leaving school, 
he engaged in farming, which he has pursued 
continuously and successfully ever since. He 
owns a fine farm of seventy acres of land. He 
is conveniently located in regard to church, 
school and market. In politics he is a demo- 
crat, and has always cast his ballot for the nom-, 
inees of his party. In addition to farming he 
is also engaged in stock-raising. Mr. Graham 
is a successful farmer and a careful busiuess 
man. He is pleasant and agreeable in manner, 
and has many warm friends in the community 
in which he resides. 

In 1884 he united in marriage with Mary 
Ecker, daughter of Emanuel Ecker, of West- 
moreland county. This uuion has been blessed 
with three children : Zora B., Margaret J. and 
Marian N. 



JOHN P. GUTHRIE, a descendant of the 
early-settled Guthrie family of Westmore- 
land county, and one of the old and prosperous 
farmers of Manor township, is a son of John 



and Catherine (Buchanan) Guthrie, and was 
born February 15, 1820, in Westmoreland 
county, Pennsylvania, near North Washington. 
The Guthrie family is of Irish descent, and one 
of its members, Capt. John Guthrie (grand- 
father), emigrated from Ireland to Pennsyl- 
vania during the past century, and became one 
of the early settlers of Westmoreland county. 
He was elected captain of one of the companies 
organized among the white settlers for protec- 
tion against the Indians. After serving in one 
or more campaigns on the western frontier, he 
went to Kentucky with the intention of taking 
up a tract of government land, but died before 
he had secured his land. His son, John Guth- 
rie (father), was born in 1791, in Westmoreland 
county, where he learned the trade of blacksmith, 
which he followed until he removed to Arm- 
strong county, in 1847. He then bought a 
farm, upon which he resided until his death, 
which occurred in 1866, when he was in the 
seventy-sixth year of his age. He was a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church, and in his early 
life was an old-line whig. In 1856 he became 
a republican, and supported that party until his 
death. He married Catherine Buchanan, of 
Westmoreland county. Mrs. Guthrie was a 
consistent member of the Presbyterian church, 
and died in 1876, at the ripe old age of eighty- 
eight years. 

John P. Guthrie was brought to this county 
by his parents when he was seven years of age, 
and attended the subscription and jjublic schools. 
His first employment was coal-digging, which 
he followed for two years, and then was em- 
ployed for some time at the Owen salt-works, 
near Apollo. Upon attaining his majority he 
engaged in farming, which he has followed ever 
since. He owns his father's farm of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres, and devotes his time 
chiefly to farming and stock-raising. 

In 1846 Mr. Guthrie married Elizabeth 
Hancock, who was a daughter of John Han- 
cock, of Indiana county, and died in 1847. He 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



517 



married, in 1864, Hannah Iseman, daughter of 
Michael Iseman, of Manor township. To this 
second union have been born four children, 
three sous and one daughter : John I., David 
H., Thomas W. and Sarah P. 

Politically, John P. Guthrie is a republican, 
and has been elected to various township offices, 
in which he has always served acceptably. He 
is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, and 
believes that the principles of that organization, 
if carried out, would be iiighly beneficial to the 
agricultural interests of the county. 



SAMUEL HEILMAN. The late Samuel 
Heilraan was one of the well-known farm- 
ers of Kittanuing township, and was an honor- 
able and honest man of excellent character and 
reputable staudiug. He was a son of Daniel 
and Lydia (Youut) Heilman, and was born 
in Kittanuing township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, August 29, 1822. The Heilmans 
(name written Hileman and Hyleman in old 
documents and records) were among the pioneer 
families of Kittanuing township. (See sketch 
of James Heilman.) Tiiey were among the 
substantial class of early settlers, and their 
names appear on the assessment lists of 1807 as 
owners of mills, distilleries and large tracts of 
land. The Younts (name written Yundt in old 
records) were early settlers and large land-hold- 
ers in the township. Daniel Heilman, the father 
of the late Samuel Heilman, was of German 
descent, and came from his native county of 
Northampton in 1810 to Kittanuing township, 
where he followed farming until his death, in 
1832, at fifty years of age. He married Lydia 
Yount, by whom he had eleven children. 

Samuel Heilman was reared in his native 
township, where he attended the schools of his 
neighborhood. When he commenced life for 
himself he engaged in farming, which he fol- 
lowed successfully as long as he lived. He 



owned a good farm, which he kept in good order 
and carefully cultivated. 

On January 7, 1847, he married Martha Ru- 
pert, who is a daughter of Peter Rupert, who 
was a native of York county and an exemplary 
member of the Lutheran church, and came with 
his parents, at five years of age, to tliis county, 
where he died in 1855, at the age of seventy- 
eight years. To Mr. and Mrs. Heilman were 
born two sons and six daughters : Thomas, who 
married Julia Bailey and resides in Allegheny 
city ; Emma, wife of J. J. Richard, of Gibbon, 
Neb. ; Lou, married to John Murphy, of Kit- 
tanning; Lydia, wife of William King; Mollie, 
wife of R. F. Everhart; Jennie, Maggie and 
Herman C. The second son, Herman C, who 
has the management of the home farm, was 
reared and received his education in his native 
township. He is a young man of good business 
ability, and resides with his mother. 

Samuel Heilman was a member of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran church, in which he was serv- 
ing as an elder at the time of his death. He 
was a strong adherent to the principles of the 
Democratic party, and had served as tax-collector 
and as a member of the school board, of which 
he had been treasurer during a large part of his 
term of office. He was a man who made good 
and diligent use of his opportunities and lived 
an industrious and useful life. Respected as a 
citizen, and prudent and careful as a farmer, he 
enjoyed the good will of his neighbors and all 
who knew him. When in his sixty-sixth year 
he received the summons which must come to 
all sooner or later, and passed away on the 27th 
day of June, 1888. His remains rest in Heil- 
man cemetery, but his memory is lovingly cher- 
ished by his family and a wide circle of friends. 



JAMES HEILMAN, oneof Kittanuing town- 
ship's most substantial and progressive 
farmers and oldest and highly respected citizens, 
is a son of Jacob and Susanna (Waltenbaugh) 



518 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Heilman, and was born on the farm on which 
he now resides, in Kittauniug township, Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1829. 
The Heilman and Waltenbaugh families figure 
conspicuously among the pioneer settlers and 
prominent land-owners of Kittanning township, 
and in the old legal records and assessment lists 
of the county. The Heilman name was written 
Hileman and Hyleman, and the Waltenbaugh 
name was spelled Waltenbough. Peter Heil- 
man, the grandfather of James Heilman, was 
born on shipboard, while his parents were cross- 
ing the Atlantic ocean from Germany to the 
United States. He was reared in Northampton 
county, where he learned the trade of weaver. 
He married and came to what is now Kittan- 
ning township in 1796. His son, Jacob Heil- 
man (father), was born in Northampton county 
April, 1791, and died in Kittanning township 
December 27, 1876, aged eighty-five years. He 
owned eight hundred acres of land and was a 
prominent distiller of his day, when Armstrong 
county whiskey had a reputation as far south as 
New Orleans for being good, and the "Heilman 
whiskey" was highly esteemed as one of the 
purest whiskies in the market. Jacob Heilman 
started in life with an ax and grubbing hoe, and 
acquired his wealth by honest labor and judicious 
management. He was a strict lutheran, and 
voted the democratic ticket until 1854, when he 
becamearepublican. Hewasagood businessman, 
served his township as school director and mar- 
ried Susanna Waltenbaugh, daughter of Adam 
Waltenbaugh, of Fayette county. She was a 
consistent member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church, and passed away April 27, 1877, when 
in the eighty-fifth year of her age. They had 
four children, of whom but three are living. 

James Heilman was reared on the farm and 
attended the schools of his neighborhood, in 
which he obtained a good common business edu- 
cation. He has always been engaged in farm- 
ing, and owns the part of the old homestead 
farm of two hundred and twenty-five acres that 



was cleared and improved by his grandfather, 
Peter Heilman. For the last ten years Mr. 
Heilman has made a specialty of stock-raising 
and fruit-growing. In his extensive orchards 
he raises the finest variety of fruits to be found 
in Armstrong county. 

October 9, 1856, Mr. Heilman married Mag- 
dalene Reichert, daughter of G. A. Keichert, of 
this county. Mr. and Mrs. Heilman have seven 
children : James T., Ella L., Rose C, Grace R., 
Maggie G., Emma R. and Ethel ind. 

James Heilman is a republican politically, 
has served as school director, auditor and 
assessor of his township and ig now overseer of 
the poor. He is a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church, and is well-known in his com- 
munity for his strong sense of justice and his 
unshaken firmness in supporting whatever he 
conscientiously believes to be right. 



WILLIAM HOOD, one of the trustworthy 
citizens and substantial farmers of Val- 
ley township, is a son of Joliu and Nancy 
(Hood) Hood, and was born in Hanover town- 
ship, Washington county, Pennsylvania, Sep- 
tember 22, 1822. His paternal grandfather, 
John Hood, was a native of Ireland, where he 
learned the trade of miller, and united with the 
Presbyterian church. He and someof his friends 
came to Pennsylvania in 1794, ascended the 
Susquehanna river in canoes, and crossed to the 
head-waters of the Allegheny river, where they 
launched their canoes and descended that stream 
into what is now Warren county. John Hood 
followed farming and milling for twenty years 
at Sugar Grove and then removed from War- 
ren to Washington county, where he resided 
for a few years. He then came to Armstrong 
county, where he lived with the subject of this 
sketch until his death, which occurred April 
11, 1857, at ninety years of age. He was a 
presbyterian, and one of his sons was John 
Hood (father), who was born in county Antrim, 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



519 



Ireland, March 12, 1794, and was brought by 
his parents to Warren county, where he was 
reared to manhood. He then went to Wash- 
ington county, and after a residence of a few 
years came to this county, where he was en- 
gaged in farming as long as lie lived. He was 
a democrat in politics, a ruling elder in the 
Presbyterian church, and died May 16, 1862, 
aged sixty-eight years. He marrietl Nancy 
Hood, who was born in Bucks county, May 15, 
1795, was a member of the Presbyterian 
church, and died October 5, 1851, at the age 
of fifty-six years. 

William Hood was reared on his father's 
Washington county farm, on which he worked 
until he was twenty-four years of age, when he 
came to this county with his father and settled 
on the farm which he now owns. This farm 
was then in the woods, and he aided his father 
in clearing and improving it. His farm, which 
contains eighty-eight acres, and is three miles 
from Kittanning, on the Clearfield pike, is very 
productive. Besides farming, in which he has 
been very successful, Mr. Hood also deals in stock. 

On October 16, 1876, he married Esther 
Patton, daughter of Montgomery Patton, of 
Boggs township. They have three children : 
William A., Louis M. and Bessie T. 

William Hood has always been closely atten- 
tive to his farm and business. He is an old- 
time democrat and a member of the First Pres- 
byterian "church, of Kittanning. He has held 
the various offices of his township. While a 
man of strong will and great determination, 
qualities inherited from his worthy ances- 
tors, yet he is kind-hearted and ever ready 
to assist those in di.stress. Mr. Hood, who is 
six feet two inches in height, comes of a race 
distinguished for fine personal appearance, and 
some of whom were six feet and seven inches in 
stature. Successful as a farmer, honorable as a 
man and respected as a citizen, he now resides 
in a comfortable home and enjoys the fruits of 
half a centiny of his honest labors. 



JOHN A. LOGAN, a former justice of the 
peace and a worthy citizen of Manor town- 
ship, is a son of Tiiomas and Esther (Hood) 
Logan, and was born at Logansport, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, December 19, 1840. 
John Logan (grandfather) was born in county 
Cork, Ireland, in 1756, and in early life set- 
tled in Pine township, Allegheny county, 
where he engaged in fanning. He died in 
1852, when he was in the ninety-sixth year of 
his age. One of his son.s, Thomas Logan (fa- 
ther), was born in Allegheny county in 1709. 
When a young man he was engaged in distilling 
whiskey, but becoming convinced of the evils 
of intemperance he abandoned the manufacture 
of liquor and gave his attention to carding 
wool. He afterwards removed to Logansport 
and purchased at that place a tract of four hun- 
dred and fifty acres, which he tilled for many 
years. He died July 16, 1882, aged eighty- 
three years. He was a successful business mau, 
a life-long whig and re])ublican, and an es- 
teemed member of the Presbyterian church. 
He was widely known as an enthusiastic Sun- 
day-school worker when Sunday-schools were a 
new and not a thoroughly appreciated institu- 
tion in this section of Armstrong county. He 
married Esther Hood, a native of county An- 
trim, Ireland, by whom he had nine children, 
six sons and three daughters. His wife was a 
member of the Presbyterian church, and died 
August 20, 1869, in the sixty-seventh year of 
her age. 

John A. Logan was reared at Logansport, 
and attended the public schools of that town- 
ship. He has always followed farming since 
leaving school. He now owns some seventy- 
three acres of well-improved land in Manor 
township, upon which he resides. 

On October SO, 1866, Mr. Logan married 
Jannetta Gibson, daughter of Charles Gibson, 
of Allegheny county, and to them was born 
one child, a daughter, Jannetta, who is still 
living. After the death of Mrs. Logan, in 



620 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



1868, Mr. Logan, February 16, 1871, married 
Sarah Bailey, daughter of Richard Bailey, of 
Armstrong county. To this second marriage 
have been born two children: a son, Charles 
Bailey, who died aged two years, and a daugh- 
ter, Lydia Martha. 

John A. Logan is a worthy, energetic citizen, 
a consistent member of the Presbyterian church 
and a prominent republican. He served one 
year as constable, was elected justice of the 
peace in 1879, and held that office until 1884. 
Mr. Logan raises some stock in addition to 
farming. He has learned much by observation 
and reading, and has intelligent and decided 
opinions upon agricultural, political and relig- 
ious affairs. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON LUKE, M.D., 
of Arnold, an efficient and successful phy- 
sician of Valley township, is a son of James 
and Annie (Lynn) Luke, and was born in Cam- 
bria county, Pennsylvania, Augu.st 24, 1835. 
His paternal grandparents were James and Mary 
(McLane) Luke; the former born in county 
Armagh, Ireland, and the latter a native of the 
highlands of Scotland. They came to Penn- 
sylvania in 1791, and purchased a farm within 
two miles of Armagh, Indiana county, where 
they resided as long as they lived. Their son, 
James Luke (father), was born in 1791 on 
shipboard while they were crossing the Atlantic 
ocean. He was reared in Indiana county, 
served under Gen. Harrison in the war of 
1812, and afterwards settled in the forks of 
Black Lick creek, in Cambria county, where he 
remained until 1861, when he came to Arm- 
strong county. Ten years later he passed away 
at the advanced age of eighty years. He was 
a stanch democrat and married Annie Lynn, of 
Bedford county, who was a devout member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church and passed 
from the toils and troubles of earthly life May 
20, 1864, when in the seventieth year of her age. 



George Washington Luke was reared in 
Cambria and Clarion counties and received his 
education in the common schools and Dayton 
academy, this county. From twelve years of 
age he commenced to make his own way in life, 
and for several years worked at any kind of 
labor that was honorable. In 1859 he com- 
menced to read medicine at Reynoldsville, Jef- 
ferson county, and two years later, when the 
storm of civil war burst upon the land, he left 
his studies to enter the Union army. He en- 
listed on August 29, 1861, as a private in Co. 
H, 105th regiment, Pa. Vols., and four months 
later was made hospital steward of Gen. 
Kearney's division. On October 5, 1863, he 
was discharged by an order of Secretary Stanton 
for the purpose of giving him an opportunity 
to enlist as a hospital steward in the United 
States army, which he accordingly did. He 
.served until November 10, 1865, when he was 
honorably discharged at Brownsville, Texas 
While in the service he was captured once and 
was confinefl in Libby prison for one month 
before being exchanged. After the war he re- 
sumed his medical studies, under Dr. D. R. 
Crawford of Sniicksburg, Indiana county, and 
attended lectures at the medical department of 
the University of Michigan, from which he was 
graduated in 1867. In the fall of 1867 he 
opened an office at Goheenville, but in May, 
1874, on account of his wife's health, removed 
to Templeton, on the A. V. R. R., where he 
remained until December, 1876, when he went 
to Salem, in Clarion county. At that place he 
remained until the fall of 1881, when he came 
to Valley township, where he has had a large 
and remunerative practice ever since. 

April 7, 1870, Dr. Luke married Sarah 
Speace, daughter of G. W. Speace, of Valley 
township. They have twochildren living: Annie 
L. and Susie B. 

Dr. Luke is a republican in politics and when 
Arnold post-office was established, in 1888, he 
was appointed postmaster, which position he 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



521 



has held ever since. He owns and resides upon 
a farm of fifty acres, which is underlaid with 
coal. Dr. Luke has always been successful as 
a physician and is recognized as one of the 
prominent and leading citizens of Valley town- 
ship. 



ARCHIBALD W. MARSHALL, one of the 
useful citizens and progressive farmers of 
Valley township, is a son of Archibald and 
Rebecca (Taylor) Mai'shall, and was born on 
the farm on which he now resides in Valley 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
March 29, 1840. Of the many families who 
left Ireland over a century ago and made Penn- 
sylvania their home, one was the Marshall 
family, from which Archibald W. Marshall is 
descended. His paternal grandfather, Archibald 
Marshall, Sr., died November 28, 1888. Of 
his sons who grew to manhood, one was Archi- 
bald Marshall (father), who was born in Indiana 
county iu 1800 and passed away in 1878, when 
in the seventy-eighth year of his age. In early 
life he came to Valley township, where he fol- 
lowed farming until his death. He was a dem- 
ocrat and a united presbyterian and was re- 
spected and esteemed in the community in 
which he resided. He was well acquainte<l 
with the educational interests of the township, 
which he had frequently served as school di- 
rector. Mr. Marshall married Rebecca Taylor. 
Mrs. Marshall was a member of the United 
Presbyterian church and passed away in 1883, 
aged eighty-four yeai^s. 

Archibald W. Marshall was reared on a farm, 
and, like the most of farmers' sons, received his 
education iu the common schools. Since attain- 
ing his-majority he has been engaged in farming 
except from 1861 to 1864, when he kept the 
toll-gate at the Kittanning bridge. His farm 
of one hundred and thirty acres of productive 
land is three miles from Kittanning and is 
situated one-half mile back from the Dayton 
31 



road. A heavy vein of coal underlies the 
entire farm and is easily accessible. To the 
permanent improvement and successful cultiva- 
tion of his farm, Mr. Marshall has given con- 
siderable thought, which is evinced in the in- 
creased yield of iiis fields as well as iu the 
higher valuation of his land. Mr. Marshall is 
a republican politically, has been a member of 
the school board and is now serving his town- 
ship as assessor. He is a member of the Kit- 
tanning United Presbyterian church, in which 
he has been an elder for several years. 

In 1867 he married Elizabeth Speer, daugh- 
ter of Robert Speer, of Manor township. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have been born four 
children, three sons and one daughter. Of these 
children three are : Jennie R., Thomas W. and 
William S. 



JOHN H. MATEER, a reliable citizen and 
^ the owner of one of the best coal farms of 
Boggs township, was born in Pine township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 31, 
1846, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth 
(Ambrose) Mateer. His grandflither, John 
Mateer, was a native of Dauphin county, from 
whence he removed to Franklin township, 
Armstrong county, which he left in 1855 and 
went to Wayne county, Illinois, where he died. 
He was a democrat, and married IMargaret 
Montgomery, by whom he had eight children, 
five sons and three daughters. One of these 
sons, Samuel Mateer (father), was born Novem- 
ber 16, 1818, in Armstrong county, and has 
been principally engaged in farming, although 
in early life he dealt extensively iu stock which 
he drove to the eastern markets. He is a resi- 
dent of Boggs township, a democrat in politics, 
and a member of the Presbyterian church. He 
married Elizabeth Ambrose, a daughter of Ben- 
jamin Ambrose, a farmer, whig and presbyterian 
of Westmoreland county, who came to Franklin 
township, where he reared a family of four sons 



522 



BIOQRAFHIES OF 



and three daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Mateer are 
the parents of seven sons and three daughters : 
James E., married Esther Lowry, and is a 
farmer of Boggs township ; Johu H., Dr. Rob- 
ert M., graduated from Jefferson Medical col- 
lege, married Mary Donnelly, and is practicing 
at Elderton ; Benjamin F., a farmer ; Samuel 
S., living on his father's farm, and married on 
Nov. 2, 1890, to Mary, daughter of Henry 
Houser, of Goheenville ; Annie J., wife of Wil- 
liam C. Calhoun, a farmer ; Margaret, married 
to Finley P. Wolfe, an attorney of Kittanning; 
Mary E., widow of Joseph Banks ; Ambrose 
M., engaged in the mercantile business, and 
Alexander M. 

John H. Mateer was reared on a farm and re- 
ceived his education in the common schools. 
Leaving school, he engaged in farming, which he 
has followed ever since. He owns a farm of one 
hundred and eighty acres of well-improved land 
in Boggs township. This farm is well-improved 
and is underlaid with veins of coal and lime- 
stone. He raises considerable stock in addition 
to farming. 

Ou January 31, 1878, he married Lavina C. 
Calhoun, daughter of J. R. Calhoun. To their 
union have been born five children, four sons 
and one daughter: Robert Calhoun, born Janu- 
arys, 1874; Samuel Lee, born March 19, 1878; 
Iva Blanche, born March 7, 1882; Delbert 
Harvy, born January 29, 1884, and Findley 
Ambrose, born April .30, 1888. 

John H. Mateer is a democrat in politics, and 
he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian 
church. Mr. Mateer takes great interest in 
farming, and has always raised good crops on 
his farm, which is fertile and productive. 



DANIEL McAFOOS. One of the oldest, if 
not the oldest, native residents of Valley 
township is Daniel McAfoos, whose memory 
goes back almost to the pioneer days of Arm- 
strong county. He is a son of Jacob and Eva 



(Schreckengost) McAfoos, and was born on the 
farm adjoining the one upon which he now re- 
sides in Valley township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, January 4, 1813. Jacob Mc- 
Afoos was born east of the Allegheny moun- 
tains, removed, when a young man, to West- 
moreland county, where he remained but a short 
time and then came to what is now called Val- 
ley township, but which was then an almost 
unbroken wilderness filled with wild animals, 
and frequented by Indians. He was one of the 
earliest settlers of the county, killed a great 
many bears and deer, and cleared out the farm 
upon which the subject of this sketch was born. 
He often hunted with the Indians and was a 
great favorite with them, as he was a good 
wrestler, a swift runner and a fine shot. He 
was a presbyterian and an old-line whig, and 
died in 1859, at seventy-five years of age. He 
married Eva Schreckengost, a native of eastern 
Pennsylvania, who was of the same religious 
faith as her husband and passed away in 1881, 
aged eighty-four years. They were the parents 
of eight children : John, Daniel, Margaret, 
Jacob, Mary, David, Elizabeth and Simon. 

Daniel McAfoos was reared on his father's 
farm and obtained his education in the old log 
school-house of jjioneer days. He had to walk 
some four miles to school, and often through 
snow two feet deep. These schools were only 
kept open for about two months each year and 
afforded all the 02)portunities for education 
which the people had in those early days. He 
often hunted with his father and helped to kill 
bears, deer and wild turkeys. Wlien old 
enough to do for himself he engaged in farming 
which he has followed ever since. His early 
farming was done with rude tools and imple- 
ments. His plow he made and equipped with 
wooden mold-boards. His corn he often ground 
by hand, as it was seven miles to Kittanning by 
a mere path through the woods, and the rude, 
primitive fliill there was often crowded with a 
week's grinding ahead. Mr. McAfoos owns 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



523 



a farm of seventy-five acres of good farming 
and grazing laud which is six and one-half miles 
from Kittanning. 

On November 5, 1840, he married Lydia 
Reynolds, a daughter of Job Reynolds, of tins 
county. To them were born five children: 
Julia A., Sarah J., Henry, Lizzie and Phoebe. 

Daniel McAfoos is a republican in political 
affairs and a member of the Reformed Presby- 
terian church. Now almost an octogenarian, 
Mr. McAfoos can look back over a long life 
spent in clearing a wilderness region and mak- 
ing a comfortable home for himself. Within 
that time he has seen a prosperous and produc- 
tive country grow up out of the wilderness- 
sweep in whose depths he had often heard in 
his boyhood days the howl of the wolf and 
scream of the panther. 



PF. McCLARREN, who is serving his sixth 
• term as a justice of the peace of Manor 
township, has been for the last thirty-five years 
one of the lumber dealers of the county. He is 
a son of Hugh and Mary (Fair) McClarren, and 
was born in Black Lick township, Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, July 11, 1824. His 
grandfather, Thomas McClarren, was born in, 
and was for many years a resident of, Alle- 
gheny county, but in his old age removed 
to Westmoreland county, where he resided 
among his children until his death. He was 
married and had eleven children, nine sous and 
two daughters : Robert Kilgore ; William, who 
was killed on the Pennsylvania canal b^'a blow 
from a windlass, while attending one of the 
locks ; Thomas, Harrison, who died in Louis- 
ville, Ky. ; Joseph and John, who operated a 
steam grist-mill near Pittsburgh, and both died in 
Allegheny county ; David, who died at Bir- 
mingham, now Southside, Pittsburgh ; James 
and Hugh, twins, who married sisters; Nancy 
married James Trunick, the operator of a steam 
planing-mill near the mouth of Saw-mill run ; 



and Elizabeth, who married Joseph Bell, a 
farmer near Pittsburgh. Of these eleven chil- 
dren, all are dead but James, who resides near 
Corydon, Indiana, and their descendants are 
scattered all over the Union. Hugh McClarren 
(father) was born in 1797 in Allegheny county. 
Pa., where ho learned the trade of cabinet-maker, 
which he followed as long as he livetl. In 1862 
he removed to Manortownship, where he resided 
until his death, in 1878, when he had attained 
the advanced age of eighty years. In politics 
he upheld the principles of the republican 
party, and for forty-six years was a consisteut 
member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. 
On December 6, 1821, he married Mary Fair, 
who was of German descent, and was born in 
Black Lick township, Indiana county, in 1800. 
They had four children, two sons and two 
daughters: James, who died in 1849, at twenty- 
seven years of age; P. F., Nancy, who died in 
the sixth year of her age; and Hannah, who 
married J. C. Day, formerly of Blairsville, and 
died at Austin, Minnesota, leaving five children, 
one son and four daughters, of whom three of 
the daughters are still living. Mr. Day and 
two of his daughters reside within fifty miles of 
San Francisco, California. Tiie eldest daughter, 
Mary, is married to G. F. Trenwitli, of Santii 
Barbara, California. The second daughter, 
Adella, was married to Charles Williams, and 
the third, Laura, was married to G. O. Foster. 
Mrs. McClari'en (mother) was a member of the 
Lutheran church, and died in 1881, at eighty- 
two years of age. 

P. F. McClarren was reared principally in 
Centre township, Indiana county. He received 
his education in the subscription schools, and 
Indiana and Blairsville academies. In 1851 
he came to Manor township, where he has 
resided in his present house for thirty-five years. 
Ever since coming to Manor township he has 
been engaged in sawing and dealing in lumber 
as well as managing his farm. He has held the 
office of justice of the peace almost continuously 



524 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



since 1855, and has been so careful in adminis- 
tering justice that there has never been a case 
appealed from his decision, in which the court 
decided against his judgment. 

In 1850 he married Henrietta C. Reichert, 
the eldest daughter of Rev. G. A. Reichert, a 
Lutheran minister of Philadelphia. To their 
union were born five children : Laura L., wife 
of Alexander Heilman, of Manor township ; 
Ernest R. and William A. R. both died in 
1862 ; George K., married Maiy Mahon, of 
Cleveland, Ohio, and resides at Manorville ; 
and Warren T., a book-keeper for the firm of 
W. L. Kahn & Co., of Pittsburgh. On Sep- 
tember 30, 1884, Mrs. Henrietta C. McClarren 
died, and on April 19, 1888, Mr. McClarren 
united in marriage with Emma E. Harrah, of 
Lawrence county, Pa. 

P. F. McClarren is an active republican. 
Besides acting as justice of the peace, he has 
served as school director and in other township 
offices for several terms. He is a member of 
the Evangelical Lutheran church, of which he 
has been an elder for a number of years. 



WILLIAM McCOLLUM, one of the well- 
known and highly respected citizens of 
East Franklin township, was born in county 
Donegal, Ireland, February 3, 1825, and is a 
son of William and Sarah (McGarvey) McCol- 
lum. William McCollum left his native coun- 
ty of Donegal in 1829, and came to what is 
now East Franklin township, where he pur- 
chased two hundred acres of land, and was en- 
gaged in farming until his death, in 1853, when 
in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was 
an early settler in the township, was a member 
of the United Presbyterian church, and sup- 
ported the Republican party from the time of 
its organization until his death. He married 
Sai'ah McCollum, who was a native of the same 
county, and a member of the same church as 



himself. She died in 1835, when only thirty- 
five years of age. 

William McCollum was reared from four 
years of age on the farm on which he now re- 
sides, and has always resided ever since his 
fourth year. He attended the early common 
schools of his township, and then engaged in 
farming, which he has followed until the pres- 
ent time. He owns one hundred and fifty 
acres of the home farm, to which he has added 
forty-eight acres additional by purchase. His 
farm is well-impi'oved and well-watered. He 
raises good crops of grain and some very good 
stock. He is a stanch democrat, and has served 
his township as assessor for one term, and as a 
member of the school board for several terms. 
He is a member of Limestone Evangelical 
Lutheran church. Mr. McCollum is of rather 
a retiring disposition, has no thirst for office or 
political position, and has been successful in 
farming and stock-raising. He enjoys the 
respect of his neighbors, has a comfortable 
home, and is genial and hospitable. 

In 1851 he married Susan Tarr, daughter of 
Joseph Tarr, of this township. They are the 
parents of nine children, three sons and six 
daughters: Joseph, who married Annie Lem- 
mon ; Martha, wife of Robert Rogers, an oil- 
driller; George, of Butler, Pa.; Mary, married 
to David Bowser, a farmer of this township ; 
William, an oil contractor of Freeport, and 
married Aggie Coleman ; Sarah, wife of Wil- 
liam Rogers, who operates a flouring-mill ; 
Eliza, wife of Robert Thompson, of Leechburg; 
Margaret and Nancy. 



JOHN B. McGregor. Success in any oc- 
*-^ cupation of life is to be won by energy, 
determination and steady, continuous effort. 
One who has thus been successful is John B. 
McGregor, an enterprising farmer of Valley 
township. He was born in Bedford county. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



525 



Pennsylvania, July 27, 1838, and is a son of 
Christopher and Martha (Barr) McGregor. 
The McGregors are of Scotch origin, and are 
descendants of the McGregor family of Scot- 
land, which was so prominent in the military 
history of that country during the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries. Christopher Mc- 
Gregor, tlie father of John B. McGregor, was 
born and reared in Bedford county, from which 
he came in 1844 to this county. He worked 
for many years on public works, and now re- 
sides with the subject of this sketch. He is a 
republican in politics, a member of the Re- 
formed church and is a man who is well pre- 
served for his eighty-three years of age. He 
married Martha Barr, of Bedford county, who 
was a member of the Metliodist Episcopal 
church, and passed away in 1857. Tiiey were 
industrious and honest, and reared a family of 
several sons and daughters. 

John B. McGregor was reared principally in 
this county, and received his education in the 
common schools. Leaving school, he sought for 
employment at the public works, where wages 
were then far better than what could be ob- 
tained for day labor at anything else. He 
worketl steadily at different works until 1862, 
when he liad accumulated sufficient means to 
purchase his present farm of seventy-five acres 
of land in Valley township. He immediately 
moved upon this farm, which he has been suc- 
cessfully engaged in tilling ever since. Mr. 
McGregor is a republican in politics, and served 
his township acceptably for eleven years as con- 
stable, and two years as a supervisor of roads. 
His farm is heavily underlaid with a valuable 
vein of coal which he has opened in one place 
and from which he obtains a very marketable 
article. 

In 1861 lie married Sarah E. Baumgardner, 
then of Armstrong county, but formerly of 
Northampton county. To their union have 
been born six children, four sons and two 
daughters: Annie J., wife of George Roney, a 



farmer of Manor township ; Harry B., who 

married Mattie Waugaman, and is engaged in 
farming in Jefferson county ; Ira M., Thomas 
C, OIlie R. and Samuel P. 

John B. McGregor is always ready and ever 
willing to assist or aid in whatever is for the 
l)enefit, or in the interest of his community. 



LOUIS MERGENTHALER. one of Valley 
township's substantial citizens and the 
owner of a remarkably fine agricultural and rich 
mineral farm, was born in the kingdom of 
Wflrtembcrg (now a province of the German 
empire), Germany, January 22, 1832, and is a 
son of Gotlieb and Barbara Mergentiialer. 
Gotlieb Mergenthaler was a native of Witten- 
berg, where he followed farming. He was a 
member of the Evangelical Lutheran churcii, 
and died in 1836. His wife, Barbara JNIergen- 
thaler, was a native of Wurtemberg, was a devout 
member of the Lutheran church and died in 
1 837. They were a pious and honest couple, 
and reared a respectable family of children. 

Louis Mergenthaler was reared in Wcirtem- 
berg, where he received his education in excel- 
lent private schools. When he attained his 
majority he was drafted for military service in 
the German army, but purchased his time from 
the government, and at twenty-two years of 
age came to this country. He became a resi- 
dent of Allegheny, this State, where he w'as en- 
gaged for four years in the butchering busine.ss. 
He then came to Kittanning with his brother, 
and opened a butcher-shop and meat-market, 
which he run successfully for two years, when 
he removed to his present farm in Valley town- 
ship. This farm is two and one-half miles 
from Kittanning, and on the Kittanning and 
Clearfield pike. It contains one hundred and 
thirty-eight acres of good producing land, and 
is one of the choice mineral farms of the town- 
ship. It contains three veins of coal a vein of 



.526 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



excellent limestone, and a large bed of superior 
fire-clay. 

On March 19, 1856, he married Isabella 
Taylor, daughter of Thomas Taylor, of Valley 
township. They have one child, a daughter: 
Essie Taylor. Mrs. Mergenthaler's paternal 
grandfather, Thomas Taylor, Sr. , was a native 
of Scotland, served in the commencement of the 
Revolutionary war as a commissary, and died 
just after the battle of Braudywine. His son, 
Thomas Taylor (father of Mrs. Mergenthaler), 
was born west of the Allegheny mountains, 
served in the war of 1812, married Martha Bell, 
and owned the farm upon which Mr. and 
Mrs. Mergenthaler reside. He was a Jack- 
sonian democrat, and died in 1847, at the ripe 
old age of eighty-eight years. 

In politics Louis Mergenthaler is a democrat. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, 
and ranks as a man of solid worth, whose life 
has been given to honest and useful labor, and 
whose efforts have been rewarded with substan- 
tial success. 



JOHN MILLIKEN, one of the thorough- 
going and most successful business men of ' 
East Franklin township and western Armstrong 
county, is a son of Andrew and Margaret i 
(Wiley) Milliken, and was born in East Frank- 
lin townsip, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
July 12, 1853. He is descended from the 
Milliken family that has been long resident 
in the north of Ireland. His paternal grand- 
father, Thomas Milliken, came from the 
" Emerald Isle " to the United States during 
the latter part of the last century. He first 
settled in Erie county, but soon came to East 
Franklin township, where he purchased a farm 
of two hundred acres, and followed farming 
until his death. His son, Andrew Milliken 
(father), was born in Erie county in 1809, and 
died at his home, in this township, in 1880. 
He came with his father to East Franklin town- 



ship when but a mere child. After attaining to 
the years of manhood he entered upon a most 
remarkable and wonderfully successful business 
career as a farmer and stock dealer. Although 
starting with a small capital, yet irr fifty years 
he had amassed an estate worth nearly one hun- 
dred thou.sand dollars. He was a presbyterian 
and a democrat, and filled acceptably several of 
his township's offices. Generous and kind to 
to the poor, his character was above the taint of 
suspicion. He married Margaret Wiley, who 
was a member of the Presbyterian church, and 
passed away in 1885, when in the seventy-first 
year of her age. 

John Milliken was reared on the farm and 
obtained his education in the common schools. 
At fourteen years of age he engaged at Adrian 
in the general mercantile business, in which he 
continued for three and one- half years. At the 
end of that time he commenced buying and sell- 
ing stock on a large scale, and has been dealing 
more or le.ss in stock ever since, although not 
so extensively as he did during the first ten 
years after engaging in the stock business. 
In 1885 he purchased his present farm of one 
hundred and sixty-five acres, which is well- 
improved, and but a half-mile distant from 
Adrian. 

On October 20, 1885, Mr. Milliken married 
Belle Thompson, daughter of Archie Thomp- 
son, of Canada. Two children have blessed 
this union : Andrew and Koscoe. 

John Milliken has always been an earnest 
democrat, has filled several township offices and 
is never lacking in support of his party and 
its measures. Mr. Milliken is probably as 
well acquainted with everything relating to 
stock business as any man in the county, and 
his excellent judgment of weights and meas- 
ures contributes no little to his success in cattle 
dealing. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



o27 



JOHN M. NELSON. One who passed 
^ through all the perils of western mining 
camps in the gold fields of California and risked 
his life on southern battle-fields is John M. 
Nelson, a justice of the peace of Manor town- 
ship. He is a son of George and Isabella 
(Montgomery) Nelson, and was born in Lan- 
caster county, Pennsylvania, March 13, 1837. 
George Nelson was born in county Antrim, Ire- 
land, in 1795, and came with his wife, in 1832 
to Pennsylvania, where he settled in Lan- 
caster county. In 1838 he removed to 
Pittsburg!), where he worked at his trade of 
carpenter until 1855, when he purchased a farm 
in Allegheny county and was engaged in farm- 
ing for seven years. He dietl in 1862, at sixty- 
seven years of age. He was a republican in 
politics and a member of the Covenanter church 
and married Isabella Montgomery, a native of 
county Antrim, Ireland, who was a consistent 
member of the Covenanter church and died in 
1888, at the advanced age of eighty years. 

John M. Nelson was reared principally in 
Pittsburgh, where he received his education in 
the public schools of that city. In 1857 he 
joined the tide of emigration to the gold fields 
of California and went by way of the Isthmus 
of Panama. He was engaged in gold-mining 
until 1863, when he enlisted in Co. K, 1st reg- 
iment, California Vols., as a private, and served 
until November, 1865, when he was discharged 
at Fort Riley, Kansas. He participated in all 
the skirmishes and battles of his regiment, un- 
til he was wounded in the knee at Fort Union, 
New Mexico, from which wound he suffered 
until Dec. 5, 1890, when he had to have the 
limb amputated. After being discharged he 
returned to Pennsylvania and was engaged for 
eleven years in the Igeneral mercantile busi- 
ness at Millertown, Allegheny county. In 
1878 he was appointed deputy in the office of 
the county treasurer of Allegheny county, which 
position he held until 1882, when he entered the 
United States revenue service, in which he 



served for five years. He then (1887) came to 
Ford City, where he still resides. 

On March 19, 1867, he married Hannah M. 
Howe, daughter of James Howe, of Allegheny 
county. Their union has been blessed with one 
child, a daughter, Eva. 

John M. Nelson is an active republican in 
politics and in Fehruar}', 1889, was elected 
justice of the peace of Manor township. He is 
a member of Tarentum Post, No. 135, Grand 
Army of the Republic, Camp No. 1, Union 
Veteran Legion, of Pittsburgh, and Pollock 
Lodge, No. 502, Free and Accepted Masons, 
at Tarentum, and a member and trustee of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 



MATTHIAS R. PEPPER was born in Keel, 
Staffordshire, England, March 29, 1846, 
and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Etlge) 
Pepper. He lived with his parents in Keel and 
vicinity until he was about twelve years of age, 
when his father moved to Birmingham, where 
he was employed for a number of years in running 
a stationary engine for a plate-glass works. 

When about thirteen years of age, M. R. 
Pepper entered the Birmingham plate-glass 
works, where he was employed as a bench boy 
in the polishing department, where, by work- 
ing industriously and step by step, he learned the 
manufacturing of plate-glass in all of its de- 
tails. At the age of twenty-one he was fore- 
man in the polishing department. 

On Sept. 30, 1866, he married Esther Coo- 
[>er, daughter of John and Priscilla (Gosling) 
Cooper. They have five children, two sons and 
three daughters : Jennie, who is married to 
Chas. Kier of Creighton, Allegheny county. 
Pa., John A., Matthias R., Jr., Esther P. and 
Lillian A. 

In 1870 there was great talk in England of 
a large glass works being built by Cajitain J. 
B. Ford, of Indiana, who is the founder of the 
first plate glass M'orks in America. M. R. 



528 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Pepper's father-in-law, John Cooper, determined 
to come out as a glass-grinder. Captain J. B. 
Ford then had a grinder, but where could he 
get a man that understood smoothing, polishing 
and tlie finishing of glass in all of its details? 
He was then told of M. R. Pepper, and at the 
wish of Captain J. B. Ford, Mr. Pepper came 
to New Albany, Indiana, where he acted for 
Mr. Ford as superintendent. In 1883 he went 
to the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., Creighton, 
Pa., where he acted for Mr. Ford as foreman 
polisher for two years and then became superin- 
tendent of the works, which position he held 
three years. In 1888 he was offered and ac- 
cepted for the same company the general super- 
iutendency of the Ford city plate-glass plant, 
which is the largest glass works in the world, 
and removed to that place, where he has remain- 
ed ever since. He is the first practical 2>late- 
glass worker in the United States. He polished 
the first plate-glass that was made in this 
country, and it was ground by his father-in-law, 
John Cooper. Matthias R. Pepper is a i-epub- 
lican in politics. He is a member of the Amer- 
ican Legion of Honor, No. 932, and Kittanning 
Lodge, No. 244, Free and Accepted Masons. 
Since being in the United States he has t^yice 
visited the land of his nativity. 



ROBERT G. RALSTON, M.D., an active 
and successful physician of Middlesex, 
East Franklin township, and a member of the 
Armstrong Medical society and the Pennsylva- 
nia State Medical society, is a son of James and 
Jane (Graham) Ralston, and was born in 
Armstrong county, Pentisylvania, January 22, 
1830. Among the early settlers of West- 
moreland county, from county Tyrone, Ireland, 
was Matthew Ralston, the paternal grandfather 
of Dr. Ralston. Matthew Ralston, who was 
an earnest presbyterian, settled with his family, 
about 1799, in Westmoreland county, where he 
followed farming until his death, in 1839. In 



religious matters he was strict in the presbyter- 
ian faith of his forefathers and in political af- 
fairs, in this county, was a stanch supporter of 
the Democratic party. Of his sons born in the 
old world, one was James Ralston (father), 
who was reared from nine years of age in 
Westmoreland county, where he resided until 
he came to this county. Sixteen years later 
he returned to Westmoreland county, and after 
a residence of sixteen years came to South 
Buffalo township. In 1866 he came to East 
Franklin township, where he died December 
30, 1876, aged eighty-six years. He followed 
farming and was a member, for over half a 
century, of the Presbyterian church, in which, 
during the larger part of that time, he had 
.served as a ruling elder. He was a democrat in 
politics and a pillar of strength in his church. 
He was a life-long democrat and a successful 
farmer and married Jane Graham, who was a 
native of Ireland and a presbyterian in religious 
fnith and died April 21, 1871, aged seventy- 
four years and nine months. Her father, Joseph 
Graham (maternal grandfather), came about 
1800 from county Tyrone to Armstrong 
county, where he followed farming as long as 
he lived. 

Robert G. Ralston was reared in Westmore- 
land and Arm.strong counties and received his 
literary education in Jefferson college, from 
which he was graduated in the class of 1855. Af- 
ter graduation he went to Kentucky, where he 
was engaged for one year in teaching. Return- 
ing home at the end of that time, he read medi- 
cine with Dr. Snowden, of Freeport, Pa., and 
entered Jefferson Medical college October, 1857, 
from which he was graduated in March, 1860. 
One year later he located at Middlesex, this 
township, where he has remained ever since, in 
the successful practice of his profession. He is 
a member of the county and State medical so- 
cieties. He is an elder of the Presbyterian 
church and a democrat in politics. 

On June 17, 1865, Dr. Ralston married 



AMMSTRONG COUNTY. 



520 



Martha Terapleton, daughter of John Temple- 
tou, of Sugar Creek township. To this union 
have been born ten cliiidren, three sons and 
seven daughters : Nannie B., married to Rev. 
J. C.Ambrose; Jennie, Nettie M., Elizabeth 
M., Ina F., William J., Catherine, John T., 
Virginia and Robert S. 

Dr. Ralston owns two good farms in this 
county and resides upon the one adjoining Mid- 
dlese.x. As a safe, sound and successful physi- 
cian, he receives the well-merited respect of his 
professional brethren, and the confidence of the 
community. 



ISAAC REESE, the descendant of an old and 
J- thrifty family, noted for its longevity, and 
the inventor of the Reese silica fire-brick, now 
in such general use throughout the United States, 
was born in Wales, in 1820, and is a son of 
William Reese. The Reese family is remarka- 
ble for the great age attained by many of 
its members. Isaac Reese's paternal great- 
grandfather lived to be one hundred antl four 
years of age and one of his sons (grandfather) 
die<l at one hundred and six years of age. Wil- 
liam Reese (father) married and came, about 
1835, to western Pennsylvania. He is now 
engaged in the fire-brick business at Bolivar, 
Westmoreland countv. He was born in 1787, 
and although now in the one hundred and third 
year of his age, yet is remarkably hale and 
hearty. 

Isaac Reese was reared in Wales, received a 
good business education and came to Pennsylva- 
nia, where he located in Pittsburgh. Soon after 
his arrival in the Iron City, he engaged in the 
fire-brick business, which he has coutinued ever 
since. He is a member of the Baptist church 
and a republican in politics. He owns some 
valuable real estate in Pittsburgh, where he has 
always resided since coming to this country. 

He married Elizabeth Jones, who is a native 
of Wales. 



Isaac Reese, besides his Manorville fire-brick 
plant, owns another one at the mouth of Cow- 
anshannock creek, in Valley township. The 
Phcenix Fire-brick works, at Manorville, were 
started, in 1880, to make ordinary fire-brick, 
but since December 16,1 884, when Isaac Reese 
patente<l his " Reese Silica Brick," the works 
have run night and day to supply the demand 
for these silica brick. Of late years great im- 
provements have been made in making high 
grades of steel and a continued demand has 
been made for a better fire-brick than could be 
obtained in the United States. From 1863 
to 1884 the demand for this high-grade brick, 
especially by open-hearth steel-furnaces, was 
supplied by brick brought from Eurojje at a 
very great cost. After ten years of experi- 
menting on a quartz rock which he found on 
the Allegheny river, Mr. Ree.se patented a silica 
brick which is far superior to the Eiu'opean 
brick, which it has driven entirely from the 
American market. The Ree.se Silica brick are 
of uniform size and weight, are practically free 
from expansion or contraction under varying 
temperatures and give the best of satisfaction in 
the construction and use of gla.ss, open-hearth, 
copper and other metallurgical furnaces. Wuth's 
analysis of this brick is : Silica, 97.52 parts; 
alumina, 1.72 ; lime, .57 ; iron, .16 ; and mag- 
nesia .03, making a total of one hundred parts. 
The material is induratetl and an exact amount 
weighed into the mold for each brick, hence 
their freedom from contraction or expansion and 
their uniform weight. Mr. Reese has received 
hundreds of testimonials in regard to the many 
good qualities of his brick from his numerous 
patrons, including prominent furnace, gla.s.s and 
plate-glass companies. 

Mr. Reese employs over one hundred and 
forty hands at his two Armstrong county fire- 
brick works, which he runs night and day 
and from which he turns out daily eight 
thousand silica fire-brick. His works have a 
capacity of two million bricks per year and he 



530 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ships them to every manufacturing State and 
territory of the Union, especially to the gold, 
silver and copper-smelting works of Colorado, 
and exports some to other countries. He now 
manufactures nothing but silica brick and can- 
nut fill the demand for them. They have about 
driven the imported article from the market 
and are used exclusively by all the plate-glass 
works of the United States. He is assisted in 
his business by his three sons : George W., 
Benjamin P. and Walter L., of whom the first 
is general superintendent and the latter two are 
assistant superintendents of the works. Isaac 
Reese, in his process of manufacturing silica brick, 
has secured to the world an important and useful 
discovery and has laid the foundation of a valu- 
able branch of industry in western Pennsylvania. 



GEORGE ROSS, a descendant of one of the 
early settled families of Armstrong county 
and a justice of the peace of Manor township, 
is a son of Washington and Margaret (Copley) 
Ross, and was born in Manor township, Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania, September 6, 
1846. The Ross family traces its ancestry to 
the nobility of Scotland. Judge George Ross 
(grandfather) was born in Chester county, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1777 and removed, in 1800, to 
Armstrong county, where he acted as a deputy 
State surveyor, and laid out Kittanning. At 
one time he was one of the largest land-owners 
in the county and was in possession of over 700 
acres of land. In 1805 he was elected asso- 
ciate judge of the county, which office he filled 
very creditably until he died, in 1829, when he 
was in the seventy-third year of his age. He 
was an active member of the Appleby Manor 
Presbyterian church, whose house of worship 
he was mainly instrumental in having erected. 
He was prominent, influential and highly re- 
spected throughout the county. Judge Ross 
came to what is the southwestern part of 
Manor township as early as 1807, for he is 



first assessed in Kittanning township in 1808. 
He and his family lived for some time in a 
cabin near Fort Green. He built the first 
stone house in his section of the county. He 
was assessed in 1808 with one hundred acres of 
land and in 1820 with a saw and grist-mill, 
which were at what was afterwards knowu as 
" Ross' Mills." Grists were brought to his 
mill from a distance of from twenty to thirty 
miles. In 1807 he purchased " Ross' " island, 
opposite the mouth of Crooked creek, from Wil- 
liam Green for one hundred dollars. His son, 
Washington Ross (father), was born on his 
father's farm, in Manor township, iu 1817. 
In early life he owned and operated a steam 
saw-mill, but soon afterwards engaged iu farm- 
ing, which he followed actively until of late 
years. He owns a farm of one hundred and 
seventy acres of land and gives a portion of his 
time to its management. He now resides at 
Kittanning. He has been very successful in his 
business ventures, and iu 1854 laid out on his 
lands the towu of Rosston, which was named 
after him. He is a rejjublican in politics and a 
member of the Presbyterian church and mar- 
ried Margaret Copley, who was born in Phila- 
delphia iu 1826. 

George Ross was reared on the farm ou 
which both he and his father were born. After 
attending the public schools of Mauor township 
and Kittanning seminary, he entered the employ 
of W. D. Robinson, a merchant of Rosston, 
with whom he remained one year. At the end 
of that time he engaged in farming, which he 
has followed until the present time. During a 
part of the years 1888 aud 1889 he acted as 
assistant postmaster at Ford City. 

On January 28, 1874, he married Eva Mc- 
Kee, daughter of Thomas V. McKee, one of 
the commissioners of Armstrong county. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Ross have been born .six chil- 
dren, three sons and three daughters: May, 
James G., Bessie, Thomas, Washington and 
Josephine. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



531 



111 politics, George Ross is an independent 
republican. In 1884 he was elected justice of 
the peace of Manor township, which office he 
filled for five years. He has also been elected 
at various times to the offices of school director 
and auditor. Mr. Ross owns a good farm, has 
been successful in farming and stock-raising 
and commands the respect and esteem of the 
community in which he resides. j 



DAVID RUPP, an intelligent and respected ' 
citizen of Kittanning township, is one of 
the few Union soldiers of the late war who 
witnessed Robert Lee tender his sword at Ap- ' 
pomattox Court-house to Ulys.ses S. (rrant. He 
is a son of Francis and Elizabeth (Olinger) 
Rui)p, and was born in Kittanning township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, January .30, 
1828. His paternal grandfather, Francis Rupp, 
Sr., was a native of Germany, and came, before 
1800 to this township where he purchased and 
cleared out a large farm when Indians were ; 
still in the country. His maternal grandfather, : 
Adam Olinger, was a native of esistern Penn- ! 
sylvania and, like Francis Rupp, became an 
early settler and large land-holder of Kittan- 
ning township, in which he died. Francis Rupp 
(father) was born in 1799 and died in 1847. 
He was a prosperous farmer, an old-line whig 
and an elder of the Presbyterian church. He 
had an older brother, Adam Rupp, who served 
in the war of 1812. Francis Rupp married 
Elizabeth Olinger, who was born in eastern 
Pennsylvania, united, at an early age, with the 
Lutheran church and died in 1853, aged fifty- 
nine years. 

David Rupp was reared on a farm and ob- 
tained his education in the schools of his neigh- 
borhood. Trained to farm work and farm man- 
agement, he engaged in farming when he came 
to do for himself. On September 16, 1864. 
he enlisted in Co. H, 199th regiment, Pa. 
Vols., and served until June 28, 1865, when he 



was honorably discharged. Although serving 
but eight months, yet he saw as much hard 
fighting as some of the men who served for 
three years. He was in the engagements March 
29, 1865, in front of Petersburg and at Rice's 
station and Appomattox Court-house. At the 
clo.se of the war he returned to Kittanning 
township, where he has been engaged in farming 
ever since. He owns a good farm of sixty 
acres of land, which is well improved and lies 
in a productive part of the township. 

In 1852 Mr. Rupp united in marriage with 
Sarah Moorhead, daughter of John Moorhead, 
Sr., of Manor township. Mr. and Mrs. Rupp 
have had eleven children, seven sons and four 
daughters: Sarah E., John F., Samuel W., 
Margaret F., David M., Mary A., Hannah A., 
Arthur L., Norman H., Charles H., and James 
W., who died May 6, 1889, aged twenty-eight 
years. 

David Rupp is a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church and a pronouncetl republican 
in politics. He has filled acceptably the offices 
of supervisor of roads and school director. 
Honest, reliable and industrious, Mr. Rupp 
commands the respect of his neighbors and is 
well situated to enjoy the comforts of life. 



SIMON P. SCHALL, a leading farmer and 
stock-raiser of Manor township, and an 
influential citizen in the community in which 
he resides, is a son of Israel and Sarah (Hild- 
man) Schall, and was born in Kittanning town- 
ship, Armstrong county, Penu.sylvania, Febru- 
ary 20, 1 838. His grandfather, Michael Schall, 
was born in eastern Pennsylvania in 1776, and 
removed to Armstrong county, where he was 
engaged in farming for over fifty years. He 
died in 1856, aged eighty years. He was an 
industrious farmer, a peaceable man and a 
member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. 
One of his sous, Israel Schall (father), was born 
in Kittanning township in 1802, and resided 



532 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



there until his death. He was a farmer by 
occupatiou, a prominent democrat in polities 
and at different times held various of his town- 
ship's offices. For a number of years he was a 
deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran church, of 
which both he and his wife were consistent 
members. He died in 1868, when in the sixty- 
sixth year of his age. He married Sarah Hild- 
niau, who was born in Kittanniiig township in 
18011. Mrs. Schall is still living in Kittauning 
township and is very active for a woman of 
eighty-one years of age. 

Simon P. Schall was reared on his father's 
farm, and after receiving a common-school edu- 
cation, learned the trade of carpenter, which he 
followed for fifteen years. He then engaged in 
farming, which he has followed ever since. He 
now owns a farm of one hundred and thirty 
acres, some six miles from Kittauning, on the 
KittanninsT and Leechburtr road. In addition 
to farming Mr. Schall makes a 
live stock, which he raises for 
markets. 

In 1860 he married Eliza Patrick, a daughter 
of Robert Patrick, of Kittauning township. 
They have been the parents of seven children . 
Sarah M., Warren, Laura, Kobert, Joseph 
Harry, and one which died. 

Simon P. Schall is a trustee of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, of which he is a consistent 
member. He is a republican in politics, has 
filled various township offices and is esteemed 
in the community in which he resides as an en- 
ergetic and substantial citizen, who is ever ready 
to assist in any and every good cause. He is 
firm in his convictions of what he believes to be 
right, yet is considerate of the feelings and opin- 
ions of others, and never forces his views on 
any one. 



specialty of 
the eastern 



JOSEPH J. SCHRECKENGOST, a de- 
" scendant of two substantial and early 
families, and a prosperous farmer of Kittanning 



township, is a son of Benjamin and Susanna 
(Oury) Schreckengost, and was born in Kittan- 
ning township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
April 29, 1829. His paternal grandfather, 
Coonrod Scheckengost, Sr., was a native of 
Germany, and came to Bucks county, where he 
remained a short time. He then came to Kit- 
tanning township, where he purchased a farm 
and followed farming and gunsmithing until 
his death. He was one of the early settlers of 
this township and was accompanied here by his 
son, Coonrod Schreckengost (father), who was 
born in Bucks county. Coonrod Schrecken- 
gost, who lived to be eighty-two years of age, 
was a miller by trade, but gave part of his time 
to farming. He was a lutheran in religious 
belief, and a republican in political opinion and 
married Susanna Oury. Mrs. Schreckengost, 
was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church. 

Joseph J. Schreckengost was reared on his 
father's farm in a day when farmers' sons had to 
encounter privations and hardships of which 
they know nothing to-day. He obtained his 
education in the schools of his neighborhood, 
which were as good as any in the county at that 
period. Leaving school, he learned the trade of 
millwright, which he followed for eight years. 
He then embarked in the milling business, 
which he followed for eight years, and at the 
end of that time engaged in farming, in which 
he has continued successfully ever since. 

J. J. Schreckengost united in marriage with 
Rachel J. Bouch, daughter of Eli Bouch, of 
Kittanning township. They have six children 
living, four sons and two daugbtere, of whom 
five are : Susanna P., Nathaniel, William E., 
Sarah Adaline and David A. 

In religious belief Mr. Schreckengost is a 
methodist, being a member of one of the 
churches of that denomination. In political 
opinion he is a republican. He owns a very 
good farm of sixty-five acres of land, which he 
carefully cultivates. The Schreckengost and 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



533 



Oury families were early settlers of this town- 
ship. In the assessment list of 1807 there are 
four of the name of Schreckengost, who were 
land-owners, and on the same list appears the 
names of Christopher Onry, who owned a dis- 
tillery, and Adam Oury, a farmer. 



SHEDRICK A. STARR, one of the young, 
ambitious and successful farmers and stock- 
dealers of Valley township, is a son of Joseph 
and Mary (Lucas) Starr, and was born in Val- 
ley township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
June lit, 1800. Joseph Starr, who is a promi- 
nent farmer and very successful business man, 
was born in 1818, in this county, where he has 
always resided. He commenced the battle of 
life for himself with but little capital, but by 
hard labor, good management and judicious in- 
vestments, he has secured a comfortable compe- 
tency and now owns four well-improved and 
well-stocked farms, besides having an interest iu 
several business enterprises. In connection 
with farming he has always dealt largely in 
stock. He is a member of the Pine Creek Bap- 
tist church, in which he has served for several 
years as a deacon. He married Mary Lucas, 
who is a member of the same church to which 
her husband belongs. 

Shedrick A. Starr wsis reared iu this town- 
ship and received his education iu its common 
schools. Leaving school, he engaged in farming 
until 1887, on the farm on which he was born 
and reared. In the spring of the la.st-naraed 
year he removed to his present farm, which is 
conveniently situated in regard to market, church 
and school. 

In 1883 he united in marriage with Phebe 
Slagle, daughter of Daniel Slagle, of Valley 
township. Their union has been blest with 
three children, one son and two daughters. Two 
of their children are : Charles C. and Lulu M. 

In religious faith Mr. Starr is a baptist and 
a member of Pine Creek chui-ch of that tlenomi- 



nation. In political sentiment he is a democrat 
and believes iu the principles of that party as 
practiced by Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleve- 
land. He has served as auditor of Valley town- 
ship for six years. He deals largely iu stock, 
which he ships to the eastern markets. His 
farm contains si.\ty-six acres of good farming 
land, which is well improved. It is underlaid 
with coal, which is equally accessible for mining 
purposes with the other coal lands of that sec- 
tion. Mr. Starr has devoted his time largely 
to farming and stock-dealing, and has met with 
good success in his chosen line of business. He 
is always ready to aid the need}', and takes a 
Justifiable pride iu the progress and prosperity 
of his township. 



JOHN STEWART, one of the prosperous 
farmers and respected citizens of Valley 
township, was born in county Donegal, Ireland, 
in May, 1823, aud is a son of James and Re- 
becca (Doak) Stewart. James Stewart left his 
native county of Donegal and came in 1827 to 
Philadelphia, where he remained l)ut six months 
before removing to Westmoreland county, in 
which he resided for nearly three years. He 
then came to Armstrong county, where he set- 
tled in Mahoning township and was engaged in 
farming until his death, which occurred in 1813, 
wheu in the seventieth year of his age. He was 
an industrious man and a consistent member of 
the Presb3'terian church. He married Rebecca 
Doak, who was like himself a native of county 
Donegal, and a member of the Presbyterian 
church. She was bom iu 1785 and died in 
1863, wheu lacking but two years of being an 
octogenarian. They were a well-respected 
couple in the community in which they resided, 
and had a family of four sons and one daughter. 
John Stewart was reared from seven years of 
age on his father's farm in Mahoning township, 
where he received a practical common business 
education in the country schools of that day. 



534 



BIOQBAPHIES OF 



Upon attaiDing his majority he engaged in farm- 
ing, which he has pursued profitably ever since. 
Mr. Stewart owns two good farms in Valley 
township, and his home farm, which he bought , 
in 1846 and on which he resided since 1852, 
containing one hundred and sixty acres of well- 
improved and tillable laud. He also erected his 
comfortable residence and the convenient barn 
and numerous out-buildings which are on liis : 
home farm. ' 

On December 9, 1852, Mr. Stewart married 
Elizabeth Harris, daughter of Joseph Harris, a 
native of Ireland. To Mr. and Mrs. Stewart 
have been born seven children : Rebecca Ann, 
born April 8, 1854, died July 8, 1859; Eliza- 
beth J., born October 18, 1856, died June 8, 
1878 ; Margaret A., Mary T., who was a teacher 
in the Kittanuing schools for three years and 
marrietl Hugh Mclsaac, Indiana county, and 
Emma F. A., Anabel B. and Rebecca. 

John Stewart is neutral in politics and a 
member and elder of the Reformed Presbyterian 
church. He is one of the substantial and in- 
dustrious farmers of this prosperous township. 



ANDREW H. WARNER, the present post- 
master and a successful merchant of 
Greendale, is one of the leading citizens and 
representative business men of Valley town- 
ship. He was born in the kingdom of Wiir- 
temberg, Germauy, January 27, 1843, and is 
a son of Henry and Mary (Warner) Warner. 
Henry Warner was a life-long resident of 
Wiirtemberg, in which he followed farming. 
He was a steady, honest man, a member of the 
Lutheran church, and died in 1845. He mar- 
ried Mary Warner, a native of Wiirtemberg, 
who is a lutheran iu religious faitii, and resides 
now at Greendale. 

Andrew H. Warner was reared in Germany 
until he was fourteen years of age, when he 
came with his mother, in 1857, to Lawrence 



county, where she resided for thirty years. He 
received his education in the excellent public 
schools of Germany and the common schools 
of Pennsylvania. At seventeen years of age 
he went to Pittsburgh, where he entered the 
employ of the Cleveland and Pittsburgh R. R. 
company. He remained with them for twenty- 
four years, and during that long period of time 
served as lost car agent, yard dispatcher, and 
in various other trustworthy and responsible 
positions. In 1884 he resigned the position 
which he then held in the company's service, 
and came to Valley township, to his present 
farm, which he had purchased iu 1876. From 
1884 to 1890 he devoted his time chiefly to 
farming and stock-raising. In the spring of 
1890 he opened a general mercantile store at 
Greeudale, which is well stocked with dry- 
goods, groceries, hardware, notions and every- 
thing needed in the mercantile line iu his 
section. Greendale seems to be a good loca- 
tion for a store, as he has built up an unex- 
pectedly large trade iu the few months since he 
commenced business. 

On Aug. 30, 1863, he married Fredericka 
Shurke, a native of Germany. They have 
eight children, five sons and three daughters: 
Annie, John, Edward, Lydia, Margaret, Charles, 
William and Ralph. 

A. H. Warner is a republican in politics, 
and has served Valley township as auditor. He 
was appointed postmaster at Greendale in April, 
1890, which position he still holds. In re- 
lijrious fiuth he is a member of the Reformed 
church. His farm of one hundred and ninety 
acres was originally two farms, which he bought 
in 1876. In farming and merchandising Mr. 
Warner has been successful. To whatever 
business he has in hand he gives that close at- 
tention which is essentially necessary to sub- 
stantial success. As a citizen and a business 
man he stands well with the public. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



535 



MARCUS D. WAYMAN, of Ford City, who 
has been interested in the plate-glass 
business for twenty years, has made more ma- 
chinery for plate-glass works than any other 
man in the United States. He is a sou of 
Garey and Nancy (Shellers) Wayman, and was 
born in Washington county, State of Indiana, 
March 10, 1830. Garey Wayman was born in 
1809, in Maryland, and when a young man 
went to Lexington, Ky., where lie entered and 
served for some time in a printing establish- 
ment. He then removed to New Albany, In- 
diana, where he made his home until his death, 
in tiie fall of 1843, when he was only thirty- 
eight years of age. He was a member of the 
Baptist church, and married Nancy Shellers, 
a daughter of John Shellers, of Frankfort, Ky., 
by whom he had six children. Mrs. Way- 
man was born in Frankfort in 1809, is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church, and now resides 
with her sou, the subject of this sketch. 

Marcus D. Wayman was principally reared 
in Kentucky, where he received a common- 
school education and learned the trade of foun- 
dryman. In 1850 he and nineteen other young 
men crossed the plains, with ox-teams, to the 
gold regions of California. After five years' 
successful experience in gold-digging, he re- 
turned to Louisville and purchased a foundry, 
which he has operated ever since. In this 
foundry he built the machinery for a large 
immber of steamboats, and has fitted out as 
high as eleven steamboats a year. During the 
late civil war he had charge of the government 
works at Cairo, 111., and since 1870 Mr. Way- 
man has been connected with Mr. Ford in the 
manufacture of plate-glass. In 1870, under a 
contract with J. B. Ford, of New Albany, In- 
diana, he built the first machinery made in the 
United States for a plate-glass works, and since 
that time has constructed the machinery for the 
following plate-glass works : the Crystal works 
of St. Louis, Mo., the Louisville plant, the Jef- 
fersouville plant, the Creighton plant, the Taren- 



tum plant and the two plate-glass works at 
Ford City. In 1880 he moved from Louis- 
ville, Ky., to Tarentum, Pa., and ten years later 
to Ford City, where he has resided ever since. 

On Sept. 20, 1871, he married Margaret 
Mongavin, daughter of Thomas Mongaviu, of 
Louisville, Ky. To their union have been born 
six sons and four daughters: Mary, Albert, 
Marcus D., Jr., Samuel, Thomas, Garey, Mar- 
garetta, Ruth, Ruby and Kenneth. 

Marcus D. Wayman is a liberal republican 
in politics. He is chairman of the board of 
trustees of the Ford City Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which he is a member. Mr. Way- 
man is the pioneer in the manufacture of Amer- 
ican plate-glass machinery, and is known as an 
energetic, practical business man. 



TOHN WIBLE, a comfortably situated farmer 
^ of East Franklin, and a Union soldier in 
the famous old 14th Pa. Cavalry, is a son of 
Isaac and Mary (Daiigherty) AA^ible, and was 
born in East Franklin township, Armstrong 
county, Penu.sylvania, April 6, 1825. His 
paternal grandfather, John Wible, was a life- 
long resident of Westmoreland county, where 
he followed farming until his death. His pa- 
rents were of that industrious and sturdy class 
of early .settlers in this State that is known as 
Penasylvania German. One of John Wible's 
sons was Isaac Wible, the father of the subject 
of this sketch. Isaac Wible was born \n the 
first year of the present century, and in 1818 
came from Westmoreland to Arm.Strong county, 
where he purchased a farm of three hundred 
and twenty-five acres of laud and became an 
extensive farmer and stock-raiser. He was a 
republican politically and a member of the 
Presbyterian church, whose every-day walk in 
life corresponded with his religious profession. 
He died in 1882, aged eighty-two years. He 
married Mary Daugherty, who was born in 
1801 (see G. B. Daugherty's sketch of Kittan- 



536 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



ning) and whose father, Patrick Daugherty, 
was a native of Ireland. Her mental faculties 
are wonderful for one who is verging on her 
ninetieth year, and is reraarl<ably active for a 
woman of nearlyt hree hundred pounds weight. 
Mr. and Mrs. Wible were the parents of nine 
children, of whom seven are living. 

John Wible was born and reared on his 
father's farm and received his education in the 
schools of his neighborhood. Leaving school, 
he engaged in farming, which has been the 
main business of his life ever since. On No- 
vember 23, 1862, he enlisted in Co. M, 14th 
Pa. Cavalry (or 159th regiment. Pa. Vols.), 
and served until June 3, 1865, when he was 
discharged at Washington City. During his 
term of service he participated in over forty 
skirmishes and battles of his regiment, which 
encountered all manner of privations and hard- 
ships in the two Virginias. 

In 1854 he married Elizabeth Bowser, 
daughter of Samuel D. Bowser, of this town- 
ship. They have three children, two sons and 
one daughter : Rebecca J., Thomas L., a car- 
penter at Apollo; and John M.,who is engaged 
in well-drilling. 

John Wible is a republican in politics and a 
member of Glade Run Presbyterian church. 
He served his township as road supervisor, 
when elected as such, but is no aspirant for 
office. His farm is three miles from Kittan- 
ning and contains sixty acres of good farming 
and grazing land. He is well situated and has 
the respect of all who know him. 



ROBERT WALTER SMITH "was born at 
Litchfield, New Hampshire, June 16, 



1816, at the residence of his grandfather (on 
the maternal side), Judge Parker. His great- 
grandfather, Ebenezer Smith, was au officer 
throughout the whole of the Revolutionary war, 
and was appointed captain of the guard over 
Maj. Andre the night before his execution. His 
grandfather, the Rev. David Smith, D.D., was 
at the time of his death iu his ninety-fifth year, 
probably the oldest Yale college graduate in 
the United States. His father, the late Rev. 
David M. Smith, was also a graduate of Yale 
college, being a member of the class of 1811. 
He studied theology at Andover, Ma.ssachusetts, 
and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian 
church." 

R. W. Smith graduated from Hamilton col- 
lege in 1837, read law and was admitted to the 
bar prior to 1846. In that year he came to 
Kittanuing, where he practiced his profession 
for thirty-five years. In 1881 he visited his 
brother at Brouxville, New York, where he 
died on December 6th of that year. He was 
county superintendent of free schools from 1856 
to 1860 and from 1863 to 1866. He was a 
careful lawyer and an efficient county superin- 
tendent, but it is as the author of " The Arm- 
strong County History " that his name will be 
preserved for all time to come iu Armstrong 
county. 

" He was a man of studious habits and liter- 
ary tastes. Conceiving the idea of writing an 
elaborate history of the county, he entered upon 
his arduous, self-imposed task with the deter- 
mination of making it thorough and reliable. 
Toward this end he toiled patiently for full five 
years. Sadly enough the author was not per- 
mitted the quiet .satisfaction of seeing the book 
on which he had so long toiled come from the 
press." 



RED BANK, WAYNE, COWANSHANNOCK, PLUM CREEK AND 

SOUTH BEND TOWNSHIPS. 



Historical and Descriptive. — These five town- 
ships lie aloug the eastern boundary line of 
Armstrong county. Nearly all of Red Bank 
and Wayne townships are in the Lower Pro- 
ductive Coal measures, and have heavy veins 
of ferriferous lime, while small areas of these 
measures are to be found in the western part of 
Cowanshannock, the southeastern and south- 
western parts of Plum Creek and the central 
and western parts of South Bend. The re- 
mainder of the three last-named townships are 
in the Lower Barren measures, and contain 
valuable beds of the Upper Freeport coal. A 
small area of the Pittsburgh Coal-bed lies in 
the southwestern part of South Bend township. 

Red Bank Toionship wa.s organizetl Septem- 
ber 18, 1806, and now contains only about one- 
seventh of its original territory. In the north- 
western part of the township was "Old Town," 
an Indian village, which was founded prior to 
1770. 

Presque Isle was founded in 1850, and Inde- 
pendence was established in 1855. 

Wayne Township was formed from Plum 
Creek, on March 19, 1821, and was named in 
honor of Gen. Anthony Wayne. The North 
American and Holland land companies owned 
considerable land in this township. Glade Run 
Presbyterian church was organized, in 1808, 
with eight members : James and Margaret 
Kirkpatrick, Williatu and Mary Mai-shall, 
William and Martha Kirkpatrick and Wil- 
liam and Mary Shields. The first grist-mill 
32 



was built by Joseph Marshall, Sr., in 1822, the 
first fulling-mill was erected in 1828 by David 
Lewis, and the first grange in the county was 
organized in Wayne township. Glade Run 
post-ofBce was established Dec. 17, 1828, Bel- 
knap, Sept. 21, 1855, and Echo, July 14, 1857. 

Cowanshannoch Town.ihijy was formed from 
parts of Kittanuing, Plum Creek and Wayne 
townships, on December 22, 1848, and was 
named after the creek of that name. On the 
Thomas McCausland form are vestig&s of an 
old fort of Mound-builder origin. Atwood, 
named from being at or near the woods, was 
founded by Dr. Allison, who cleared the town 
site in 1860. 

Green Oak was laid out in 1 BCD, by W. 
Chrisman, and Rural Valley dates its existence 
as a town from the establishment of its post- 
office, in 1830, but was not laid out until six 
years later. 

Plum Creek Township was taken from Kit- 
tanning on June 20, 1810, and derived its 
name from Plum Creek. Several townships 
have been carved out of its original territory. 
It was settled at an early day and contained 
two block-houses, one of which, on the Downs 
farm, was ouce attacked by Indians, wiio cap- 
tured and carried off John Sloan and his sister 
Nancy. Among the early settlers were George 
Miller, who came in 1766, and Absalom Wood- 
ward, Sr., who arrived in 1788. Elderton was 
laid out by the name of New Middletown, on 
Nov. 20, 1820, by Robert J. Elder, and Whites- 

537 



538 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



burg, named in honor of Major James White, 
was founded in 1828. Cajit. Andrew Sharp, 
who served under Washington, came to this 
township in 1784, and ten years later traded 
his farm for one in Kentucky, and with his 
wife and six children and some twelve others 
embarked on a flat-boat to make the trip to his 
southern home. At tlie mouth of Two Mile 
creek, below the site of Apollo, where he had 
fastened up the boat for the night, he was fired 
on by seven Tndiaus. While cutting his boat 
loose he received two balls, one in his left side 
and the other in his right side. He died from 
the eifects of these wounds at Pittsburgh, on 
July 8, 1794, forty days after he was wounded. 
South Bend Township. — On June 4, 1867, 
South Bend was formed out of part of Kiski- 
minetas and Plum Creek towhships. Thirty-five 
tracts of land in this township were surveyed 
as early as 1773. There was a block-house on 
Jones' Hill and another at Townsend's Mills, 
both of which were built prior to 1795. This 
township had one of the numerous Soldiers' Aid 
societies that were formed in the county during 
the late war. Among the early settlers were 
the Browns, Clarks, Hoovers, Householders, 
Kings, Sloans, Todds and Woodwards. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



JOHN A. BLANEY, an influential citizen 
of Plum Creek township, a business man 
of great energy, and the present postmaster of 
Whitesburg, is a son of Hugh and Hannah 
(Shots) Blaney, and was born September 11, 
1832, in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania. 
Hugh Blaney (fiither) was born in Ireland in 
1796, and emigrated from that country to Arm- 
strong county about 1815, when the old "State 
road" was being built. That great highway 
of traffic started from Philadelphia and passed 
through Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. This pike 



was the great road through Armstrong county 
until the era of railroads. Hugh Blaney was 
a shoemaker by trade, but after coming to this 
country he bought a farm which he tilled until 
his death. He was a consistent member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church, and married 
Hannah Shots, of Kittauning township, by 
whom he had seven children. 

John A. Blaney was reared on a farm and 
attended the subscription schools in Plum Creek 
township during his boyhood. He then worked 
on his father's farm for one dollar and fifty 
cents a month, which sum was afterwards 
increased to three dollars per month. He re- 
mained at home until he was twenty-four years 
of age, since which time he has been engaged 
in mercantile pursuits. He owns a large, well- 
cultivated farm on which are built six dwell- 
ings and an equal numl)er of barns; this farm 
is well stocked with cattle, sheep and horses. 
He has made a specialty of the dairy business, 
and has a large creamery from which he sells 
two hundred and fifty pounds of butter per 
week. He has a general mercantile store at 
Whitesburg, and carries a heavy stook of 
goods. 

In 1857 he married Minerva St. Clair, of 
Plum Creek township. To Mr. and Mrs. Bla- 
ney have been born twelve children, eight of 
whom are living: William E., born in 1862, a 
farmer and merchant ; Hannah Jane, born iu 
1864; Rose, born in 1866; Ellen, born iu 
1868; Maggie, born in 1870; Frank, born in 
1872; Belle, born in 1874; and Joseph A., 
born iu 1876. 

John A. Blaney is a republican leader in 
Armstrong county, has been postmaster of 
Whitesburg for many years, and served several 
terms as overseer of the poor. By reason of 
his sympathetic nature he was well adapted 
to fill the latter office. He now resides at 
Whitesburg, where he owns a comfortable 
and tasteful home and a large and well-ap- 
pointed store-room, which he constantly keeps 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



539 



filled vvitii first-class goods. He has slowly 
but surely widened out his sphere of commer- 
cial operations until he now employs from 
eight to twelve men in his various business 
enterprises. He is a highly esteemed member 
of the Presbyterian church, and very active in 
her various charities. He was for some years 
an active member of the I. O. O. F. and the 
Patrons of Husbandry. Mr. Blaney has ac- 
quired his fortune by the labor of his own 
hands ; he is a man of character and good so- 
cial and mercantile standing, and well and 
favorably known throughout the township and 
the southeastern part of Armstrong county. 



ABRAHAM W. BLEAKNEY, one of the 
enterprising and substantial farmers of 
Plum Creek township, is the fifth child of 
William and Mary (Yakey) Bleakuey, and was 
born April 16, 1827, in Plum Creek township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania. William 
Bleakney (father) was born in Franklin county, 
Pa., in 1790. He received a common and pi-ac- 
tical education, was a clerk for some time In his 
father's store and then engaged in farming for 
himself. He owned a fine farm given him by 
his father. He took a great interest in politics 
and was a prominent leader of the Democratic 
party in the community in which he resided. 
He was a presbyterian in religious faith, and 
belonged to the church of that denomination at 
Concord. In 1817 he married Mary Yakey, 
second daughter of John and Nancy Yakey, of 
this county. They had eleven children, seven 
sons and four daughters, of whom seven are 
living. 

Abraham W. Bleakney was reared on the 
farm and received a common-school education. 
Leaving school, he learned the millwright trade, 
at which he worked for eleven years, when he 
went to California and followed mining; for 
several years. He then went to Ohio, where he 



worked at hife trade for some time and after- 
wards was engaged in buying and selling stock 
for seven years. At the end of this time he re- 
turned to Plum Creek township, where he began 
farming, at which he has continued successfully 
ever since. He has a well-cultivated farm of 
one hundred and ninety-one acres and takes con- 
siderable interest in stock-raising. 

In 1863 he was married to Kate Bleakney, 
eldest daughter of Robert and Margrette Bleak- 
ney, of Adams county, this State. To their 
union have been born seven children : Mary A., 
born in 1864; William IL, born in 1867; 
Robert W., born in 1870; Samuel M., born in 
1872 ; Emma, born in 1874, aud died same 
year; Lydia M., born in 1877 ; aud Thomas B., 
born in 1882. 

In political opinion Mr. Bleakney is a strong 
democrat aud takes great interest in local politics. 
He is a member of the United Presbyterian 
church, a liberal contributor to all churches and 
has always been the friend of the poor. He is 
a quiet, industrious farmer, a peaceable, law- 
abiding citizen and a man who gives close atten- 
tion to his own business affairs. 



GEORGE A. BLOSE, M.D., who has been 
iu the active and successful practice of his 
chosen profession at Eddy ville since 1883, is a son 
of David and Rachel (Cociirane) Blose, and was 
born in Perry township, Jefferson county, Penn- 
sylvania, June 23, 1855. The Blose family is of 
German descent, and one of its members, George 
Blose (great-grandfather), was one of the pioneer 
farmers of Westmoreland comity, but later in 
life moved to Jefferson county, where he dial. 
One of his sons, Boaz Blose (grandfather), was 
born about 1802. He is a farmer by occupation 
and a republican in politics. He married Sarah 
Jane Murpiiy, of near Irwin, Westmoreland 
county, by whom he had six children, five sons 
and one daughter, and two of his sons serve<l 



540 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



in the late civil war. David Blose (father) 
was born near Perrvsville, JeiFerson countv 
about 1834, and has been a farmer and lumber- 
man of his native county for many years. He 
resides at Perrvsville and is a republican in 
polities. He married Rachel Cochrane, a grand- 
daughter of Matthew Cochrane, of Indiana 
county, and a daughter of James Cochrane 
(maternal grandfather), who was a farmer of 
Indiana county and married a Miss Miller, by 
whom he had one son and four daughters. 
After her death Mr. Cochrane marrie<l Jane 
Walkup, and his third wife was a Miss Curry. 
To David and Rachel Cochrane were born eight 
children, three sons and five daughters: Dr. 
George A., !Mary, James, who married Maggie 
Adams, and is a farmer ; Addison, married to 
Ida Moser and engaged in farming; Laura, 
wife of Eltoen Smith, a farmer of Jeffei-son 
connty ; Meli.ssa, Ida and Cora. 

Dr. George A. Blose was reared on his father's 
farm, and after attending the academy at Perrys- 
ville, read medicine and entered Jefferson Meili- 
cal college, of Philadelphia, from which he was 
graduated in April, 1883. In June of that 
year he commenced the practice of medicine at 
Eddyville, where he has a very good practice, 
which is constantly increasing and rapidly 
extending over a large area of surrounding 
country. 

On August 4, 1885, he united in marriage 
with Laura Smith, daughter of John W. Smith, 
a farmer of Red Bank township. Dr. and Mrs. 
Blose have two children : Johu Barthalow, born 
May 29, 1887, and Matthew S., born October 
29, 1889. Dr. Blose and his wife are membei"s 
of the Eddyville Reformed church. He is a 
republican in politics, but not strenuous in polit- 
ical matters. He is a member of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows, Sterling Lodge, No. 
245, Knights of P\-thias, and the Senior Order 
of L^nited American Mechanics. 



GEORGE G. BORLAND, of Wayne town- 
ship, who ser\-ed in the army of the Cum- 
l>erland during the late civil war, is a son of 
William and Margaret (Gartley) Borland, and 
was born in AVayne township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, May 24, 1837. Robert 
Borland (grandfather) was a native of county 
Donegal, Ireland, and in 1821 settled in Salem 
township, Westmoreland county. Ten years 
later he removed (1831) to that part of Arm- 
strong county now known as Wayne town- 
ship, and located one mile from tlie l)orough of 
Dayton, where he took up one hundred and 
nineteen acres of land, which he farmed success- 
fully up to the time of his death. He was a 
member of the Protestant Episcopal church. 
He united in marriage with Jane Borland, of 
Ireland, and their union was blessed with four 
sons, all of whom were born in the Emerald 
Isle, and all of whom came with their parents 
to America. Each of these sons purchasetl large 
tracts of land adjoining their father's in Wayne 
township and followed farming. One of these 
sons was William Borland (father), who was 
born in January, 1801. He died in 1874 on 
the farm on which the subject of this sketch 
was born. He was a large land-owner, holding 
in his own right about four hundred acres. He 
was in his latter years a wide-awake republi- 
can, interested in the cause and anxious for the 
success of his party, but never aspired to office. 
In religion he was an Episcopalian. He mar- 
ried Margaret Grartley, daughter of Andrew 
Gartley, of Westmoreland county. They had 
four sons and one daughter. Their sons were : 
John W. (deceased), George G., William P. 
and Robert J. 

George G. Borland was reared on a farm and 
received a good common-school education in the 
common schools. Leaving school, he engageil 
in teaching and at the end of his fourth term, 
in 1861, he entered the Union army. He en- 
listed in Co. " G," 78th regt. Pa. Vols., and 
served three years, the greater part of which 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



54! 



time he acted as sergeant. He took part in the 
battles of La Verne, Tenn., Stone River, Chiek- 
ainauga, Chattanooga, Buzzard's Roost, Pumpkin 
Vine, and several of the more important battleis 
of the Army of Cumberland. He was wound- 
ed at the Battle of Stone River. When the 
war was over he returned to Armstrong county 
and engaged in farming and stock-dealing, 
which he has followetl successful ly ever since. 

He is a stanch republican, and although 
never seeking office, yet was elected as auditor, 
which position he held from 1867 to 1870. He 
also served as justice of the peace in his town- 
ship two terms, beside having held nearly all the 
other offices in his township. He is a member 
of Dayton Lodge, No. 738, Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, J. Ed. Turk Post, No. 321, 
Grand Army of the Republic, the Union 
Veteran Ijegion, at Smicksburg, and the 
Farmers' Alliance. He owns a farm of two 
hundre*! acres of well-improved grain and 
grazing land. Mr. Borland deals largely in 
stock and by perseverance and industry has ac- 
cumulatetl a competency. 



SAMUEL S. N. CALHOUN, one of Wayne 
township's leading citizens, is a son of 
Judge John and Elizabeth (Anthony) Calhoun, 
and was born in Wayne township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1823. James 
Calhoun (paternal grandfather) was a native of 
Donegal county, Ireland, and settled in Lan- 
caster county, but soon afterwards removed to 
Indiana county. He was one of the early 
school-teachers of that county, where he re- 
mained but a few years, and then came to 
Boggs township, Armstrong county, where he i 
resided daring the remainder of his life. In 
religious belief he was a seceder. He married , 
a Mrs. Mar}- Walker, and reared a large family 
of children. Hon. John Calhoun (father) was, 
in all probability, born in Armstrong county, ' 
where he spent nearly all of his life in Boggs 



and Wayne townships. In early manhood he 
was a carj^enter ; but in later years he engaged 
in farming. In ])olitics he endorsed the senti- 
ments of the whig party until late in life, when 
he became a strong democrat. He was among 
the first militia captains in the State, and sub- 
seijuently beamie a colonel. He servetl as jus- 
tice of the peace for thirty years, being first 
appointed under Gov. Wolfe. He was com- 
missioned twice as a.ssociate judge of Armstrong 
county ; first, by Gov. Wolfe, and then by 
Gov. Porter, and served very creditably during 
both of his terms (1840 to 1840) of office. He 
took an active and intelligent part in jiolitics, 
and in all else that concerned the good of the 
people. He was in early life a member of the 
Seceder church, but aftenvards united with the 
Presbyterian church, and became one of the 
founders and ruling elders of the Glade Run 
and Concord churches of that denomination. 
He married Elizabeth Anthony, daughter of 
Jacob Anthony, of Indiana county. They had six 
children : Noah, a farmer in Wayne township, 
who died in 1889; William (deceased), who was 
a carpenter and farmer in Wayne township ; 
Mary, who married Thomas Kichey, of Wayne 
township, and is dead ; Nancy (deceased), who 
was married to Samuel H. Porter ; James R., 
who followed farming for several years, but is 
now a resident of Dayton ; Sarah (deceased), 
who was marrie<l to James Calhoun, of Boggs 
township; Samuel S. N. and John K. (de- 
ceased), who was a resident of Kittanning and 
a prominent member of the Armstrong county 
bar. Mi-s. Calhoun died in September, 1828, 
and Judge Calhoun afterwards married for his 
second wife, Catherine Marshall, who bore him 
one child: Elizabeth, who married Robert An- 
thony, of Frostburg, Jefferson county, Pa. 

Samuel S. N. Calhoun received his education 
in the common schools of his native township. 
He has always followed farming and stock- 
raising with good success, and bears the reputa- 
tion of being an excellent farmer. He owns a 



542 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



good farm of one hundred acres in Wayne town- 
ship, which is well improved and conveniently 
situated in regard to school, church and market. 
On October 17, 1849, Samuel S. N. Calhoun 
united in marriage with Hannah Sheridan, a 
daughter of John and Mary (Campbell) Sheri- 
dan. Mrs. Calhoun's father was a native of 
Cambria county, Pa., and her mother of West- 
moreland county. She was one of six children, 
and her brother, Dr. Campbell, is a prac- 
ticing physician of Johnstown, Pa. Mr. and 
Mrs. Calhoun have had ten children, all of 
whom were sons: Rev. Joseph P., who was 
born February 15, 1852, received a classical 
education at Glade Run academy, attended Al- 
legheny Theological seminary, wa.s j)astor of 
Cherry Run Presbyterian church, Kittauning 
Presbytery, five years, and in September, 1870, 
installed pastor of Slate Lick Presbyterian 
Church, and married Madge Stockdell, by 
whom he has one child, — John R. ; John S., 
born February 8, 1854, was admitted to the 
bar in Clarion county, practiced in Armstrong 
county five years, and is now a lawyer of 
Oklahoma, Indian Territory ; Dr. Grier O., 
born April 26, 1856, studied medicine with his 
cousin, Dr. N. F. Caliioun, of Dayton, was 
graduated from the Baltimore Medical college 
in 1884, after which he practiced in Illinois, 
Clarion county, and in 1888 located at Fisher; 
Dr. Chambers D., born August 17, 1858, read 
medicine, was graduated from Jefferson ISIedical 
college in 1882, aud located at Elburu, Illinois, 
where he married Sophia Martin ; Rev. Harry 
C, born March 8, 1861, graduated at the Chi- 
cago Theological Seminary, and pastor of a 
Congregational church in Iowa, May, 1890; 
William J., born October 6, 1862, who will be 
graduated in the spring of 1891 from West. 
Penn. Medical college; Samuel C, born Sep- 
tember 14, 1865, and assisting his father; Asa 
Parker and Cyrus P., who were born July 4, 
1869, and of whom Asa Parker is dead; and 
Herbert B. S., a farmer, born Oct. 7, 1872. 



S. S. N. Calhoun is a democrat and a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church of Concord, 
in which he has frequently held the office of 
trustee. He is a member of Dayton Lodge, 
No. 408, Independer Order of Odd Fellows, 
and Wayne Grange, No. 360, Patrons of Hus- 
bandry. He is known as a public-spirited citi- 
zen, who is ever interested in the advancement 
of his township, as well as a well-read man 
upon all current issues of the day. 



JOHNSON C. CUDDY, a leading merchant, 
and the present efficient burgess of the 
flourishing borough of Atwood, is a son of 
Samuel and Mary (Wilson) Cuddy, and was 
born in Penn town-^hip, Allegheny county, 
Pennsylvania, November 4, 1837. Samuel 

1 Cuddy (f\ither) was born in 1800, in Ireland, 
and in 1822 emigrated to America, and settled 

j in Allegheny county. In 1865 he came to 
Cowanshannock township, and afterwards re- 
moved to Valley township, where he followed 
farming until his death, which occurred in 
1873, when he was in the seventy-fourth year 
of his age. He was a democrat in politics. 
During his early life he was a member of the 
Seceder church, but afterwards became a united 
presbyterian. He married Mary Wilson, who 
was also a member of the U. P. church, and a 
dauo-hter of James Wilson, a native of Ireland, 

[ who settled in Allegheny county, served in the 
United States army during the war of 1812, 
then removed to Westmoreland count}^, and 
afterwards went to Butler, where he was en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. 
He was a democrat in politics, a member of 
the Presbyterian church, and reared a family of 
seven children, of whom three were sons: 
Thomas, John and James, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cuddy were the parents of ten children, six 
sons and four daughters : James, William, Fran- 
cis, John, Thomas, Johnson C, Margaret, wife 
of James Hilty, a farmer of Cowanshannock 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



543 



township; Mary A., married to W. A. Mor- 
row, a farmer of Mahoning township ; and 
Esther and Rebecca. 

Johnson C. Cuddy was reared on his father's 
farm, received a common-school education, and 
engaged in farming in Allegheny county until 
about 1805, when he came to Cowanshannock 
township, where he purchased a farm, and also 
embarked in huckstering. In 1880 he came 
to Atwood, where he engaged in his present 
hotel and general mercantile business. He has 
a first-class store, enjoys a large trade, and is one 
of the leading business men of the borough, 
lie owns two houses and two lots besides his 
store and hotel. In 1863 he enlisted, in Co. 
K, 54th regiment, Pa. Infantry, and was pres- 
ent at the capture of Gen. Morgan. 

On Feb. 18, 1864, he married Catherine H. 
Lewis, a daughter of Ezra Lewis, a wagon- 
maker of Westmt)reland county. To their 
union have been born seven children, five sons 
and two daughters: Samuel L., a carpenter of 
Pittsburgh, who married Sadie McLain, of At- 
wood, and has two children — Reed and Arthur 
R.; John W., Mary M., born October 14, 
1868, and died February 11, 1876; Amanda 
E., born June 5, 1870, and died February 23, 
1873; David F., born May 13, 1872, and died 
February 24, 1876 ; Harvey J., born Ai)ril 16, 
1874, and died February 13, 1876 ; and Wil- 
liam, born February 11, 1878. 

Johnson C. Cuddy was always a democrat in 
politics until of late years. He is now a pi'ohi- 
bitionist, and strongly advocates the doctrines 
of that party. He is the present burgess of 
Atwood, which was incorporated as a borough 
in 1884. He is an elder of the United Presby- 
terian church, of which both he and his wife 
are members. 



REV. DAVID K. DUFF was a well- 
known and efficient minister of the United 
Presbyterian church, and labored for thirty-two 



years as a settled pastor in Westmoreland coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania. 

He was well and favorably known, not only 
in his own county, but also in the surrounding 
counties of Indiana, Clarion and Jefferson, 
where his ministerial duties called him to labor. 
He was a man of strong convictions and fear- 
less in pnxjlaiming the truths of the Gospel 
and maintaining the principles of the church of 
his choice. Wise in council, of good judgment, 
unassuming in manner and possessed of a 
kindly, congenial disp(«ition and a forbearing 
temper, he was naturally qualified to make 
friends, and was held in high esteem both as a 
minister and a friend. Rev. D. K. Duff was the 
fourth son of James and Mary (Kennedy) Duflf 
and was born near Enon Valley, in Beaver 
county, May 8, 1825, where his parents con- 
tinued to reside until death. His father died 
in 1870 in his eighty-fourth year. His mother 
lived some eight years longer and was also in 
her eighty-fourth year at the time of her death. 
His parents were members of the Associate 
Presbyterian (now United Presbyterian) church. 
His father was a farmer by occupation and a 
whig in politics. 

David K. was reared on his father's farm 
until seventeen years of age. He then entered 
Darlington academy, remaining two years, and 
from thence went to New Athens college, Ohio, 
where he finished his collegiate course in 1849. 
He then taught school about one year at Mount 
Jackson, Pa., after which, having decided upon 
the ministry as his life-work, he entered the 
theological seminary at Canuonsburgh, Pa. 
(now located at Xeuia, Ohio), in 1850. After a 
careful theological course of three years he was 
licensed to preiich the Gospel in November, 
1853. For two yearshe labored asa missionary in 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa aud eastern New 
York, and also in the cities of Philadelphia 
and Baltimore. His travels in the western 
states were performed on horse-back and were 
consequently very laborious. 



544 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



In May, 1856, he received a call to become 
pastor of the U. P. Congregation of Dayton and 
Lower Piney (now Mount Zion), which he ac- 
cepted, and immediately entered upon its duties. 
Soon after settlement he also accepted the posi- 
tion of principal of Dayton Union academy, 
wiiere, by his faithfulness as a teacher, and his 
firm yet gentle discipline, he made hosts of 
friends and was iield in high esteem by tiie many 
students who were under his care. He labored 
faithfully as pastor and teacher until September, 
1862, when, believing it to be his duty to serve 
his Master by defending the unity of the gov- 
ernment, he gave himself to the cause. 

He enlisted as a private, but was immediately 
offered the command of a company, which was 
soon recruited from tlie homes of those among 
whom he labored, a number of them being 
students of the academy. He served as captain 
from that time until he was honorably discharged 
in June, 1865, by reason of wounds received 
which unfitted him for further military duty. 

He was respected by iiis men and recognized 
throughout the regiment as a brave soldier and 
a courteous, Christian gentleman, and justly 
earned the reputation of being one of the bravest 
officers of the celebrated 14th Pennsylvania 
Cavalry. Even at this remote date such tributes 
as these often come to his family from men who 
were with him on the tented field, on the march 
and on the battle-ground: "There was not one 
drop of cowardly blood in his veins," " He was 
always in the thickest of the fight." "Always 
leading his men Avhere he thought they could 
do the best work," " It was always come boys. 
He never asked his men to do what he was un- 
willing to do himself," " He was one whom to 
know was to love for his gentleness of disposi- 
tion, his love of virtue, his meekness, gentle 
iiess and truth, and for his bravery and devotion 
to the cause of his country." He participated 
with his regiment in its many hard, weary 
marches through the mountains of West Vir- 
ginia, and was actively engaged in twenty-two 



battles and skirmishes. His last engagement 
was at Ashby's Gap, Va., in February, 1865. 
Here he received three wounds — a ball passed 
through the fingers of the left hand, another 
inflicted a scalp wound, leaving a scar of two 
and a half to three inches in length, and a third 
passed through tiie right arm near tiie shoulder, 
partially disabling him through life and causing 
him untold sufferings. 

Of his bravery on the battle-field, let a mag- 
nanimous foe add his testimony. Years after 
the close of the war, one of Col. Mosby's offi- 
cers, C. R. Dear, of Little Washington, Va., 
relates the following incident to Captain W. D. 
Preston, of the Philadelphia Times: 

He says : " I think the bravest man I ever 
met on your side was Captain D. K. Duff, of 
the 14th P. V. C. I had a hand-to-hand fight 
with him in which we used pistols and sabres 
until I brought him down. I tell you he was 
a plucky fellow and worthy any man's .steel. 
After the fight I found him covereil with blood 
composedly sitting in the barn where we put 
our prisoners. His courageous and gentlemanly 
conduct challenged my admiration. I sought 
our captain and asked as a personal favor that 
he be allowed to go, as he was in such a physical 
condition that it was not likely that he would 
do us more harm. ' Just as you please said he.' I 
then went to Duff and told him to follow me, 
and leading him out of camp I told him to find 
his way to'his friends as soon as possible. If 
ever you meet Captain Duff tell him I hold 
him in remembrance as the bravest fellow I 
ever met." After being discharged, Captain 
Duff returned home and resumed the pastorate 
of Dayton and Pine Greek, also the principal- 
ship of the academy, which he retained until 
1877. June 1st, 1866, he took charge of Con- 
cord (now Atwood) congregation, in connection 
with the others, giving to each one-third time. 
As these congregations were each separated from 
the other by twelve miles, " o'er hill and vale," 
' we need not tell you that his life was not one of 



ARMSTRO^'G COUNTY. 



545 



flowery ease, yet he performed his duties cheer- 
fully and faithfully. He was also au efficient 
helper in the establishing and maintenance of 
the Soldiers' Orphan school carried on for many 
years successfully at the village of Dayton. In 
1870 he resigned the pastorate of Lower Piney, 
giving one-half time to each of the others until 
Sept. 1, 1886, when, by reason of increasing 
intirmities caused by wounds received and 
hardships endured, he was compelled to retire 
from the pastorate of Dayton after thirty years 
service. Residing at Atwood, he was still able 
to ccmtinue his care of it, and preached every 
Sabbath except one preceding the one on which 
he was released by his Master and called up 
higher td receive the reward of a well-spent 
life. 

He died on Sunday, April 15, 1888, after an 
illness of only nine days, and although his suf- 
ferings were intense, yet he bore them with the 
same Christian courage aud fortitude which he 
ever displayed through life. " His was a heroic 
life both in peace and war." Rev. Duff was a 
large, portly man of fine personal appearance, 
six feet in height and weighing two hundred 
and fifty pounds at time of his death. Politically 
he was a republican and later a stanch prohibi- 
tionist. He took a deep interest in all matters 
pertaining to the welfare of his fellow-men and 
of his country. His usefulness was not confined 
to those of his own congregations, but extcndetl 
throughout the sections of country where he 
dwelt. He was . well-knowu as the friend of 
education and progress, and always ready to 
lend a helping hand to the needy. 

On October 27, 1868, he married Nannie 
Henry, daughter of James and Sarah (Rich- 
mond) Henry, who were natives of Ireland, but 
cameto Ameriaiabout 1834 aud settled in Frank- 
lin township, Armstrong county. jNIr. Henry 
was a stone-mason by trade ; also was the owner 
of a farm ; politically a republican. Mrs. Henry 
died in 1878 and Mr. Henry in 1883, one eighty- 
four years of age, and the other about eighty -six. 



They were members of the Associate (now U. 
P.) church, in which he was an elder for many 
years. They were the parents of nine children, 
two sons and seven daughters. Both sous served 
in the civil war. David, the eldest, enlisted in 
1862, in the 100th Pa. Vols, and was killed by 
guerrillas June 2, 1864, near Cold Harlxjr, Va. 
James served in the 14th P. V. C. from 1862 
to the close of the war, and was killed in July, 
1882, on his own farm by being thrown under 
his mowing machine. 

To Captain and Mrs. Duff were born seven 
children, six sons and one daughter. Two sons 
died in infancy, their dust resting beside that of 
their father in the Atwood cemetery. The 
oldest son is pursuing a course of medicine at 
a medical college. The others remain at 
home with their mother, being yet too young 
to choose their life-work. May they emulate 
the virtues of their father. 



ARCHIBALD FINDLEY, one of Cowan- 
shaunock township's most reliable and 
substantial tarmers, is a son of Abel and Mary 
(Marshall) Findley, and was born in Wayne 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
October 3, 1819. His grandfather, Archibald 
Findley, was a farmer of Brush Valley, Indi- 
ana county, where his son, Abel Findley (father), 
was born April 18, 1784. He removed to 
\Yayue township, Armstrong county, where he 
purchased land at different times until he had a 
tract of three hundred and fifty acres. He was 
a carpenter and cabinet-maker by trade, but 
after his removal to Wayne township he de- 
voted the most of his time to agricultural pur- 
suits. He died February 5, 1850, when he was 
in the sixty-seventh year of his age. He was a 
democrat in politico, an active member of the 
Presbyteriau church and was prominent in the 
organization of the first Sunday-school con- 
nected with his church in that vicinity. He 
married Mary Marshall, who was born Septem- 



546 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ber 26, 1788. Her father, William Marshall, 
a native of Adams county, Pa., came in early 
life to near the present site of Dayton, where he 
reared a family of six sons and three daughters. 
To Abel Findley and his wife were born six 
children, three sons and three daughters : Wil- 
liam M., born June 16, 1817, and died in 1866; 
Archibald, born October 3, 1819; Mary A., born 
February 1.3, 1822, wife of J. K. Orman, of 
near Eldertou ; Catherine, born May 9, 1825, 
married to .John Marshall (now deceased) ; 
Margaret J., born August 7, 1827, and died in 
1830; and Abel A., born December 14, 1831, 
married Margaret McGaughey, and is a farmer 
of Wayne township. 

Archibald Findley was reared on his father's 
farm, and received a common business educa- 
tion. He commenced life for himself on the 
farm of one hundred and sixty acres, on which 
he now resides, when it was in the woods. He 
not only cleared out his farm, but has it well 
improved. He erected all his present build- 
ings, cultivates his land carefully and raises con- 
siderable stock. 

On October 3, 1848, he married Lavina E. 
Brink, who was born INIarch 30, 1830, and died 
March 31, 1852. To their union were born two 
daughters : Mary E., born- October 4, 1849, and 
wife of John C McGaughey, a jeweler and sil- 
versmith of Clearfield county, and Rebecca C, 
born March 21, 1852, wife of Alexander G- 
AValker, a farmer of Wayne township. After 
the death of his wife, Mr. Findley married 
Eliza Jane McComb, who was born July 18, 
1822, and died September 7, 1856, leaving no 
offspring, as her two children died in their in- 
fancy. On February 17, 1859, Mr. Findley 
married for his third wife Mary Kirkpatrick, 
who was born January 7, 1828, and died August 
16,1890. 

Archibald Findley is a republican in politics 
and has filled the offices of school director and 
assistant assessor of Cowanshannock township. 
He has been a member and elder of the Presby- 



terian church for over a half century and for the 
last fifty years was leader of the singing and 
church choir. He has well discharged every 
duty in life which has devolved upon him. By 
honorable toil he has won a competency, and by 
honesty and straightforwardness has secured the 
respect of his neighbors. 



ADDISON H. GIBSON, a substantial mer- 
chant of Elderton for the last twelve years, 
and a man of intelligence and education, is a 
son of Squire Robert M. Gibson, and was 
born at Elderton, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 30, 1860. His paternal 
grandfather, Gibson, came from Ireland in 1787 
and settled in Indiana county, where he followed 
farming and stock-raising. He was a member 
of the Presbyterian chureli and voted the dem- 
ocratic ticket. One of his sons. Squire Robert 
M. Gibson (father), was born in this county, 
November 1, 1814. He attended the subscrip- 
tion schools of Plum Creek township and as- 
sisted his father on the farm until he was sev- 
enteen years of age, when he entered the em- 
ploy of a mercantile firm at Shelocta, as a clerk. 
After oue year's experience in mercantile busi- 
ness he then returned to Elderton, where he 
opened a general mercantile store, which he 
conducted for many years. He was an elder in 
the Presbyterian church, became a prominent 
republican, served as justice of the peace for 
twenty-five years, and was president for several 
yeare of the Mahoning bank, at Punxsutawney, 
Jefferson county. He was one of the most 
prominent men and influential citizens of El- 
derton at the time of his death. 

In 1842 he married a Miss Lytle, of Elder- 
ton, by whom he had two children, who are 
both dead. After his first wife's death he mar- 
ried a Miss Allison, of Cannonsburg, Washing- 
ton county, who died and left three children, of 
whom two are living. He married for his third 
wife a Miss Montgomery, of South Bend. To 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



547 



this third union were born two children : Addi- 
son H., and Wilda J., born June 7, 1866. Mrs. 
Montgomery (maternal grandmother) was of 
Irish descent, and was born near Mount Royal, 
in Canada, in 1793, and diet! in Indiana county 
in 1837. 

Addison H. Gibson attende<l the public 
schools of Elderton, and at the age of twelve 
years entered Elderton academy, where for six 
years he followed a course of English literature 
and higher mathematics. On leaving the acad- 
emy, he engaged in the general mercantile busi- 
ness with his father at Elderton. Afterwards 
he purchased the establishment and stock of 
goods of his father and since then has given his 
time principally to building up the extensive 
patronage which he now enjoys. His establish- 
ment is on Main street, and he deals in dry- 
goods, groceries, hardware, queensware and 
everything which is usually found in a first- 
class general mercantile store. He has been 
very successful as a merchant and in all busi- 
ness enterprises in which he has invested. He 
owns some valuable pri)pcrty at Elderton, and is 
regarded as a man of good financial ability and 
a citizen of public spirit and usefulness. 



ABRAHAM GOOD. Of those who have 
steadily followed farming successfully for 
nearly half a century, is Abraham Good, of 
Wayne township, Armstrong county. He is a 
son of Abraham and Margaret (Bnrkett) Gootl 
and was bora in Blair county, near Frankstowu" 
Pennsylvania, October 13, 1824. His paternal 
grandfather Good was a native of Maryland, 
and one of his sons, Abraham Good (father), was 
born near Hagerstown, in that State, from 
which he removed in early life to Indiana 
county. He died in 1855 at fifty-six years of 
age. He married Margaret Burkett, by whom 
he had eleven children, eight of whom are liv- 
ing. 

Abraham Good was reared on his father's 



farm, received a common business education, and 
upon attaining his majority engaged in farming 
in his native township, which he steadily fol- 
lowwl until 1864, when he came to AVayne 
township, Armstrong county, where he now owns 
two hundred and fifty acres of land in two good 
farms, on one of which he now resides. 

On April 26, 1854, he married Hannah C. 
Irwin, daughter of Benjamin Irwin, and to 
liieir union were born five children, four sons 
and one daughter : Alonzo, who married Isa- 
bella F. Jewel, and is assisting his father in 
farming ; Rev. Adolphus C, married to Lydia 
B. Walker, was graduated from Washington & 
Jefferson college, and then completed his theo- 
logical course of study in the Allegheny Sem- 
inary, after which he was sent, in 1882, as a 
missionary by the Presbyterian church to west- 
ern Africa, where he is located, at Lumbarene 
Gaboon,on the Agowa river; Elmer E., a mer- 
chant in Nebraska ; Ulysses S., a farmer and 
teacher in Nebraska, and Rosa Ida, who died in 
April, 1864. Mrs. Hannah C. Good died June 4, 
1890, when she was in the sixty-ninth year of 
her age. Mr. Good has five grandchildren — his 
son Alonzo's four sons : James A,, Thomas G., 
Frank J. and Edward C. ; and his son, Rev. 
Adolplius C.'s son : Albert Irwin. 

Abraham Good is a stanch republican in poli- 
tics, and has filled the offices of school director, 
constable and overseer of the poor, and has 
served as trustee and elder of Glade Run Pres- 
byterian church, of which he is a member. To 
agriculture Mr. Good has devoted nearly fifty 
years of his life, with highly encouraging and 
very profitable results. The competency which 
he has acquired, and the valuable farms which 
he owns, are evidences of his success as a 
farmer. 



GEORGE A. GOURLEY. But few men in 
the county have had a longer or more suc- 
cessful career in the mercantile business than 



548 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



George A. Gourley, a resident of Rural Valley 
and now one of the most substantial farmers of 
Cowanshannock township. He was born near 
Saltsburg, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Feb- 
ruary 4, 1821, and is a son of John and Martha 
(Scott) Gourley. The Gourley family traces its 
ancestry to Ireland, where Samuel Gourley, the 
grandfather of George A. Gourley, was born. 
He came to Pennsylvania, where he purchased 
a farm in Westmoreland county and resided 
until his death. He was a whig in politics, and 
married Catherine Dickey, by whom he had 
several children. John Gourley (father) was 
born near Hanuastown, Westmoreland county- 
He taught for many yeqrs in his native county, 
was an excellent }>enman and accountant as 
well as a skillful surveyor. In 1843 he came 
to Cowanshannock township, where he died 
some three years later. In 1816 he married 
Martha Scott, and to their union were born four- 
teen children, of whom seven lived to maturity : 
Lavina, Belinda, Juliet, George A., Joini, Samuel 
and Benjamin, who enlisted in Co. D, 62d regi- 
ment. Pa. Vols., in 1863, and after serving 
about four months died of quinsy in the hospital 
near Washington, D. C. Mrs. Gourley's father, 
a Mr. Scott, was a native of Westmoreland 
county, from whence he removed to Columbus, 
Ohio, where he died. 

George A. Gourley was reared on the farm 
and received his education in the schools taught 
by his father. In 1852 he entered tiie employ 
of Philip Mechling, of Kittanning, as a clerk 
and remained with him until 1856. He then 
embarked in the general mercantile business at 
Rural Valley, which he followed successfully 
for twenty-three years. Since 1879 he has not 
been actively engaged in any special line of busi- 
ness and has given a part of his time to the 
management of his home farm of one hundred 
and eighty acres of land near Rural Valle}', and 
another farm which he owns but a short distance 
from the same place. 

On September 22, 1860, he married Ellen 



Earhart, daughter of Jacob Earhart, of Salts- 
burg. Their union has been blessed with four 
children, one son and three daughters : Mary A., 
wife of Dr. Stockdill, a prominent physician of 
Rural Valley (see his sketch) ; Olive B., married 
to Harper Ambrose, a farmer ; Laura B. and 
George A., Jr. 

In politics Mr. Gourley is a republican, and 
has always voted that ticket. He was remark- 
ably successful as a merchant, and is prosperous 
as a farmer. His farms, in appearance and in 
the crops which they afford, give evidence of his 
agricultural knowledge and good management. 



JACOB S. HAINES, a well-known citizen 
^ and the proprietor of one of the most suc- 
cessful flouring-mills of Wayne township, is a 
son of John and Margaret (Mansfield) Haines, 
and was born in Hempfield townsiiip, West- 
moreland county, Pennsylvania, October 17, 
1827. Frederick Haines (grandfather) was a 
native of Northampton county, wliere his fatiier, 
who was a native of Germany, had settled. 
Frederick Haines removed from his birth-place 
to Hempfield township and engaged in shoe- 
making and farming. He was an unassuming, 
quiet man, a member of the Lutiieran church, 
and in politics was an old-time democrat. He 
married a Miss Jarett and their union was 
blessed with six children, three sons and three 
daughters. Jacob Haines (father) was born in 
Northampton county and settled in \Vayne town- 
siiip in 1844, where he died in the spring of 
1880, aged eighty-four years. He was a strong 
democrat, and a consistent member of the Re- 
formed church. He married Margaret Mans- 
field, daughter of Jacob Mansfield, an early 
settler near Mansfield, Oiiio, which city was 
named after him. They had seven children: 
Frederick, of Wayne township, who served 
tlirough the Mexican and the late civil wars ; 
Benjamin, of Brookville, who is engagetl in the 
milling business ; William Alexander, who en- 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



549 



tered the Union army from Jeffereou county, 
iu the 105th regiment, served three years in 
the Army of the Potomao, and was killed in a 
mill after the close of the war ; Philip, of 
Leechburg, who served iu the Army of the 
Potomac until he was wounded and discharged ; 
Hanuah, married to Michael J. Smith, owner 
of a foundry in Red B;uik township (see his 
sketch) ; Catherine and Jacob S. 

Jacob S. Haines was reared on the farm and 
obtiiined his education in the common schools of 
Wayne township. Leaving school, he learned 
milling at Salenij where he continued in that 
business for seven years. At the expiration of 
that time he returueil to Wayne township and 
commenced milling, where he now owns a good 
mill and where he has also been engaged in 
farming ever since. He enlisted October 1 
1861, in Co. M, 2d regiment, Penna. Cavalry, 
and served until December IGth, when he re- 
enlisted in the same regiment and served until 
1865. He was in the Aimy of the Potomao, 
was promotccl to sergeant and participated in the 
battles of Spottsylvania Court-house, Antietam, 
Gettysburg, the Wilderness and in the fights in 
front of Petersburg. He made a goixl record 
as a soldier and always performed with alacrity 
whatever tluty was assigned him. 

On October 10, 1850, he united in marriage 
with Martha Jane Ridgeway, daughter of Ziba 
L. and Clarissa (Weir) Ridgeway. Mrs. Haines' 
grandfather, Matthew Ridgeway, went from 
New England to New York, where he dial. 
Her maternal grandfather, Abraham ^\'eil■, was 
a native of New York, where he also died, and 
his son, Ziba Ridgeway, removed to Connells- 
ville, Fayette county, where he reared a family 
of seven children, five sons and two daughters, 
of whom the eldest son, William E., entered the 
Union army from Wisconsin and died in the 
service. Mr. and Mrs. Haines have three chil- 
dren : Mary A., who mairied Abraham Good, 
of near Smicksburg, and has three children, 
Martha E., Jacob C. and Emma; William H., 



married to Jennie Bowse, living at East Brady, 
Pa., and has three sons, Herbert, Curt and 
Dickey ; and Charles W. 

In politics Mr. Haines is a republican. He 
and his wife are members of the Dayton Metho- 
dist church, of which he is a steward. 



JOHN HECKMAN, a leading merchant and 
highly-respected citizen of Eldertoii, is the 
eldest son of Michael Heckman, and was born 
near Leechburg, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, August 24, 1828. His grandfather 
Heckman was one of the early settlers of West- 
moreland county, and married Maria Iseman, 
by whom he had nine children. One of these 
children was Michael Heckman (father), who 
was born in 1800, in Westmoreland county. 
He attended the subscription schools of that 
period. He wa.s a farmer by occupation, own- 
ing one hundred and fifty acres of land, on 
which he raised large crops of grain and con- 
siderable stock. He was an uncompromising 
democrat, and took an active part in local poli- 
tics. He died in 1882, a consistent member of 
the Evangelical Lutheran church. He married 
and reared a family of seven children, of whom 
one is the subject of this sketch. 

John Heckman was reared on a farm and at- 
tended school in the log school-house situated 
some two miles from his father's house. He 
began life as a farmer, assisting his father until 
he was twenty-eight years of age. He then 
purchased a farm which he tilled until 1868, 
when lie engaged in the huckster business, which 
he followed for the ensuing seven years. From 
1875 to 1885 he was engaged iu firming, and 
then removed to Eldcrton, where he resided for 
three years. In 1888 he embarked iu his pres- 
ent general mercantile business (m Main street, 
at Elderton. He carries a complete and care- 
fully-selected stock of goods, well adapted to 
the numerous wants of his many patrons. 

He married Catherine Dice, daughter of John 



550 



MIOQRAPHIES OF 



and Catherine (Sipes) Dice, of Armstrong coun- 
ty. They have had four children : Michael, 
Harvey (dead), Thomas M., born in 1857, and 
Anna Maria, born in 1860, and now a partner 
with her father in the mercantile business. 

Politically, Mr. Heckman is a Jacksonian 
democrat, and has been elected by his party as 
inspector of elections, school director and mem- 
ber of the town council. He has always taken 
an active part in the work of the Lutheran 
church, of which he is an elder and has served 
as deacon and trustee. He owns a fine two- 
story brick residence at Elderton, besides his 
store-room and other valuable property. He 
has acquired, by honesty and industry, a com- 
petency, and is known as one of the reliable 
business men and prosperous citizens of the 
county. The Heckman family is of German 
origin, but for over a century has been Amer- 
ican by citizenship. It is a family that pos- 
sesses many worthy qualities of character, and 
ranks as one of the substantial families of 
Armstrong county. 



MICHAEL HECKMAN, a prominent citi- 
zen and successful merchant of St. Thomas, 
is a son of John and Catherine (Dice) Heck- 
man, and was born April 22, 1855, in Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania. The Heckman 
family is of German descent, and Michael 
Heckman's great-grandfather, Philip Heckman, 
was an early settler of Westmoreland county. 
He married Maria Iseman, of Armstrong coun- 
ty, and had a family of nine children. One 
of his sous, Michael Heckman (grandfather), 
was born in Westmoreland county in 1800. 
His son, John Heckman (father), was born 
August 24, 1828 (see his sketch). In early 
manhood he followed farming, but during the 
latter part of his life has been succes.sfully en- 
gaged in the general mercantile business at 
Elderton. He is a consistent member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church, a thorough- 



going business man and a strong democrat. He 
married Catherine Dice, daughter of John and 
Catherine (Sipes) Dice. They have had five 
children, of whom the subject of this sketch is 
the eldest. 

Michael Heckman was reared on his father's 
farm, and at Elderton, and received a good 
common-school education. Leaving school, he 
assisted his father on the farm and in the store 
until 1881, when he engaged, at St. Thomas, 
in the mercantile business for himself, as junior 
member of the firm of Hileman & Heckman. 
In the same year he purchased Mr. Hileman's 
interest, and formed a partnershij] with his 
brothers, Harvey and T. M. Heckman, under 
the firm-name of Heckman Bros. His brother 
Harvey dying, he and his brother T. M. have 
continued in the mercantile business at St. 
Thomas until the present time. They have in- 
vested some ten thousand dollars in their busi- 
ness, and have one of the largest stocks of gen- 
eral merchandise in that section of the county. 
Their store-room is commodious and convenient 
for the display of their choice and well-assorted 
stock of dry-goods, groceries, hardware, cloth- 
ing and notions which are necessary' to accom- 
modate their patrons. In addition to his mer- 
cantile interests Mr. Heckman owns a large 
amount of valuable farming land in Plum Creek 
township, which is worth several thousand dol- 
lars. He has acquired what he owns by his 
own efforts and judicious management, and 
never received any material aid from any one. 

On April 1, 1885, he married Mary Thomas, 
the fourth daughter of Johnson and Mary 
Thomas, of Plum Creek township. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Heckman have been born four children : 
Maud E., born April 3, 1885 ; Veruie B., born 
May 1, 1886, and died Dec. 27, 1887 ; Selah 
O., born July 13, 1887 ; and John C, born 
June 19, 1889. 

In politics Mr. Heckman is an active democrat, 
and has held the offices of overseer of the poor, 
and auditor and inspector of elections. He is an 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



651 



elder of the Lutheran church at St. Thomas, 
and a member of the Elderton Conclave, No. 
1105, Royal Arcanum. Michael Heckman is 
widely known as an honest, reliable business 
man, full of enterprise and energy. 



MARGARET CLARK HERRON, an intel- 
ligent woman of good financial ability 
and great energy, and a resident of Plum Creek 
township, is a daughter of William Todd and 
Jane (Cummins) Clark, and was born on the old 
Clark homestead in Plum Creek township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsyh'ania, May 16, 
1826. The Clark family was among the very 
earliest settled families of Plum Creek town- 
ship. Joseph Clark (grandfather) and James 
Clark (great-grandfather) built the first block- 
house in the county (about 1774), and it was 
used as a refuge for the families in that neigh- 
borhood whenever an invasion of Indians was 
anticipated. His wife was accustomed to ac- 
company him in tiie fields while he plowed, 
or was otherwise engaged in work, and would 
stand near him with his gun watching for 
sudden attacks of Indians. One of their sons, 
William Todd Clark (father), was born on 
the home farm April 26, 1799, received his 
eflucatiou in the subscription schools of the 
county, and followed farming all his life. He 
was a prominent presbyterian, and was one of 
the organizers of the Plum Creek Presbyterian 
church. In 1820 he married Jane Cummins, 
second daughter of William aud Margaret Cum- 
mins, of Indiana county. They had four chil- 
dren. 

Margaret Clark Ilerron received a common- 
school education, and on January 1, 1846, mar- 
ried William Herron, son of David Herron, of 
Westmoreland county, who was born June 9, 
1810. He was a carpenter by trade, and died 
Jan. 10, 1883. To them were born two chil- 
dren: John C. Herron and Nancy Jane, wife 
of T. S. Wilson, of Indiana county. 



Since her husband's death Mrs. Herron has 
successfully managed the farm, which contains 
one hundred and fifty-six acres of well-im- 
proved land, and kept it in a high state of pro- 
ductiveness. She resides in a large two-story 
frame house, and the farm is tilled under her 
personal supervision, and in addition to grain- 
raising she keeps a large herd of cattle. She 
is a member of the Elderton Presbyterian 
church. Mrs. Herron is prudent, active and en- 
ergetic, and occupies a prominent position in her 
community, not only on account of her family 
history aud respectable connections, but also by 
reason of her business enterprise and tireless 
energy. 

Joseph Clark (grandfather), married Ann 
Todd, and their family consisted of two sous, 
Alexander W., who married Jane Armstrong, 
and had ten children; and Clark; and six 
daughters: Barbara, Ann, Louisa, Elizabeth, 
Margaret aud Mary, the wife of Jonathan Agey, 
and the only one of the family now living. 



STEPHEN JONES, one of Soutii Bend 
township's prosperous and comfortably 
situated farmers, is a sou of John and Mary 
Jones, and was born in Wales in 1808. He 
was carefully trained to habits of industry, hon- 
esty and economy, and received his education in 
the excellent schools of his native country, 
from which he emigratetl to the United States 
in 1839. Like many another artisan of the old 
world, who found all trades there overcrowded, 
he sought a wider field for work in the iiew 
world. For two years he followed his trade in 
New York city aud Pittsburgh. In 1860 he 
came to Armstrong county, where he purchased 
his present farm of one hundred and twelve 
acres, in South Bend township, and has been 
engaged in farming ever since. His industry 
here as a farmer has been well rewarded with 
good crops, while his well improved farm has 
increased largely in value since he purchased it. 



552 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



111 1866 he married, aud his wife died soon 
after marriage. In 1858 he married a Miss 
Barrel. To this second union have been born 
two children : Stephen, Jr., born in 1860 ; and 
Mary, born in 1862. 

Stephen Jones has been an earnest supporter 
of the principles of the Republican party since 
his residence in this country. He has carefully 
reared his children, trained them to habits of 
industry and economy, aud giveu them the ad- 
vantages of a good practical education. His 
life has been one of continual activity aud hon- 
est hard labor. Although past his four-score 
years, he still exercises an active supervision 
over his farm and all other propei'ty which he 
owns. His rule through life has been to de- 
pend upon himself, and his success attests how 
well he has practiced that rule. 



TOHN T. KIRKPATRICK, one of the 
^ oldest merchants in the county and post- 
master of Barnard' s ever since its establishment 
as a post-office in 1861, is a son of David and 
Mary (Thompson) Kirkpatrick and was born 
near Freeport, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania* 
in August, 1823. The Kirkpatricks are Scotch- 
Irish. James Kirkpatrick (graudfather) was 
born in Cumberland county, from whence he 
moved in early life to Westmoreland county, 
where he livetl a few years. In 1798 he located 
in Plum Creek township (now Cowanshan- 
nock). When living on Cherry run, near 
Elderton, his house was attacked by Indians 
and" two of its inmates were killed, while a 
young child was wounded, but its mother made 
her escape with it to Loyalhanna, Westmore- 
land county, where it died. James Kirkpat- 
rick was a farmer by occupation, a whig in pol- 
itics and an active member and elder of the first 
Presbyterian chureh organized at Glade run, 
near Dayton. He married Mary Larimer and 
to their union were born eight children, four 
sons and four daughters. One of these sons, 



James, Jr., served in the war of 1812 and 
another son, David Kirkpatrick (father), was 
born iu 1778, in Westmoreland county. He 
came to Plum Creek township, Armstrong 
county, with his father, aud engaged iu farm- 
ing. He died in 1844, when he was in the 
sixty-seventh year of his age. He was a whig 
in politics, a member of the Presbyterian church, 
and married for his first wife Elizabeth Varus, 
by whom he had two children : William and 
James. Mrs. Kirkpatrick died and Mr. Kirk- 
patrick married Mary Thompson, a daughter of 
John and Jane (Riddle) Thompson. To this 
second union were born eight children, of whom 
one, Robert B., enlisted in 1861, in the 78tli 
regiment. Pa. Vol. Infantry, and served three 
years. Mrs. Mary Kirkpatrick's father, John 
Thompson, was a native of Allegheny county, 
to which his father had come from Ireland. John 
Thompson was a farmer and a whig and mar- 
ried Jane Riddle, by whom he had three chil- 
dren. His wife died and he married for his 
second wife a Miss Breckeuridge, who bore him 
eight children, three sons and five daughters. 

John T. Kirkpatrick was reared on a farm 
and received his education in the subscription 
schools of his day. He commenced life as a 
clerk at Smicksburg, but afterward went to 
Kittanniug and entered the employ of a 
merchant, with whom he remained until his 
father's death, in 1844. He then opened a gen- 
eral mercantile store at Barnard's, where he has 
continued in that line of business ever since. 
He has a heavy stock of merchandise, enjoys a 
good trade from a large section of country and 
was appointed postmaster of Barnard's, when 
that post-office was established iu 1861. In 
addition to his mercantile business, Mr. Kirk- 
patrick is engaged, to some extent, in farming 
in Cowanshannock township, where he owns 
one hundred and six acres of land. 

He married Sarah McGaughey, daughter of 
John McGaughey, of Wayne township. To 
their union has been born one child, John M. 



ARMSTROiSG COUNTY. 



553 



Johu T. Kirkpatrick is a member of Glade 
Run Presbyterian church and a republican in 
political opinion. Half a century of experience 
as a clerk and a merchant has well qualified Mr. 
Kirkpatrick for the mercantile business, in which 
he has always been honest and honorable. 



I 



riALVIN P. McADOO, M.D., one of At- 
^ wood's well-read and most successful phys- 
icians, is a son of Dr. John E. and Hannah 
(McCune) McAdoo, and was born in Cowan- 
shannock township, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, March 12, 1849. John McAdoo, 
grandfather of Dr. Calvin P. McAdoo, was in 
all probability a native of Indiana county, from 
whence he removed to Armstrong county, 
where he was engaged in farming until his 
death. One of his sons. Dr. John E. McAdoo 
(father), was born in Indiana county, graduated 
from Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, 
and afterwards moved to Ohio, where he prac- 
ticed medicine till his death. He was a repub- 
lican in politics and married Mrs. Hannah 
(McCune) McCreery. They had one child, the 
subject of this sketch. Mrs. McAdoo's father, 
Christopher McCune, was a native of Ireland, 
and settled in Indiana county, where he en- 
gaged in farming and in the mercantile busi- 
ness at Plumville, at which place he afterwards 
died. He was a member of the United Pres- 
byterian church and a republican in politics, 
and served as a justice of the peace for several 
years. Mrs. McAdoo's first husband was Wil- 
liam McCreery, and they had two children : 
Margaret, who married a Mr. Des Moines (now 
deceased), and is a matron in a State Normal 
school; and Mary, the wife of James Duff. 

Calvin P. McAdoo was reared in his native 
township and after completing the full course of 
study at Rural Valley academy, read medicine 
with Dr. J. W. Morrow, of Atwood. He then 
practiced for a short time under Dr. Smith, of 
Apollo, and afterwards entered the medical de- 
33 



partment of Wooster University of Cleveland, 
Ohio, from which institution he was graduated 
in 1882. Immediately after graduation he 
came to Atwood, where he has successfully prac- 
ticed his profession ever since. 

He married Charlotte Wagner, daughter of 
John Wagner, of Washington township, Indi- 
ana county. Their union has been blessed with 
six children, three sons and three daughters : 
Nancy V., married to William Earhart, of At- 
wood, and has one child, Glenard Cloyde; 
Charles, John, Margaret, Harry and Winona. 

Dr. Calvin P. McAdoo is a democrat in poli- 
tics and a member of the United Presbyterian 
church of Atwood. He enjoys a good practice 
at Atwood and in its surrounding section of 
country. 



DAVID McCULLOUGH. A much-missed 
citizen and business man of Atwood is 
the late David McCuUough, who was a wounded 
veteran of tlie 14th Pa. Cavalry. He was a 
sou of David and Eh'zaboth (George) McCul- 
lough, and was born in Plum Creek township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, November 8, 
1824. The McCullough family is of Scotch 
descent and one of its members, David McCul- 
lough, Sr. (grandfather), a native of Scotland, 
emigrated from Scotland to Peimsylvania, 
where he settled in Indiana county. He there, 
in 1782, married Hannah Rutherford and one 
of their sons was David McCullough, Jr. 
(father), who was born January 3, 1817. He 
was a member of the United Presbyterian 
church, a democrat in politics and at one time 
served as constable of his township. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth George, a daughter of Alexander 
George, a native of Ireland and a farmer of 
Plum Creek township. To David McCul- 
lough, Jr., and his wife were born seven chil- 
dren : John, born September, 1822, and is a 
farmer of near Elderton ; David, Alexander, 
born December 30, 1826 ; Robert, born May 1 , 



554 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



1829, now living near Elderton ; William, born 
April 23, 1831; Jackson, born May 2, 1835; 
and James born June 10, 1837. 

David MeCullough was reared on the home 
farm and received a good common business 
education, after which he learned the trade of 
blacksmith. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. K, 
14th regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry, as a 
blacksmith and farrier, although he partici- 
pated in most of the battles in which his 
regiment was engaged. He was wounded in 
the shoulder in the battle of Gilmore's Mill 
June 13, 1863, and was mustered out June 2, 
1865. Returning from the army, he resumed 
blacksmithing, which he followed until hisdeath. 
He passed away on October 15, 1889, after a 
life of honest and honorable toil. He was suc- 
cessful in his business and had acquired a farm 
of ninety acres adjoining Atwood, upon which 
his widow now resides. 

On August 12, 1856, he married Jane Dow- 
ney, a daughter of Jacob Downey, wlio was 
born in Indiana county, where he followed 
blacksmithing. He was a republican in politics, 
a member of the United Presbyterian church, 
and married Elizabeth Cannon, by whom he had 
eight children, of whom five are living: John, 
of Jacksonville, who served in a Pennsylvania 
volunteer regiment during the late civil war; 
Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Spence, of Wayne 
township ; Jane, Isabelle, who married John 
Neil, a farmer of Indiana county ; and Mary. To 
David and Jane MeCullough have been born 
seven children, three sons and four daughters : 
Mary T., wife of Elder Kebbler, a farmer of 
Indiana county ; Anna B. (deceased) ; Eliza- 
beth D. (deceased) ; Abraham Lincoln, a car- 
riage manufacturer of Dayton ; Samuel G., 
Martha B. (deceased) ; and David H. 

David MeCullough was a republican in poli- 
tics, a member of the United Presbyterian 
church and a man who was well respected by 
his neighbors. 



JAMES D. McLEAN, now prominent in the 
political and business life at Atwood, is 
one of the Union soldiers who were confined in 
Libby prison during the late war. He is a son 
of Alexander and Mary (Duncan) McLean, 
and was born in Cowanshaunock township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, February 2, 
1837. He is of Scotch descent and his great- 
grandfather, James McLean, came from Scot- 
land to Pennsylvania, where he settled in Indi- 
ana county, near Livermore. He was a farmer 
by occupation and a strong opponent of the 
Democratic party. He served as justice of the 
peace for a number of years and was a member 
of the old Seceder church. He married a Miss 
Miller and to their union were born seven chil- 
dren, three .sons and four daughters. The sons 
were : John, Col. Alexander and Samuel. 
Col. Alexander McLean commanded a regi- 
ment of Pennsylvania troops in the war of 1812. 
John McLean (grandfather) was born on his 
father's farm near Livermore, and in 1813 
removed to Jefferson county, Indiana, where he 
was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his 
death, which occurred in August, 1828, when 
he was in the sixtieth year of his age. He was 
a whig in politics, a member of the Seceder 
church and married Rachel Matthews (wi)o died 
in 1826), by whom he had eight children, four 
sons and four daughters. One of these sons, 
Alexander Mclican (father), was born on the 
old homestead farm in Indiana county, Septem- 
ber 25, 1810, and removed with his father, 
three years afterwards, to Indiana. In 1829 
he returned to Indiana county, and in 1835 
moved to Plum Creek township (now Cowan- 
shaunock), where he cleaied out a farm upon 
which he now resides. He was a whig and is 
now a republican in politics. He has served as 
supervisor and tax-collector of Cowanshaunock 
township. Hehasheld membership since 1830, 
in the United Presbyterian church, of which he 
has been an elder for fifty years. He married 
Mary Duncan, who bore him five children, four 



ARMSTRONO COUNTY. 



sons and one daughter. Of these sous, Ebene- 
zer enlisted in 1864, in Co. K, 14tli regiment, 
Pa. Cavahy, and died the following year in the 
hospital at Frederick City, and Samuel enlisted 
in 1861, in Co. E, 11th regiment, Pa. Reserves, 
and was killed in the battle of Gaines' Mill, 1862. 
John McLean, the oldest son, is a farmer and 
Dorcas, the daughter, is living with her brother 
J. D. Mrs. McLean died in 1842, and in 
1843, Mr. McLean married for his second 
wife Rebecca McCauslaud, who died in 1849. 
To this .second marriage were born three chil- 
dren : David M., Mary and W. H. McLean. 
In 1853, Mr. McLean married Margaret Gil- 
lespie, and to this third union have been born 
three children : Nancy J., Sai'ah E. and Mattie 
J. Mrs. Mary McLean was a daughter of 
Thomas Duncan (maternal grandfather), a na- 
tive of eastern Pennsylvania, and a weaver by 
trade. He came to Armstrong county, where 
he engaged in farming. He married Dorcas 
Todd, who bore him seven children, three sons 
and four daughters. 

James D. McLean was reared in Cowanshan- 
nock township, attended the common schools of 
that township, the normal school at Indiana and 
Rural Valley academy, and taught two terms. 
In 1861 he enlisted in Co. A, 78th regiment. 
Pa. Vols., and served three years, tw-o months 
and three days in the Army of the Cumberland. 
During the battle of Stone River he was taken 
prisoner and .sent to Libby Prison, where he 
was held thirty-one days. After he was di.s- 
charged he returned home and engaged in farm- 
ing, but finding his .strength insufficient for that 
occupation, embarked, in 1870, in the mercan- 
tile business at Atwood. He has a large and 
well-assorted stock of general merchandise, and, 
by fair and honest dealing, he has succeeded in 
building up a substantial trade. 

May 27, 1865, he married Amanda McCaus- 
laud, daughter of James McCauslaud, of Cow- 
aushannock township. To their union have 
been born seven children : Sarah, married to 



Samuel Cuddy, a carpenter of Pittsburgh ; 
Mary L., Samuel A., Porter D,, at home ; 
James M., died in 1873; Dorcas B. L., who 
died in 1876 ; and Reed A., who died in 1882. 
Politically, Mr. McLean is a republican and 
is now serving as justice of the peace, school 
director and councilman of the borough of At- 
wood. He is a member of the United Presby- 
terian church, of which he has been a trustee for 
several years. He is a member of Anderson Post, 
No. 149, Grand Army of the Republic, of 
Rural Valley. 



ANTHONY MONTGOMERY is a care- 
ful and prosperous farmer of South Bend 
township. The Montgomery family is of Irish 
descent. Anthony Montgomery's father was 
born in Ireland on May 10, 1790, and came 
from the Emerald Isle to Greensburg, West- 
moreland county, in 1800, near which he was en- 
gaged in farming until his death. He married 
a Miss Wood ward, daughter of Absalom Wood- 
ward. To their union were born nine childi'en, 
of whom six are living, four sons and two 
daughters. Two of these children are Isabella 
C. and Anthony, the subject of this sketch. 

Anthony Montgomery was reared on his 
father's farm, and attended the subscription 
schools of South Bend township. He has been 
a fiirmer all his life, and by patient toil and 
frugality has established himself in comfortal)Ic 
circumstances. He owns a one-half interest in 
the homestead, of one hundred and eighty 
acres, which is well cultivated. He and his 
sister Lsabella live in the old homestead farm- 
house. He manages his farm very successfully 
and raises considerable stock. He makes a 
specialty of fine horses. 

Isabella Montgomery owns one-half of the 
homestead farm, which is cultivated by her 
brother Anthony. She is a woman of consid- 
erable business tact, and has accumulated suffi- 
cient means to be able to live in comfort. She 



556 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



takes an active interest in all matters affecting 
the community in which she resides. 



SMITH NEAL, one of the largest land- 
holders of eastern Armstrong county, and 
a prominent and influential member of the 
United Presbyterian church in Cowanshannock 
township, was born in Butler county, Pa., 
January 25, 1822, and is a son of Robert and 
Sarah (Love) Neal. The Neal family is of Ger- 
man descent, and one of its members, Henry Neal 
(great-grandfather), was a farmer in the Cum- 
berland Valley, who had three brothers who 
served in the Colonial army in the Revolu- 
tion, and were all killed in the battle of Bran- 
dy wine. He married a Miss Smith, by whom 
he had three sons : William, who settled in 
Armstrong county ; John, who became a farmer 
in Butler county, and Smith Neal (grandfather), 
who was born March 5, 1764, in the Cumber- 
land Valley, from whence he removed to Butler 
county. He enlisted in the Colonial array during 
the Revolution and served one day. He was also 
a soldier during the war of 18 12, and the gun that 
he carried has been preserved in the family, and 
is now in the possession of his grandson and 
namesake, the subject of this sketch. In 1833, 
Smith Neal removed to Armstrong county, 
where he purchased a farm, which he cultivated 
until his death, August 5, 1863, when he was 
in the one hundredth year of his age. He was 
a millwright by trade, a whig in politics, and 
a member of the Secetler chui-ch. He married 
Sarah Cochran, and they had one son, Robert 
Neal (father), who was born July 5, 1795. 
Robert Neal was a farmer of Butler county 
until 1834, when he bought a farm in Arm- 
strong county. He was a member of the 
Seceder church until his death, December 24, 
1863. He was a whig and afterwards a repub- 
lican ; was the first inspector of elections in his 
township. He married Sarah Love, by whom 
he had five children, three sons and two 



daughters : William H., married Eliza Stuchel, 
and resides near Marion ; Rosetta P., wife of 
Thomas H. Marshall, a merchant and farmer of 
Dayton ; Alexander, who went to California ; 
Neal, and Mary J. (deceased), who married 
James Hanagan, and after his death marri«l 
James Temple, of Iowa. 

Smith Neal was reared on his father's farm, 
attended the subscription schools of his neigh- 
borhood, and has been engaged in farming ever 
since leaving school. Besides his Cowanshan- 
nock township farm of two hundred acres, he 
also owns the home farm of five hundred acres. 
On May 25, 1847, he married Margaret 
Sloan, a daughter of Samuel and Nancy Sloan, 
old settlers of Plum Creek township. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Neal have been born five children, one 
I son and four daughters : Nancy J., now living 
in Philadelphia ; Amanda, wife of John.son 
Irwin, a carpenter of Denver, Colorado; and 
j Sarah, wife of Samuel Burus, a farmer of 
I Cowanshannock township ; Margaret and Alex- 
ander, who are both dead. Mrs. Neal passed 
away March 17, 1861, at thirty-nine years of 
age. On April 10, 1862, Mr. Neal married as 
liis .second wife, Caroline Jewert, a daughter of 
Alexander and Jane (Hickenlooper) Jewert, of 
Plum Creek township. To this second union 
were born six children, two sons and four 
daughters : Loella R., married J. P. Beyer, 
and after his death became the wife of A. M. 
Hines, a resident of Harrisburg, and a con- 
ductor on the main line of the Pennsylvania 
railroad; L. Adda, wife of John Downey, of 
New Brighton, who is the inventor of the 
"Keystone Driller" and a steam-pump; Al- 
don, married Maggie J. Rankin, and has one 
child ; Smith, Robert E., Mattie V. and 
Alice L. 

In politics, Smith Neal is a republican, and 
has held various township offices. He and his 
whole family are members of the United Pres- 
byterian church, of which he has been an elder 
for at least fifteen years. He represented the 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



557 



Brookville Presbytery in the General Assembly 
of the United Presbyterian church, held in 
Philadelphia in 1887. 



JOHN M. PETTIGREW, M.D., a skillful 
*-' and successful physician of Rural Valley 
and eastern Armstrong county, is a son of Mat- 
Uiew and Jane (Windrem) Pettigrew, and was 
born in Indiana county, Pennsylvania^ Feb- 
ruary 28, 1835. The Pettigrews are of Irish 
descent and John Pettigrew (grandfather) was a 
farmer in Ireland. His son, Matthew Petti- 
grew (father), was born in 1801 and settled, 
when a young man, in Plum creek township, 
Armstrong county, where he was engaged in 
farming until his death. He died in 1887, 
when he was in the eighty-sixth year of his age. 
He was a democrat in politics, and a member of 
the Presbyterian church and marrietl Jane 
Windrem, a daughter of James Windrem, a 
democrat and presbyterian of Plum Creek 
township, who was also a native of Ireland. 
Matthew Pettigrew had seven children, of 
whom the following five are living: Dr. John 
M., Sarah, widow of James Sturgeon, and a 
resident of Elderton ; James W., residing on 
the homestead farm in Plum Creek township; 
Martha, wife of Josiah Shoemaker, a farmer of 
Kiskiminetas township ; and Dr. Samuel H., a 
graduate of Jefferson Medical college and a 
practicing physician at Du Bois, Pa. j 

John M. Pettigrew was reared on his father's I 
farm, attended the common schools of his native 
township and Glade Run academy and read 
medicine with Dr. T. H. Allison, of Elderton. 
He entered the National Medical college of 
Washington, D. C, from which he was grad- j 
nated in the class of 1860. He returned to his 
native State and after practicing at Elderton, 
Armstrong county, for some time, came to 
Rural Valley, where he has residetl in tiie active 
practice of his profession ever since. He has a 
arge and extensive practice which extends into 



the edge of Indiana county. He has prospered 
materially and now owns some seven hundred 
acres of well cultivated land in Cowanshannock 
and adjoining townships. He raises some very 
fine blooded horses and cattle, and full-blooded 
merino sheep, and makes a specialty of Jersey 
cattle and Dolphin and Hambletoniau hoi'ses. 
He also has an interest in a lumber company. 

On February 20, 186.3, he married Cor<lelia 
R. McCurdy, daugliter of John McCurdy, of 
Wayne township. They had nine children, 
three sons and six daughters: Delia J., mar- 
rial to K. F. Ambrose, a teacher and telegraph 
operator of Iowa; Matthew M., deceased; 
Charlotte M., a graduate of Edinborough 
Normal school, and a teacher at Rural Valley; 
John M., deceased ; Minnie M., at home; Mary 
deceased; Blanche M., Martha M., and Bernard 
Clare at home. 

In politics. Dr. Pettigrew is a democrat. He 
is no politician and, although accepting the 
office of school director to which he was elected, 
yet declined a nomination for the House of 
Representatives of Pennsylvania. He is a 
member of Kittanning Lodge, No 244, Free 
and Accepted Masons, at Kittanning, and Rural 
Valley Lodge, No. 766, Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, at Rural village. 



WESLEY PONTIUS, one of the reliable 
and leading business men of Wayne 
township and his section of the county, was 
born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, Sep- 
tember 15, 1813, and is a son of Jacob and 
Elizabeth (Lias) Pontius. His paternal grand- 
father, John Pontius, was a native of Germany 
and settled for a time near Philadelphia. He 
afterwards removed to Huntingdon county, where 
he remained but a short time and then located 
permanently in Wayne township Although 
reare<l a lutheran, he became a methodist, and in 
politics was successively a whig and republican. 
His family consisted of two sons and four 



558 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



(laughters. One of these sons was Jacob Pon- 
tius (father), who was born near Philadelphia. 
He owned a farm of two hundred acres near 
Dayton, besides several other tracts of land in 
the county. He was a methodist and a whig 
and voted his party ticket when he and one 
other man were the only whigs in their section 
of the county. He married Elizabeth Lias, 
whose father was a German, who removed from 
eastern Pennsylvania to Huntingdon county, 
where he followed farming until his death. Mr. 
and Mrs. Pontius reared a family of nine 
children. 

Wesley Pontius was reared on a farm when 
the county was but barely past its pioneer days 
and when farming was accomplished only by 
the hardest of labor. He attended the schools 
of that day and worked on the farm until he 
was almost twenty-one years of age, when his 
father built a tannery and he learned the trade 
of tanner. At the death of his father became 
into possession of a part of the farm, which he 
tilled until 1862, when he disposed of all of his 
land but fifty acres adjoining Dayton, which he 
still owns. In 1866 a stock company was 
formed at Dayton, which organized the " Day- 
ton Soldiers' Orphan School," and he was one 
of the heaviest stockholdei's as well as presi- 
dent for seven years of the board of managers 
of the company. He also has considerable 
stock in the Dayton Agricultural association, 
of which he was manager for a number of 
years. 

He married Jane Traves, daughter of 
Thomas Traves, of near Dayton. They had 
three children, of whom two are living : Mary 
A., who married Rev. J. B. Gray, of the Pitts- 
burgh M. E. conference and has one child, Earle, i 
who is a young man of bright promise; and 
Ganaretia, wife of Charles H. Grey, a commer- 
cial traveler of Pittsburgh. ! 

At the present time Mr. Pontius is not ac- 
tively engaged in any particular line of busi- 
ness, but gives his time to the management of 



his farm, and in looking after his general busi- 
ness interests. He was a whig until that party 
went out of existence and remembers distinctly 
the political campaign of 1840, with its many 
exciting scenes in Armstrong county, where he 
voted for General William H. Harrison for 
President of the United States. He has always 
given his time to business and especially to edu- 
cational and agricultural enterprises calculated 
to benefit Dayton borough and Wayne town- 
ship. Wesley Pontius is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church of Dayton, of 
which he served as a trustee for many years. 



JAMES S. RALSTON, a successful farmer, 
and one of the leading business men of 
Armstrong county, is a descendant of two old 
time-honored families, which have been identi- 
fied with the history of Plum Creek township 
since its earliest Anglo-Saxon occupation. 
James S. Ralston was born at Shelocta, Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 18.35, and is 
a son of David and Margaret (Sharp) Ralston. 
In the great westward tide of Scotch-Irish emi- 
gration that, during the closing years of the 
eighteenth century, sw'ept over the Alleghenies 
from the grand old Cumberland Valley into 
western Pennsylvania, were the ancestors of the 
Ralston and Sharp families of Armstrong and 
Indiana counties. David Ralston, Sr., the pa- 
ternal grandfivther of James S. Ralston, was a 
native of Cumberland county, married, in 1803, 
Agnes Sharp, the first white child born in the 
region of the west side of Crooked creek, and 
located in what is now Plum Creek township, 
Armstrong county, prior to 1798. In 1809, at 
a log tavern on the farm now owned by John 
Ralston, he was mistaken, when he came out of 
the house after dark, for another person, and 
was struck on the head with a club by a man 
lying in wait for the other man. The blow 
thus inflicted soon caused his death. He left 
three children : David, John and Mary, who 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



559 



married William McCracken. Mrs. Ralston, 
who afterwards married James Mitchell, was 
born February 21, 1785, and died August 2, 
1862. She was the second daughter of Capt. 
Andrew Sharp, who served as an officer in the 
Revolutionary war under Washington. In 1784 
he became one of the pioneer settlers of Plum 
Creek township, and also purchased a large 
tract of land on which the town of Shelocta, 
Indiana county, now stands. In 1794 he trad- 
ed this land for a farm near a town in Ken- 
tucky, wheoe his children could receive the 
advantages of a good education. He embarked 
on a flat-boat, on Black Lick creek, with his 
family and several others, — twenty in all, and on 
the Kiskiminetas, just below the site of Apollo, 
was attacked by seven Indians. Capt. Sharp, 
who succeeded in unfastening his boat, which 
was tied to the shore at the time, and in getting 
it into the middle of the river, received two 
wounds, one in the right, and the other in the 
left side. He shot one of the Indians, and the 
other six followed the boat twelve miles down 
the river, and shot the two men who were in 
the boat with him. After arrivinii' at Pitts- 
burgh, Capt. Sharp died of his wounds, on 
July 8, 1794, and his remains were interred 
there with the honors of war. He married 
Ann Wood, a native of Cumberland county. 
He left six children : Hannah Leason, Agnes 
Ralston, Joseph, James, Ann McCreigh and 
Margaret McCullough. David Ralston, the 
father of James S. Ralston, was born on Plum 
creek, Armstrong county, in 1804, and died at 
Indiana, in 1867. He was a merchant and 
grain-dealer at Shelocta for several years, went, 
in 1837, to Indiana, and in 1842 was elected 
sheriff of Indiana county. He was a whig and 
republican, and was an active and thorough- 
going man. He made some very profitable 
investments in oil, and had acquired consider- 
able wealth at the time of his death. He mar- 
ried Margaret Sharp, a daughter of James 
Sharp, and a granddaughter of Capt. Andrew 



Sharp. Their children are : Elizabeth, wife of 
Hon. AW. Taylor; Nancy, married to J. P. 
Carter; James S. and Thomas Elder. 

James S. Ralston was reared at Indiana, and 
attended the academy at that pl.ice with U. S. 
Senator M. S. Quay, Judge Silas M. Clark, 
and other prominent men. Leaving school, he 
was in the mercantile business with his father 
for some time in South Bend. In 1860 he en- 
listed in the United States Navy as a seaman, 
and served for three years. Returning home 
at the end of that time, he enlisted (in 1863) 
in Co. C, 57th regt., Pa. Militia, and was en- 
gagetl in the chase after tlie Confederate raider, 
Gen. John H. Morgan. Some time after the 
ex2)iration of his term of enlistment in the 
army he embarked in the .salt manufacturing 
business, which he followed very profitably for 
two years. From 1864 to 1869 he was proprietor 
of the "Indiana House." In the latter year he 
removed to his present well-improved farm in 
Plum Creek township, this county. This flirm 
contains one hundred and fifteen acres of choice 
farming land, and is situated close to the Indi- 
ana county line, and on the pike from Indiana to . 
Kittanning. 

September 3, 1859, he married Maria An- 
toinette Bleakney, of South Bend township. 
They have three sons and three daughters : Ed- 
win, Mary, Isabella, Bessie, William and 
Frank. 

In addition to his fine farm, Mr. Ralston is 
the proprietor of a large tract of farming land 
in the west, and also has a controlling interest 
in some valuable oil territory. He is a man of 
prominence, integrity, usefulness and marked 
individuality. He owns a fine library, gives 
ranch of his time to reading, and has made an 
especial study of political and financial mat- 
ters. He is a Jacksonian democrat, has served 
in several township and borough offices, and 
in June, 1890, was honored by his party with 
a nomination for commissioner of Armstrong 
county. 



560 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



EMANUEL Z. SCHRECENGOST, one of 
the active business men of Rural Valley 
and a Union soldier of the late war, is a son of 
Daniel and Mary (Cruni) Schrecengost, and was 
born at. Kittanning, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, August 2, 1829. Conrad Schrecen- 
gost (grandfather) was born iu Germany, from 
which he was emigrated to Berks county, 
Pennsylvania, and afterwards removed to Val- 
ley' township, Armstrong county, where he died. 
He was a gunsmith by trade and spent consider- 
able time in hunting. He was a federalist in 
politics and a member of the Lutheran church. 
He married a Miss Zortnian, by whom he had 
nine children, six sons and three daughters. 
Daniel Schrecengost (fiither) was born in Valley 
township, where he died. He was a gunsmith 
by trade and by industry and thrift he acquired 
a farm of three hundred acres of land in his 
native township. He was an active republican, 
served as constable for several years and at one 
time was the candidate of his party for sheriff. 
He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
ciiurch and married ISIary Crura, whose father 
was a German farmer of Plum Creek township. 
To their union were born seven children, five 
sons and two daughters : Emanuel Z.; Zepha- 
niali, of Plumville, who married Sarah Houser; 
Solomon, who served, in 1864 and 1865, in the 
Army of the Potomac ; Daniel, of Indiana, Pa., 
married Mary Oiilinger, enlisted in Co. M, 
139th regiment. Pa. Vols., served until the 
close of the war and was wounded iu the Wil- 
derness : Aaron, of Rural Valley, who married 
Catherine Hill ; Mary, who died in 18 ; and 
Isabella. 

Emanuel Z. Schrecengost was reared in Val- 
ley township, where he received a common-school 
education. He learned the trade of blacksmith, 
which he has followed ever since. On the 20th 
of March, 1855, he moved to Rural Valley, 
M'here he has since been engaged in the carriage 
manufacturing, blacksmithing and undertaking 
business. He has prospered and owns a farm 



in Cowanshannock township, besides his proper- 
ty at Rural Valley. In August, 1864, he en- 
listed in Co. M, 5th regiment. Pa. Heavy Artil- 
lery, and served until the close of the war. 

He married Sarah Hartman, daughter of 
Henry Hartman, of Armstrong county. To 
their union were born seven children : Philan- 
der W., a blacksmith, married Mary Lias and 
has one child living ; Mary (deceased); Nancy, 
married John White, a blacksmith and farmer 
and has four children — Charles, Earl, Blanche 
and one unnamed ; Melissa, married James Pat- 
terson and has had five children Bertha, John 
Harry (deceased), Walter (deceased), and 
Nancy; Emma, married to Addison Tarren, a 
farmer of Cowanshannock township, and has 
one child, Curtis; James (deceased); Dr. 
Leander Curtis, who was a graduate of two 
leading medical colleges and practiced medi- 
cine at Latrobe, Pa., until his death. Mrs. 
Schrecengost died May 29, 1867, and Mr. 
Schrecengost married for his second wife, Annie 
McCurdy, who died. He afterwards married 
INIary Richards. To this third union one child 
lias been born : Margaret M. 

Ill politics Mr. Schrecengost is a stanch re- 
publican. He is a consistent member of the 
Metliodist Episcopal church, and has been one 
of its stewards for the last quarter of a century. 



WILLIAM C. SLOAN. In a few years 
but few Union soldiers of the late civil 
war will be in the land of the living. One 
who was called out during that struggle was 
the late William C. Sloan, of Atwood. He 
was a son of Samuel and Nancy (Cochrane) 
Sloan, and was born in Cowanshannock town- 
ship, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 
22, 1822. His father, Samuel Sloan (who died 
December 10, 1883), was born on the 20th of 
June, 1794, in Indiana county, and came to 
Armstrong county, where he was engaged in 
farming until his death. He was a democrat 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



561 



in politics, a member of the United Presbyte- 
rian church, and married Nancy Cochrane. To 
their union were born eiglit children, tour of 
whom — two sons and two daughtei's — lived till 
maturity. 

William C. Sloan was reared on a farm, and 
attended the subscription schools of that pe- 
riod. He was a farmer of Plum Creek town- 
ship, and owned two hundred acres of well- 
tilled land. He died without a will, and the 
heirs still own the f;irm. On September 21, 
1864, Mr. Sloan was called into tiie service of 
his country, and went as for as Pittsburgh, 
where he served until April 12, 1865, when he 
was honorably discharged. 

On July 1, 1852, he married Caroline Mar- 
shall, a daughter of Robert Marshall, of Day- 
ton, and a member of the old Marshall family 
of Armstrong county (see sketch of William 
Marshall). To their union were born eight 
children, one son and seven daughters : Mary 
E., a mute, who teach&s in the school for deaf 
and dumb at Wilkinsburg; Nancy J., married 
to Thaddeus Stuchel, a carpenter of Pittsburgh, 
and has three children, — Sloan, Reed and 
Edith ; Robert Reed, a farmer of Plum Creek 
township, who married Callie Jewart, by whom 
he has had two children, — Mary (dead) and 
Jessie; Jemima C, married to Dr. Charles 
Duff, of Pittsburgh ; Margaret, married Harry 
I^. Prugh, a teacher in the public .schools, and 
has one daughter, named Vernie Blanche ; Re- 
becca, Carrie and Vernie E. 

William C. Sloan was a democrat in politics, 
and had been an elder of the United Presby te ■ 
rian church for ten years before his death, which 
occurred February 16, 1878, when he was in 
the fifty-sixth year of his age. By diligence, 
by honesty, by economy and by good manage- 
ment, he acquired a very respectable compe- 
tency. His life was plain and simple, and 
though he never thrust himself forward into 
public notice, yet he was always active in his 
business affairs. He was a man of good judg- 



ment, whose advice was often sought by" his 
neighbors, and generally wa.s successful in all 
of his undertakings. His remains weie en- 
tombed in Atwood cemetery ; but his memory 
is fondly cherished by his family and his large 
circle of friends. 



MICHAEL J. SMITH, whose father served 
under Napoleon Bonaparte from Moscow 
to Waterloo, is the proprietor of Mahoning 
Creek foundry in Red Bank township. He 
was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, 
December 23, 1843, and is a .son of Jerome 
and Mary A. (Keiser) Smith. Jerome Smith 
was born in France, and served under Napo- 
leon Bonaparte in his famous Russian cam- 
paign, and, after the defeat at Moscow, Mr. 
Smith made his way back to France. During 
this retreat he was compelled to kill his horse 
and subsist on its flesh for several days. He 
was also in the battle of Waterloo, where he 
was wounded by a sabre-stroke of one of Wel- 
lington's soldiers. He married Mary A. Kei- 
ser, who lived near Paris, and came to eastern 
Pennsylvania. He afterwards removed to Em- 
leutou, Venango county, where he followed his 
trade of cooper until his death, which occurred 
on Oct. 1, 1867 ; he was in the Seventieth year 
of his age. He had eight children, of whom 
five are still living: Joseph G., a resident of 
Emlenton; Michael J.; Hannah, wife of Henry 
Ginter, a stone-mason of near Emlenton; Kale, 
married to Cornelius Corson, of New Jersey, 
and Mary A., married to Emanuel Widle, of 
Dauphin county, Pa., now living at Phcenix, 
this county. 

Michael J. Smith was reared at Emlenton, re- 
ceived a common-school education, and learned 
the trade of foundryman at Emlenton and with 
the firm of Jewet & Root, of Buffalo, New 
York. He then worked at his trade for some 
years at Harrisville, Butler county, Pittsburgh, 
and at several other towns. In 1869 he rented 



562 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



the shop which he now owns, and which was 
then one and one half miles above its present 
location. In 1873 he went to Big Run, in 
Jefferson county, where he and D. K. Thomp- 
son built the Big Run foundry, which they 
carried on until 1883, when he purchased land 
on Mahoning creek, and built his present shop 
He manufactures stoves, sled metals and stove 
liners, beside doing considerable jobbing work. 
He enlisted twice during the late civil war, but 
was rejected each time on afccount of physical 
disability, as he had lost two of his toes. 

On Jan. 1, 1869, he married Joanna Haines, 
dauffhter of John Haines, of Westmoreland 
county, and to their union have been born ten 
children, of whom .seven are living : Bertha L. 
M., Mary Belle, Harry Cromwell, Annie Olive, 
Charley Otis, Effie Loretta and Katie Rosetta. 
Two of those who are dead were William and 
Adelbert. 

Id politics Michael J. Smith is a stanch re- 
publican. He is a member of Lodge No. 891, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Smicks- 
burg, and has always been an industrious man 
and reliable citizen. Mr. Smith has prospered 
in the foundry business, and the standard ex- 
cellence of his stoves and other ware has cre- 
ated a large and steady demand for everything 
which is manufactured in his establishment. 



GEORGE J. SMITH, a descendant of the 
Westmoreland county Smith lamily and 
the owner of one of Red Bank township's most 
valuable farms, is a son of John and Catherine 
(Potts) Smith, and was born in Red Bank town- 
ship, Armstrong county, Penn,sylvauia, January 
10, 1846. His grandfather, George Smith, was 
a native of Westmoreland county, from whence 
he came to Mahoning township, Armstrong 
county, where he was engaged in agricultural 
pursuits until his death. In early life he was a 
member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, 
but in after years he became a member of the 



Reformed church. He was a democrat in politics, 
and married a Mi.ss Nolf, who bore him nine 
children, four sons and five daughters. John 
Smith (father) was born February 28, 1816, in 
Armstrong county. He was a farmer and 
owned one hundred and seventy-five acres of 
land, which is now the farm of the subject of 
this sketch. He was a democrat in politics and 
filled the office of supervisor of Red Bank town- 
ship. He was a member of the German Lutheran 
church, and one of its officers until his death, 
which occurred May 16, 1875, when he was in 
the fifty-ninth year of his age. In May, 1830, 
he married Catherine Potts, who was born 
March 6, 1820, and died March 24, 1884. She 
was the daughter of John Potts, a native of 
Westmoreland county, who removed to Porter 
township, Jefferson county, and afterwards came 
to Red Bank township, where he engaged in 
farming. He was a Revolutionary soldier, a 
strong democrat, and a member of the German 
Lutheran church. He married a Miss White- 
head, and to their union were born thirteeu 
children, five sons and eight daughters. To Mr. 
and Mrs. John Smith were born six sons and 
four daughters: Luciuda, born April 22, 1840, 
and married April 13, 1867, to Adam Hctrick, 
a farmer of Wayne township ; Samuel, who was 
born April 2, 1842, married Rachel Biddinger, 
and served two years in the 78th regiment. Pa. 
Vol. Infantry, during the late war; AVilliam D., 
a farmer of Indiana county, born December 27, 
1843, and married Lizzie Watt, and after her 
death married Lydia Gaston ; George J.; John J., 
a farmer, born January 3, 1848, and married 
Hannah McGregor; Daniel B., boni February 
7, 1850, and died November 12, 1860; Rachel, 
born February 28, 1852, and died October 26, 
1860; Rosanna, born March 23, 1856; Peter 
H., born April 25, 1858, married Samantha 
Hetrick and is now engaged in farming; Maggie, 
born May 20, 1865, married to R. C. Berkey, 
the proprietor of "Coifin's House," at Kersey, 
Elk county. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



563 



George J. Smith was reared on his father's 
farm, received a good coraraon-school education 
and in his early manhood was engaged in lum- 
bering. He afterwards turned his attention to 
his present business of farming and stock-raising. 
He owns one hundred and forty-five acres of 
well-improved land in Red Bank township, 
which is underlaid with coal, limestone and fire- 
brick clay. 

On Christmas day, 1880, he married Sevilla 
C. Wise, a daughter of Jonas and Sarah (Fite) 
Wise, and a member of the Lutheran church. 
Mr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of two sous 
and one daughter : Jerry T., born October 7, 
1881; James P., boru June 12, 1883; and 
Maggie Amolda, born April 9, 1885. 

In politics George J. Smith is a republican 
and served for three years as supervisor of Red 
Bank township. Mr. Smith is noted for i)eing 
an excellent farmer, as well as a careful busi- 
ness man and good citizen. His farm is neatly 
fenced, well-improved and kept in fine order. 



THOMAS F. STOCKDILL, M.D., a promi- 
nent physician of Rural Valley and a 
skillful and well-known surgeon of the county, 
is a son of Joseph S. and Catherine (Foster) 
Stockdill, and was born in Mahoning township, 
Armslrong county, Pennsylvania, August 4, 
1854. Tiie Stockdill family is of Scotch-Irish 
descent. Clark Stockdill (grandfather) was 
born in Ireland, whicii he left to settle in West- 
moreland county, where he remained but a 
short time and then came to Mahoning town- 
ship, in which he followed farming. In poli- 
tics he was an old-line whig, and a member of 
the Presbyterian church. He married and 
reared a family of eight children, of whom 
were: Joseph S., Thomas, William, James, 
George and Margaret. Joseph S. Stockdill 
(father) was born in Armstrong county, in 
1822. In early life he was engaged iu mercan- 



tile business, but afterwards turned his atten- 
tion to farming and removed to Wayne town- 
ship, where he owns two hundred and fifty 
acres of land which is underlaid with coal and 
other minerals. His farm is one of the most 
valuable in the county. He was well known 
as a stock-raiser for many years, but at the 
present has retired from active life. He was a 
whig and is a republican and has served as 
school director of -Wayne township. He is a 
member of the Protestant Epi.scopal church, in 
which he served for many years as a vestry- 
man. He married Catherine Foster, a daughter 
of Thomas Foster, and to tiieir union were 
born seven children, four .sons and three daugh- 
ters: G. Clark, residing on the homestead farm 
and who has served six terms as county super- 
intendent; David J. (deceased); Dr. Thomas 
F., Joshua F., a farmer of near Dayton; 
Margery, dead ; Alice C, and Mary, deceased ; 
Mrs. Stockdill is a daughter of Thomas Foster 
(maternal grandfather), who was a native of 
Ireland. He settled in Wayne township, where 
he was a prosperous farmer. He was a demo- 
crat in politics and a member of the Protestant 
Episcopal church. He married and had seven 
children, three sons and four daughters: David, 
John, Joshua, Margery, Rebecca, Catherine and 
]\fartha. 

Thomas F. Stockdill was reared on his 
father's farm and received his education in the 
common schools and Glade Run academy. He 
read medicine with Dr. Albert Calhoun, of 
Goheenville and entered Jefferson Medical col- 
lege of Philadelphia, from which he was grad- 
uated in the class of 1878. After graduation, 
he came to Rural Valley, where he entered 
upon the practice of his profession. He re- 
turned to Jefferson Medical college, where ho 
afterwards took a post-graduate course, and 
acted as assistant demonstrator in the surgical 
department. He is a skillful surgeon and his 
services in that line are in great demand over a 
wide area of territory. 



564 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



On October 21, 1881, he married Nettie 
Gourley, daughter of George A. Gourley, of 
Rural Valley, and a member of the Presbyter- 
ian church. Dr. and Mi-s. Stockdill have three 
children : Annie L. O., George F. and Joseph S. 

Dr. Stockdill is an active republican and one 
of the vigilant committeemen of his party. He 
is a member of Rural Valley Lodge, No. 323, 
Junior Order of United American Mechani3S, 
and Rural Valley Presbyterian church. 



' » 1803, William and Catherine Marshall 
came to Wayne township, Armstrong county. 



and settled upon Glade run, near the present 
town of Dayton, being the first settlers upon the 
stream named, and having no neighbors nearer 
than five miles. They had a family of six 
sons and three daughters. The names of the 
sons were : Joseph, William, John, James, 
Robert and Sanmel ; and the daughters were : 
Elizabeth (McClelland), Mary (Findley), and 
Margaret (Irwin). 

"The family was unable to secure a title to 
the laud on which they first located, and in 1813 
moved to the spot where the home of William 
Marshall now is, where they built a house 
and lived the remainder of their allotted 
years." 



HOVEY, PERRY, BRADY'S BEND, WASHINGTON, MADISON AND 

MAHONING TOWNSHIPS. 



Historical and Descriptive. — These six town- 
ships lie in the northern part of the county. 

Nearly all of Hovey, the eastern parts of 
Perry and Brady's Bend, nearly all of Wash- 
ington and Madison, and all of Mahoning, 
except the central part, are in the Lower Pro- 
ductive Coal measures and contain veins of the 
ferriferous lime. The remainder of these town- 
shijjs are in the Lower Barren measures and 
contain some very large areas of the Upper 
Freeport Coal bed. The Pottsville Conglomer- 
ate extends along the Allegheny river. Hovey, 
Perry and Brady's Bend townships are in the 
Butler Clarion Oil belt. 

Hovey Toicnship derives its name from Dr. 
Simeon Hovey and was formed in 1870, from 
Perry township. Alexander Gibson and Joseph 
Thoni were early settlers, and in 1812 Elisha 
Robinson came from Connecticut. 

Perry Tou-nship was formed in 1845 from 
Sugar Creek township. Among the pioneers 
who came between 1796 and 1800, were Wil- 
liam Love, Joiin Binkerd, Jacob Truby, Isaac 
Steel and Michael Shajiely. Queenstown, 
which is named after .James Queen, was 
founded about 1848 and was incorporatefl in 
1858. 

Brady's Bend Touniship was organized iu 
1845. Its territory was a farming district until 
1839, when the Great Western Iron works were 
built. They ran until the panic of 1873, and 
often employed as high as 1500 operatives. 



The town of Brady's Bend owes its origin to 
the establishment of those works. 

Washington Township was created in 1858, 
and was taken from Sugar Creek township. 
Henry Wattersou founded Wattersonville, which 
was surveyed into forty-four lots, on August 6, 
1842, by Marcus Hulings, Jr. Van Buren 
was surveyed and laid out on July 19tii and 
20th, 1837, and named after the seventh presi- 
dent of the United States. 

Madison Township, named after the fourth 
president of the United States, was taken from 
the territory of Toby and Red Bank townships 
on Sept. 22, 1837. In the southwestern part 
of this township occurred one of Capt. Samuel 
Brady's most successful fights with Indians, 
which has been already noticed iu this volume. 
The Holland Land company owned the most of 
the land in this township. Kellersburg was laid 
out July 19, 1842, and Duncansville in 1854. 

Mahoning Township was erected out of Madi- 
son, Pine, Wayne and Re<l Bank townships on 
September 20, 1851 , and was named for Mahon- 
ing creek, which was declared a public highway 
in 1808. The Mahoning Navigation company 
was incorporated in 1858. Oakland was laid 
out in 1848, by the name of Texas, and Put- 
ney ville was founded in 1841. The Red Bank 
Caunel Coal company was incorporated in 
1871, and their coal vein, No. 5, atBostonia is 
the largest cannel coal vein iu the United 
States. 

565 



566 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



EUGENE L. BROWN, a liueal descendant 
of the Brown family who came over in the 
Mayflower, and a leading druggist and busi- 
nessman of Putney ville, is a son of Orlando 
Howell and Margaret (Graham) Brown and was 
born at Brookville, Jefferson county, Pa., Sep- 
tember 11, 1860. The Browns are of Eng- 
lish descent, and his great-great-grandfather 
Brown was one of the " Pilgrim Fathers " who 
came over in 1820. His grandson, the grand- 
father of E. L. Brown, was a native of Connec- 
ticut, from whence he removed to Angelica, 
New York. He was a machinist by trade, and 
when he removed (about 1830) to Brookville, 
Jefferson county, he brought workmen with him 
and built the first machine-sho{3 of that place, 
where he afterwards erected a furniture factory. 
He was an intelligent, well-educated man, and 
while he was nominally a democrat, yet he ad- 
hered to no party creed, but voted for the candi- 
date who, in his estimation, was best fitted for 
the office. One of his sons, Orlando Howell 
Brown (father), was born in Angelica, New 
York, in 1834. He learned the trade of cabinet- 
maker, and was for a while in partnership with 
his father. He afterwards removed to Rey- 
noldsville, Jefferson county, where he engaged 
in the furniture and undertaking; business until 
his death, in 1879, wiien he was in the forty- 
sixth year of his age. He was a democrat, and 
married Margaret Graham. They had one 
child: Eugene L., the subject of this sketch. 
Mrs. Brown died in 1860, and Mr. Brown mar- 
ried Mary Frier, by whom he had two sons 
and three daughters. Mrs. Margaret Brown 
was born in 1838 and died in 1860. She was a 
woman of fine intellect, and universally beloved. 
Her great-grandffither Graham was a native of 
Scotland, from whence he removed to Ireland, 
and one of his sons emigrated from that coun- 
try to Pennsylvania and settled at North Wash- 
ington, where he married a Miss McCalvin, a 



daughter of Hon. McCalvin, a member of the 
Pennsylvania legislature. Her husband dying 
early in life, left Mrs. (McCalvin) Graham with 
five small children, which she reared and gave 
a liberal and classical education. To the influ- 
ence of her noble character, her son, Thomas 
Graham (maternal grandfather), always attrib- 
uted all the success of his after life. 

Eugene L. Brown attended thejjublic schools, 
Oakland academy and Clarion seminary, and 
then learned the trade of tinner at Putneyville. 
In May, 1882, he opened a hardware store at 
Putneyville, but in November of the following 
year he embarked in the drug business with 
Dr. Klingensmith, under the firm-name of 
Brown & Klingensmith. In May, 1877, Dr. 
Kliugensnjith died, and Mr. Brown formed a 
partnership with Mr. D. I. Sliick, which lasted 
until February, 1888, when they dissolved bus- 
iness. Since then Mr. Brown has continued in 
the drug business successfully up to the present 
time. He manufactures all kinds of handles, 
which he sells direct to the trade. He owned 
a printing establishment at one time and did a 
large amount of job work. 

September 11, 1879, he married Nora Ah'a 
Putney, a daughter of Thompson Putney, of Put- 
neyville. To their union have been born four 
children, "two sons and two daughters: Tillie 
H., Nellie A., Ralph E. and Lloyd O. 

Eugene L. Brown is a republican in politics. 
He is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal 
church of Putneyville, of which both he and 
his wife are esteemed members. He is a mem- 
ber of Lodge No. 735, Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows at Putneyville, and Lodge No. 
245, Knights of Pythias, of which latter organ- 
ization he has been keeper of the records and 
seals since its organization in May, 1889. 



SAMUEL CATHCART, of Mahoning 
township, is one of the old and well-known 
citizens of northern Armstrong county. He is 



ARMSTRONO COUNXY. 



567 



a son of Robert and Jane (Thoni) Cathcart, and 
was born in Mahoning townsiiip, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1805. His 
father, Robert Cathcart, was born in Westmore- 
land county, about 1774, but in early life removed 
to Sugar Creek township, this county, and prior 
to 1805 came to Mahoning township, where he j 
was engaged in farming until his death, in 1848, 
at seven ty-fuur years of age. He was one of 
the first, if not the first, white settler in the 
township. He was an old-line whig, a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, and 
married Jane Thorn, a daughter of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Craig) Thom. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Cathcart were born fourteen children. Mrs. 
Cathcart's father, Joseph Thom (maternal grand- i 
father), was a native of county Down, Ireland, 
from whence he came to Pennsylvania and set- 
tled on Jacob's creek, Westmoreland county. In 
1820 he went to the State of Indiana, where he 
afterwards died. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation, and a member of the Presbyterian 
church. 

Samuel Cathcart was reared on his father's 
farm, received a good business education, and 
iuis been engaged in agricultural pursuits in 
Mahoning township ever since leaving school. 
He owns one hundred acres of good farming 
and grazing land, upon which he resides. 

In February, 1832, he married Annie Reed. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Cathcart were born seven 
children : Robert, Jane, Jame.s, Joseph, Ma- 
tilda, Catherine and Margaret. After the 
death of Mrs. Cathcart, in 1848, Mr. Cath- 
cart united in marriage, December 7, 1848, 
with Mi"s. Margaret J. Brown, a daughter 
of Moses McClain. To this second union have 
been born five children, of whom three are liv- 
inir : Sarah, Isabelle and Sanmel B. One of 
Mr. Cathcart's sons by his first marriage, Robert 
Cathcart, enlisted in 1861 in Co. D, 103d regi- 
ment, Pa. Vols., and served until April 19, 
1864, when he was taken prisoner and sent to 
Anderson ville, where he died on August 29, 



1864, and his grave there bears the number 
7176. His step-brother, William Scott Brown, 
enlisted in 1861 in Co. D, 103d regiment. Pa. 
Vols., served eight months, and died of measles 
at Yorktowu. James I. Brown, who enlLsted 
July, 4, 1861, in Co. D, 62d regiment. Pa. 
Vols., was wounded on the 13th of December, 
of the same year, at Fredericksburg and came 
home, but as soon as he recovered from his 
wound he served a short time in the Home 
guards, after which he enlisted, in January, 
1864, in the 3d Pa. Heavy Artillery, and served 
until his death, January 27, 1865. 

In politics Samuel Cathcart is a stanch re- 
publican, and has filled the office of constable 
of Mahoning township for six years, and filled 
other offices of profit and trust. Mr. Cathcart 
distinctly recollects seeing Indians near his 
father's farm when there where but three white 
families in Mahoning township — the Cathcarts, 
Blakeleys and Parkei"s. 



"TAMES FOWLER was one of the most 
^ useful citizens as well as one of the most 
successful business men of Arm.strong county, 
and his death was sincerely mourned by the 
many poor, whom he had befriended, as well as 
the large circle of his friends and acquaint- 
ances. He was a sou of Johu and Frances 
(Turner) Fowler, and was born in Parker 
township, Butler county, Pennsylvania, in 1817. 
John Fowler was born in Bucks county, on the 
day when American Independence was declared, 
and came to Westmoreland county, where, in 
1802, he married Margaret Carson, who died in 
1803 and left one child. He was a carpenter 
and millwright and removed from Westmore- 
land to Butler county, where, in 1807, he mar- 
ried Frances Turner and reared a family of six 
children, of whom tliree were James, Sarah 
and Margaret C. 

James Fowler was reared on the farm and 
obtained his education in the schools of his 



568 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



neighborhood, which at that day were far in- | 
ferior to those of the present day. He learned 
the trade of carpenter and-cabinet-raaker, which j 
he followed for several years. In 1851 became 
to Armstrong county, purchasing and settling 
upon twenty-nine acres of rough, unimproved i 
land in what is now Hovey township. This he 
cleared and brought into good condition, hand- 
ling some of the timber upon it (and much 
more besides) in a saw-mill, which he put up in 
1852, and which he operated for six years. In 
1859 he went across the Allegheny and leased 
a hotel at Fo.xburg, which he carried on for 
seven years. In the mean time it had been 
found that the lands in the northwestern part of 
Armstrong county were valuable oil territory, 
and he sold his hotel lease and began leasing his 
land in small parcels to the operators who 
thronged into the country. Soon some test 
wells were put down and petroleum found in 
abundance. He received from one-sixth to one- 
quarter of the oil produced upon his land as 
royalty, and it was only a comparatively short 
time before he had $40,000 in the bank as a re- 
sult. Not long afterward he and the Messrs. 
Fox, of Foxburg, established the ferry at that 
place, which proved a profitable investment. The 
amount of travel, however, became so great that 
an iron bridge was thrown across the river to 
accommodate it, and in this he invested about 
twenty thousand dollars. He retained his 
interest in this until it was sold to the railroad 
company. Mr. Fowler had, in addition to the 
place where he resided, a good farm of about a 
hundred and twenty-eight acres in Kittauuing 
township, a farm in Plum Creek township, and 
a valuable property at Manorville. He ranked 
among the most enterprising citizens of the 
county, was a man of large usefulness to the 
people among whom he lived and his friendly 
and kindly disposition made him generally 
esteemed. 

On February 22, 1844, he united in marriage 
with Ann L. Leonard. To their union were 



born six children, of whom four lived to 
maturity : Marion L., Charlotte A., who mar- 
ried Phillip Foust, of St. Petersburg, Clarion 
county, and died in August, 1888, aged forty- 
two years; James T., married to Hannah 
E. Roof and resides on the home farm ; and 
Nelson M., who married Jennie R. Reefl and 
lives near Manorville, where he owns and con- 
ducts a drug store. Mrs. Fowler is an amiable 
and pleasant woman, has been a consistent 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church for 
many years and resides upon the home farm. 

James Fowler was a republican and an earn- 
est member of the M. E. church. In 1876 he 
was stricken down with a paralytic stroke, from 
which he never recovered, and on April 18, 
1886, his spirit passed from earth. His remains 
lie entombed in a beautiful cemetery, but his 
life-work will long be remembered in his com- 
munity, where he labored successfully for the 
benefit of his fellow-citizens, as well as for his 
own interests. 



pAPTAIN JOSEPH K. HAMILTON, a 

\ ^ resident of New Bethlehem and a leading 
and influential citizen of Mahoning township, is 

1 a son of Samuel and Rebecca (Brunton) Ham- 
ilton, and was born in Mifflin township, Alle- 
gheny county, Pennsylvania, July 7, 1817. 
James Hamilton (grandlather), was a native of 
Ireland, and lived and died in the land of his 
birth. One of his sons, Samuel Hamilton 
(father), learned the trade of cabinet-maker and 
emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania, where 
he settled in Mifflin township, Allegheny 
county.' He purchased a farm of three hundred 
acres of land, and gave his entire attention to 
farming. He cut timber and built a grist and 
saw-mill, which he run for several years. He 
then turned his attention again to agricultural 
pursuits, which he followed until his death, 
which occurred in 1848, when he was in the 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



5G9 



seventy -sixth year of his age. He was a whig 
and afterwards a republican, and was for a 
number of years justice of the peace for Mifflin 
township. He was a member of the United 
Presbyterian ciiurch, with which he had united 
in Ireland. His first wife either died at sea or 
soon after arriving in America, and left three 
children. Mr. Hamilton married for his 
second wife Rebecai Brunton, and to their 
union were born six children, five sons and one 
daughter. 

Joseph K. Hamilton was rearefl on a farm, 
and after receiving a common-school education 
worked on his father's farm until April 1, 1855, 
when he removed to Mahoning township, where 
he purchased his present farm of two hundred 
and fifty acres of land, which he cultivated un- 
til the fall of 1890, when he retired from active 
life. Since then he has resided in a comfortable 
and pleasant residence, which he built at New 
Bethlehem. On November 13, 1861, he en- 
listed in Co. D, 103d regiment. Pa. Vols., of 
which he was elected captain. His twin sons, 
Samuel and John, enlisted as privates in the 
same company. The captain and both his sons 
were taken down, at Yorktown, Va., with 
fever, of which Samuel died June 1, 1862 
Captain Hamilton was compelled to resign on 
April 9, 1862, on account of physical disability 
resulting from his attack of fever. 

On March 4, 1841, Captain Hamilton mar- 
ried Eliza Eyman, of Mifflin township, Alle- 
gheny county. Pa., and to their union were 
born twelve children, of whom only two sons 
and two daughters are living. After the death 
of Mrs. Hamilton, on May 28, 1881, he mar- 
ried on March 16, 1883, for his second wife, 
Mrs. Catherine Ridgeway, a daughter of Joseph 
Hines, of Clarion county. She was one of 
thirteen children, and one of her brothers, 
John, enlisted in 1861, in Co. E, 62d regiment. 
Pa. Vols., was wounded at Hatcher's run, and 
again at Gettysburg, where he was cap- 
tured by the Confederates, but re-captured by 
34 



the Union forces before he had been taken 
from the battle-field. By her first husband, 
Mrs. Catherine Hamilton had seven chil- 
dren, five sons and two daughters : Clarissa A., 
wife of W. M. Cribbs, of Du Bois; John 
(deceased ; M. E. Ridgeway living at Drift- 
wood, Pa. ; Cassius (deceased) ; Frankic; (de- 
ceased); Ida, wife of Harvey Kuntzelma; and 
Joseph (deceased). 

Captain Joseph K. Hamilton was a whig 
until 1856, when he became one of the first re- 
publicans in the county. He is a member of 
the Presbyterian church, of which he has served 
as clerk. He has always been industrious, 
prominent and successful in whateverbusiness he 
has been engaged and now enjoys the fruits of his 
many years of honest toil. 



PETER C. HETRICK. The lumber business 
is an important industry, and among the 
leading lumber manufacturei-s in the northern 
part of the county is Peter C. Hetrick, of Put- 
neyville. He is a son of John and Catharine 
(Reedy) Hetrick, and was born in Mahoning 
township, Armstrong county. Pa., February 15, 
1840. Nicholas Hetrick (grandfather) was a 
native of Germany, from which he emigrated 
to Pennsylvania and settled, first at German- 
town, but afterwards removed to Bellefonte. 
He remained there a short time and then came 
to the site of Dublin in Mahoning township. 
He made the latter part of the trip in a canoe. 
At Dublin he and his family cleared a tract of 
land and met with many adventures with bears 
and other wild animals. They had for their 
nearest neighbor Philip Shoemaker, who lived 
near the site of Oakland. He afterwards 
removed to the mouth of Red Bank creek, 
where he died. He had four children by his 
first wife, and married for his* second wife a 
Miss Nolf, by whom he had five children, three 
sons and two daughters. He was a member of 



570 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



the Lutheran church, and one of his sous, John 
Hetrick (father), was born in 1813 near Caldwell 
furnace, where he followed farming for many 
years. He now resides at Oakland. He is a 
republican in politics, and a member of the 
German Baptist church. He married Cath- 
erine Reedy, a daughter of Johu Reedy, a 
farmer of Armstrong county, who lived and 
died near Goheenville, where he was a member 
of the Lutheran chui-ch, and where he reared a 
large family. To Mr. and Mrs. Hetrick were 
born thirteen children, nine of whom are still 
living, and two of whom, Peter C. and Joseph, 
served in the late civil war. Joseph enlisted 
in 1863 in Co. M, 14th Pa. Cavalry, served 
till the end of the war and participated with 
his regiment in Sheridan's campaigns in the 
Shenandoah Valley. After the death of Mrs. 
Hetrick, Mr. Hetrick married Mrs. Catharine 
(Rhodes) Anthony, and to this second union 
have been born four children, all of whom 
are living. 

Peter C. Hetrick received a common -school 
education, and learned the trade of carpenter. 
For several years he engaged in lumbering, and 
about the year 1873 he built a saw-mill, run 
by water-power, on Price's run. In 1875 he 
sold this mill and purchased a portable saw- 
mill, which he operated from Red Bank town- 
ship to Furnace Hollow, near where, in 1877, 
the mill and lumber-yard were burned, thereby 
causing him a loss of some five thousand dol- 
lars. He then moved to Putneyville and pur- 
chased another portable saw-mill, which he 
operated until he was again burned out in 
1884. By the second fire he lost some eight 
thousand dollars. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. 
K, 155th regt.. Pa. Vols. (Zouaves), and served 
till the close of the war, participating in the 
battles of Antietam, second battle of Bull Run, 
Ciiancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, 
Raccoon Fording, and the battles of the Wil- 
derness, in one of which he was captured by 
the Confederates and sent to Anderson ville, 



where he suflPered all the privations of prison- 
life until he was exchanged. 

On March 19, 1868, he married Maria Shoe- 
maker, daughter of Jessie Shoemaker. They 
have three children : Carrie, Clodie and Jennie. 

Peter C. Hetrick is a reliable citizen and a 
member of the German Baptist church. 



JOSEPH W. JAMES, M.D., the inventor 
and manufacturer of James' widely-known 
and standard proprietary medicines, and a 
practicing physician at Brady's Bend, is a son 
of James and Agnes (Williamson) James, and 
was born at Aaronsburg, Haines township, 
Centre county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1826. 
His father, James James, was born in Delaware 
in 1784, was a merchant at Millheim, in Centre 
county, for some time, and removed to this 
county in 1837. He atteniled the Presbyterian 
church, and in politics was a democrat. He 
died December 7th, 1854, aged seventy years. 
In 1825 he married Agnes Williamson, a 
daughter of John Williamson, of Salina, Cen- 
tre county, Pa., and they had five children : 
Dr. Joseph W., Robert M., born in 1829, and 
an oil producer and insurance broker, who 
married Susan Kirkpatrick, of Westmoreland 
county, a sister of Judge Kirkpatrick, of Pitts- 
burgh ; Elizabeth, born in 1832, and wife of 
Dr. T. C. McCulloch, of Oil City, Pa. ; Barbara 
J., born in 1835, and married Dr. S. B. Van 
Valzah, of Durand, 111. ; and Samuel C, 
who was born in 1838 and died in 1844. 

Dr. Joseph W. James was reared in Centre 
and Armstrong counties, and received his edu- 
cation in the schools of Millheim in the former, 
and of Freeport in the latter county. Leaving 
school, he was engaged in teaching at Freeport 
for three years, and then worked for several 
months on the daily Sua, of Pittsburgh. In 
1842 he commenced the study of medicine 
with Dr. T. B. Williamson, but completed his 
course of reading with Dr. David Alter. He 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



571 



atteudetl lectures at Jefferson Medical college 
and Pennsylvania Medical college, in the 
years 1846 and 1847. He then returned to 
Freeport, and in the spring of 1847 com- 
menced the practice of his profession at Brady's 
Bend. In March, 1851, he went to California 
and became connected with the " Mokelurane 
Hill mine company," in which venture he was 
pecuniarily successful. He returned to Brady's 
Bend the following year and resumed the prac- 
tice of medicine, which he has pursued success- 
fully ever since. He is the inventor, proprietor 
and manufacturer of "James' Stillingiue and 
Sarsaparilla," " James' Cherry Tar Syrup," 
"James' Hair Tonic," "James' Soothing Syrup 
Cordial," "James' Rheumatic Linament," and 
" James' Liver Pills." 

On Octoljer 13, 1853, he married Margaret 
Templeton, daughter of William Templeton, of 
Greenville, Mercer county. Pa. To their union 
have been born five children : Ida, born July 
18, 1854, and wife of C. H. Shepley, a drug- 
gist of Blairsville, Pa. ; Dr. W. D., of Chicago, 
who was born September 13, 1856, was grad- 
uated from the University of Maryland and 
married Olive Abrams, daughter of James 
Abrams, of Rimersburg, Pa. ; Robert C, born 
September 15, 1859, employed by the Standard 
Oil company of Chicago, and married to Laura 
Hershberger, of Johnstown, Pa., Emma E., 
born July 27, 1862, and wife of J. V. Sloan, 
a Harvard law student ; and Edwin C, born 
January 28, 1867. 

Dr. Joseph W. James is a republican in pol- 
itics. He is a member of Lockard Lodge, No. 
1534, Knights of Honor, and a member and 
trustee of the Presbyterian church at Brady's 
Bend. He has been engaged to some extent in 
oil operations, and was the pioneer in the 
Millerstown region, but for the last few yeai"s 
has given his time and attention to the practice 
of his profession, and the introduction of his 
remedies, which are^ sold largely throughout 
Pennsylvania and in adjoining States. 



RICHARD JENNINGS, the present burgess 
of Qtieenstown, is one of those who have 
been closely identified with the oil production 
of Pennsylvania for the last two decades. He 
is a son of Edward and Jenifer (Guudry) Jen- 
ning.s, and was born in Cornwall, England, De- 
cember 23, 1819. One hundred and twenty 
years before the Christian era a wheel driven 
by a jet of steam, revolved in Egypt's mighty 
capital, and more than nineteen succeeding cen- 
turies were numbered in the flight of time be- 
fore this whirling toy upon the banks ot the 
dark Nile developed into the mighty steam-en- 
gine of modern civilization, under the hands of 
Boulton and Watt. Both desired to have their first 
low-pressure engine built; they naturally sought 
for one of the best mechanics of the age, and 
employed John Jennings, the paternal grand- 
father of Richard Jennings. John Jennings 
was born in Sussex county, England. He was 
a member of the Church of England, and mar- 
ried Mary Newlau. They had seven children, 
three sons and four daughters. The sons were: 
John, Edward and Thomas. Their second son, 
Capt. Edward .Jennings (father of Richard Jen- 
nings), was born in Cornwall, England, in 1774, 
and was killed in April, 1820, by the breaking 
of a rope in a mine of which he was su2)erin- 
tendent at the time. He was a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal cliurch, and in 1801 mar- 
ried Jenifer Gundry, a daughter of Henry and 
Mary Gundry. To Mr. and Mrs. Jennings 
were born nine children, four sons and five 
daughters, of whom three are still living. 
Henry Gundry (maternal grandfather) was born 
in Cornwall, England, about 1740, and died in 
1819. He was a member of the Protestant 
Episcopal church and married Mary Ivy, by 
whom he had eight children, two sons and six 
daughtei's. 

Richard Jennings was reared in Cornwall 
and attended the excellent private schools of 
that place. He commenced life for himself as a 
miner and rose successively from position to 



572 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



position in the mines until he became general 
mine superintendent. In 1841 he located at 
Brady's Bend, where he remained until 1868, 
when he came to Queeustown. For the last 
twenty years he has been one of the prominent 
oil producers of Pennsylvania. 

In November, 1849, he married Annie 
Evans, who died in August, 1850, and in April, 
1851, he married for his second wife, Catherine 
Evans, who was born at Merthyr Tydvill, 
Wales, May 19, 1831. To this second union 
were born eleven children : E. H., born August 
10, 1852, and now an oil producer in Allegheny 
county ; Annie, born January 23, 1854, and 
wife of N. F. Sloan, of Pittsburgh ; Mary C, 
born April 9, 1857, and married Charles Grif- 
fith, of Johnstown, Pa.; John E., born December 
29, 1859, and died April 15, 1860 ; Richard 
M., born September 10, 1861, and now an oil 
producer of Bradford, Pa. ; John G., born 
July 28, 1864, and now an oil producer at 
Butler; Jenifer G., born September 21, 1868 ; 
Sarah E., born October 8, 1870; Laura J., 
born April 11, 1873, and Evan D., who was 
born August 8, 1877. 

Richard Jennings is a member of Kittanning 
Lodge, No. 244, F. and A. M., and a member and 
vestryman of the Protestant Episcopal church. 
He is a democrat in politics and was elected 
burgess of Queenstown in 1880. Mr. Jennings 
is well-informed on tlie leading industries of 
the day and his life has been one of activity and 
success in the business world. 



NICHOLAS KEENER, an enterprising and 
successful farmer and butcher of Brady's 
Bend, is a son of Sebastian and Mary Keener, and 
was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1844. 
His father, Sebastian Keener, was born in Ger- 
many about 1808, and emigrated from the 
Fatherland to the United States and settled at 
Mount Oliver, in Pittsburgh, where he followed 
coal-mining for some years and then engaged 



successfully in buying and selling stock. He 
was a member of the Catholic church at Pitts- 
burgh, when he died in 1853. He married and 
had four children, three sons and one daughter : 
Catherine, who was born in 1840, and is the 
wife of Charles Sellers, a glass-blower of South 
Side, Pittsburgh ; Philip, born in 1842, and 
now an iron-worker at South Side ; Nicholas, 
and John, who was born in 1846, and is now 
engaged in the butchering and grocery business 
at New Bethlehem, Pa. 

Nicholas Keener attended the public schools 
of Pittsburgh, and in 1862 removed to Brady's 
Bend, where he has since followed successfully 
the butchering business. He is also engaged in 
farming. He owns and cultivates thirty acres 
of land in Brady's Bend township and two 
hundred acres of land in Sugar Creek township. 
He enlisted in a regiment of Pa. Vols, and 
served three months. 

February 12, 1867, he married Catherine 
Uhl, daughter of Augustus Uhl, a mine-over- 
seer of Brady's Bend. To this union have been 
born eleven children, five sous and six daugh- 
ters : an infant, born December 6, 1867, and 
(lied in early infiiney ; Mary A., born December 
25, 1868 ; Augustus, born January 18, 1871 ; 
Frank, born January 22, 1873 ; Nicholas, Jr., 
born January 31, 1875; Daniel, born April 18, 
1877; Ella, born May 8, 1879; Maggie, born 
September 22, 1881 ; Catherine, born Decem- 
ber 1, 1883; Philip, born April 10, 1885, and 
Annie, born November 6, 1888. 

Nicholas Keener is a member of St. Patrick's 
Catholic church at Brady's Bend, and is an un- 
compromising democrat. Mr. Keener's excellent 
judgment of weights and measures accounts for 
some of his success in the cattle and butchering 
business. He has strength of purpose and keen 
perception, and has never been led into vision- 
ary or impracticable business projects. He has 
always been fortunate in his investments in 
property, and has acquired a competency by in- 
dustry and economy. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



570 



SIMON NOLF, a comfortably situated farm- 
er of Mahoning township, is one of the 
veterans who fought on Lookout mountain 
amid the clouds and under Thomas when he 
crushed Hood. He is a son of Casper and Eve 
(Hetrick) Nolf, and was born in what was then 
Red Bank township, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, April 4th, 1826. His paternal grand- 
father, Nolf, was born in Germany. He came 
to the eastern part of Pennsylvania, from 
whence he removed to Red Bank township, 
where he was engaged in farming until his 
death, which occurred in 1830 or 1840, when he 
attained the advanced age of one hundred and 
three years. He was a Lutheran and a demo- 
crat. Casper Nolf (father) was born in eastern 
Pennsylvania and removed to Clarion county, 
where, after a stay of some time, he left to come 
to Mahoning township. He was there engaged 
in farming until his death, in 1863, at ninety- 
two years of age. He was a democrat, and a 
member of the Evangelical Lutheran church. 
He married Eve Hetrick, whose father was a 
native of Germany and passed the greater part 
of his life as a soldier. He first served in the 
German army and after being discharged from 
the troop in which he was a private, he came to 
Pennsylvania, where he enlisted in the Ameri- 
can army, in which he served until the close of 
the Revolutionary war. Mr. and Mrs. Nolf 
were the })arents of nine children. 

Simon Nolf obtained a common-school educa- 
tion and learned the trade of boat-builder, 
which he followed for several years. He then 
purchased his present farm of eighty acres and 
turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. 
By industry and economy he has succeeded well 
and has a very desirable and well-improved 
farm. He also owns the " Nolf House " and 
three town lots at Putneyville. On October 
12, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Co. B, 78th 
regiment. Pa. Infantry, and served till the close 
of the war, participating in all the battles in 
which his regiment was engaged. He was at 



Chickamauga, climbed Lookout mountain, served 
under Gen. Sherman when he commenced the 
famous " March to the Sea," and then his regi- 
ment was sent to Gen. Thomas and he was in 
the great fight that destroyed Hood's army. 

On February 14, 1850, he married Savilla 
Rugh, of Westmoreland county. To their 
union have been born seven children, two sons 
and five daughters : Clarissa (deceased) ; Aman- 
da, Hannah C, Alice A., Turney G., Nancy J. 
and Lemuel C. (deceased). 

In politics Simon Nolf is a democrat. He 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
while his wife is a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church. 



HARVEY PARK, a wounded Union vete- 
ran soldier of the late civil war and a 
prosperous farmer of Brady's Bend township, 
is a son of James and Elizabeth (Duff) Park, 
and was born at Wilkinsburg, in Sterrett town- 
ship, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, April 1, 
1825. The Park family is of Irish descent, 
and Mr. Park's paternal grandfather, AYilliam 
Park, emigrated from Ireland to America in 
1793, and settled in the Chissococquallis valley. 
Pa., from whence he removed to Pittsburgh, in 
1800. He was a stone-mason by trade, but 
after he went to Pittsburgh he engaged in farm- 
ing. He was a member of the Presbyterian 
church and a Free Mason, and voted the dem- 
ocratic ticket. He married Mary McCune, and 
had seven children : John, born in 1794, was a 
stone-mason in Allegheny city ; David, born in 
1798, was a wheelwright and farmer in Beaver 
county; William, born in 1800, was a farmer 
on Sandy Creek, in Allegheny county ; Robert 
M., born in 1802, was a carpenter, and removed to 
St. Louis in 1833 ; Thomas, born in 1804, was a 
farmer in Allegheny county ; and Jane, who was 
born in 1806. James Park (father of Harvey 
: Park) was born in 1796, and was a blacksmith by 
trade. In 1839 he removed to Butler county, 



574 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



where he bought a farm which he cultivated 
until his death, March 4, 1860. In 1824 he 
married Elizabeth Duff, by whom he had five 
children : Harvey, Hettie J., born July 4, 
1827, married Thomas Patterson, and died in 
1854; William W., born in 1829, and died in 
1832; an infant, born in 1836, and died in 
1836; and Mary E., boru in 1834, and wife of 
James Beswarick, a miner at Sandy Creek. 
After the death of his first wife, in 1842, Jnmes 
Park married Mrs. Jane Stewart, in 1848. To 
this union were born three children Mrs. 
Elizabeth (Duff) Park, the first wife, was a 
daughter of John Duff (maternal grandfather), 
of Allegheny county, who was a soldier during 
the Revolution, and was wounded while in the 
service. He was a farmer and moved to Pitts- 
burgh in 1790. He was a member of the Pres- 
byterian church and a Free Mason. He had 
eleven children : James, Joiin, Willianj, George, 
David, Samuel, Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, 
Hettie and Matilda. 

Harvey Park attended the subscription schools 
of Wilkinsburg, from whence he removed to 
Sunbury, Pa., and afterwards, on September 
4, 1853, to Brady's Bend, Armstrong county, 
where he engaged in wagon-making. August 
22, 18G2, he enlisted in Co. C, 139th regiment. 
Pa. Vols., for three years. On July 1, 1863, 
he was promoted from corporal to sergeant, and 
on September 2, 1863, to first sergeant. He 
was transferred to the Vet. Res. corps on De- 
cember 30, 1864, and was mustered out of the 
service August 31, 1865. He helped bury the 
Union dead at Bull's Run, and participated in 
the battles of Fi-edericksburg, Chancellorsville 
(where his regiment was complimented by Gen. 
Wlieaton for its gallant service), Gettysburg 
and all the hard fighting from the Rapidan to 
Appomattox Court-house. He was M'ounded in 
the thigh at Cold Harbor, June 2, 1864, and 
still carries tbe ball which struck him. He 
was also wounded in one of the Wilderness 
fights and at Spottsylvania. 



On May 15, 1849, he married Mary Cum- 
berland. They had two children : Mina E., 
born January 22, 1850, and wife of Walter 
Moody ; and Sylvester J., born May 17, 1853. 
Mr.s. Park died January 31, 1854, and Novem- 
ber 6, 1856, Mr. Park married Elizabeth My- 
ers, daughter of Adam Myers, of Brady's Bend. 
To this second union were born four children : 
Hortensia, born September 1, 1857, and wife 
of Melville Rupert, of Indianapolis, Ind. ; Cos- 
tella, born August 31, 1859 ; Cassius M., boru 
September 13, 1860, and died September 22, 
1861 ; and Marion Arminta, born February 13, 
1862 and died August 5, 1863. The second 
wife, Elizabeth (Myers) Park, died April 5, 
1863, and on August 1, 1865, Mr. Park mar- 
ried, for his third wife, Annie E. Slyder, 
daughter of George Slyder, of York county, 
Penna. 

Harvey Park is a member of T. M. Sedwick 
Post, No. 294, G. A. R., of East Brady. He 
is a republican in politics and has filled most of 
the various town.ship offices. 



SAMUEL M. ROB INSON. There are men 
who, by marked business ability, unweary- 
ing energy and great success, command them- 
selves to public attention. To this class, Sam- 
uel M. Robinson, of Hovey township, ju.sfly 
belongs. He is a son of Eli.?ha and Elizabeth 
(Rohcr) Robinson, and was born on the old 
homestead farm in Hovey township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1830. The 
Robinson family is of English descent, and the 
progenitor of the American branch of the fam- 
ily was one of the celebrated Pilgrim Fathers, 
who came over in the 3Iayflower. One of his 
descendants, Andrew Robinson (grandfather), 
married and reared a family, of whom one son 
was Elisha Robinson (father), who was born in 
Windham, Connecticut, December;4, 1791. In 
1814 he settled in Hovey township, on the farm 
now owned by the subject of this sketch. He 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



575 



was a tanner by trade, a democrat in politics, 
and died Octoher 17, 1874 (see sketch of W. B. 
Robinson, of Kittanning). 

Samuel W. Robinson was reared on the farm 
on which he was born, and on which he has 
always resided. He received a good common- 
school and practical business education, and 
learned the trade of tanner with his fother. 
He was actively engaged in tiie tanning busi- 
ness for twenty years, and at the end of that 
time embarked in the oil business in Armstrong 
and adjoining counties. As an oil operator and 
producer, he has been remarkably successful. 
Beside the home farm of one hundred and forty- 
five acres, to which he gives his personal atten- 
tion, and upon which he built, in 1875, one of 
the finest brick dwellings in the county, he 
owns another well improved and highly pro- 
ductive farm of two hundred and eight acres of 
land in Butler county. In addition to farm- 
ing, INIr. Robinson deals, to some extent, in 
stock, and frequently sends fat cattle to the 
eastern markets. 

On September 13, 1860, he married Emma 
L. Prosser, daughter of Charles Prosser, of 
Butler county. To their union have been born 7 
children, of whom four are living, three sons 
and one daughter; Charles P., of Pittsburgh, a 
graduate of Harvard college and law school, 
and a member of the Allegheny county bar; 
Elizabeth R., Paul D. and Frederick A. 

Samuel M. Robinson is a democrat in poli- 
tics, and has held all the offices of Hovey town- 
ship. He is a member of the Protestant Epis- 
copal church of Foxburg, of which he is senior 
warden. For over a quarter of a century Mr. 
Robinson has been interested in every industry 
of any importance in northern Armstrong coun- 
ty, and during that time has projected and car- 
ried forward to successful completion several 
large and intricate business enterprises. He is 
a tireless worker and a close observer, who 
familiarizes himself with every detail of his 
business, which he thus keeps well in hand, and 



thereby has often escaped heavy losses that 
otherwise would have overtaken him. Eco- 
nomical but liberal, exacting in business, but 
generous in charities, Mr. Robinson is justly 
regarded as a public-spirited citizen. 



ELISHA ROBINSON, a progressive and 
successful business man of the Allegheny 
Valley, is a leading citizen of Hovey township, 
and one of the large landholders of Armstrong 
and Butler counties. He was born in Hovey 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
December 4, 1 832, and is the seventh son and 
ninth child of a family of ten children born to 
Elisha and Elizabeth (Rohrer) Robinson. On 
a dreary December day in the year 1620, a little 
band of jiilgrims who had fled from the relig- 
ious intolerance and persecution then prevailing 
in western Europe, landed on a granite boulder 
on the shore of Massachusetts bay, and there, 
in that inhospitable region, amidst discourage- 
ments and hardships almost intolerable, they 
planted deeply the tree of political and relig- 
ious freedom, under whose branches the happy 
millions of American freemen meet to-day. 
One member of this pilgrim band that came 
over in the Mayfiower, and landed on "Plym- 
outh Rock," was the progenitor of the old and 
well-known Robinson family, of Massachusetts. 
One of his numerous descendants was Andrew 
Robinson (grandfather), who settled at Wind- 
ham, Connecticut, where his son, Elisha Robin- 
son (father), was born December 4, 1791. 
Elisha Robinson, in 1814, became one of the 
early settlers of Hovey township. He was a 
man of activity, energy and usefulness, and a 
detailed account of his business life will be 
found in the sketch of his son, W. D. Robin- 
son, of Kittanning. The oil excitement 
brought Mr. Robinson into prominence in west- 
ern Pennsylvania. His farm was soon dotted 
with oil wells, on which his royalties for leases 
amounted to as high as twenty thousand bar- 



576 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



rels of oil per month. His integrity was incor- 
ruptible, and when he passed away (October 17, 
1874) he left to his family a spotless reputation 
as well as his lands and wealth. 

Elisha Robinson was reared on the farm on 
which he now resides, and received his educa- 
tion in the common schools and Kittanning 
academy. In 1861 he engaged at the mouth 
of Tom's run in the general mercantile business, 
which he followed until 1866, when he came 
to his present farm. In 1868 he was elected 
justice of the peace, but resigned after serving 
three years in order to take charge of his fath- 
er's oil business, and has been engaged more or 
less ever since in oil territory and oil produc- 
ing. His home farm is finely improved, while 
his carriage and horse barn is complete tiirough- 
out, and cannot be surpassed by any to be found 
in the western part of the State. Mr. Robin- 
son is a representative and progressive farmer 
and stock-raiser. He makes a specialty of 
blooded stock, many of which he purchases in 
Kentucky and Ohio. 

November 22, 1857, Mr. Robinson united in 
marriage with Caroline Truby, of Brookville, 
Jefferson county. They have eight children, 
four sons and four daugliters: Annie T., wife 
of Rev. J. E. Eggert, of Kansas, Illinois; 
Elisha M., of Pittsburgh, who married, and is 
engaged in the stone business ; Samuel T., an 
oil producer and farmer ; Elizabeth R., wife of 
A. S. Whiteman, superintendent of the Parker 
City glass-works; Alice M., Earnest W., Olive 
G. and Chase S. 

Like his father, Mr. Robinson is a democrat, 
and has served his township as overseer of the 
poor, school director and justice of the peace. 
He owns about five hundred acres of productive 
land in this and the adjoining county of 
Butler. 

In 1857 he united with the Parker City Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, of Avhich he is one of 
the oldest members, and its present class leader. 
Honorable as a business man, and respected as 



a citizen, Elisha Robinson is popular in his sec- 
tion of the county. 



JOHN A. SCHOTT. Among the great in- 
dustries of Pennsylvania is that of oil 
production, and one of the reliable and success- 
ful men engaged in that important line of business 
in the Butler- Armstrong oil belt is John A. Schott, 
of Brady's Bend. He is a son of Adam and 
Catherine (Roarbaugh) Schott, and was born at 
Etman Rhode, Courhessen, Germany, July 4, 
1851. His fatiier, Adam Schott, was born in 
Germany, July 19, 1824. He was a farmer 
and a land-holder, and in his youth served 
three years in the German army. He emigrated 
from Germany to America, in 1856, and settled 
in Brady's Bend township, where he still 
resides, at Snow's Hill. He is a member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church, at Brady's Bend, 
in whicii he has served for many years as an 
officer, and of whose choir he is the leader. He 
is a member of the Knights of Honor, at East 
Brady. He is a republican in politics and has 
held various township offices. He married 
Catherine Roarbaugh, and to their union have 
been born five children, four sons and one 
daughter: John A., Peter, born in 1854, and 
engaged in coal-mining ; Henry, who was born 
July 14, 1858, and is now an oil producer; Eliz- 
abeth, born in 1865, and married S. Story, an 
oil pumper; and William, who was born in 
1867, and is engaged in the butchering business. 

John A. Schott was brought by his jiarents, 
at five years of age, to Brady's Bend township, 
where he received his education in the common 
schools. At eleven years of age he was em- 
ployed in the coal-mines, where he remained for 
some time. He then embarked in butcher- 
ing, which he quit to engage in the oil business. 
He is now an oil producer, and his wells are 
located in the Butler and Armstrong belt. 

In January, 1877, he united in marriage with 
Elvira Williams, daughter of James Williams, 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



577 



of Brady's Bend, who is an extensive farmer 
and a successful oil jDroducer. To their union 
have been born seven children : Maud J., born 
February 22, 1878; Clara K., born May 8, 
1870; Mary E., born November 9, 1880; 
Annie L., born September 30,1882; Maggie 
M., born July 31, 1884; Arthur J., born Octo- 
ber 28, 1886; and Frederick W., born January 
15, 1889. 

In politics, Mr. Schott is a republican. He 
is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church, and a scarlet degree member of Alpine 
Lodge, No. 479, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. He is one of the substautial citizens 
of his borough and devotes his time chiefly to 
his business interests and the management of 
his different oil wells in Butler and Armstrong 
counties. 



PHILIP SHOEMAKER, a thrifty and 
pro.sperous citizen and the owner of one of 
the best coal farms of Mahoning township, is a i 
son of Philip and Elizabeth (Rose) Shoemaker, 
and was born in Mahoning township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, March 2, 1825. The 
Shoemaker family is of Swiss origin, and John 
Shoemaker (grandfather), was born in Switzer- 
land. He came to the United States and set- 
tled in Virginia, but soon removed to Franklin 
townshi]), Westmoreland county, where he en- 
gaged in farming. He had five ciiildren, two 
sons and three daughters. His son, Philip 
Shoemaker (father), was born in Virginia, Jan- 
uary 25, 1784, from whence he removed to 
AVestmoreland county and afterwards came to 
Mahoning township, where he purchased some 
four hundred acres of land, which he tilled until 
his death. He died April 10, 1860, when he 
was in the seventy-seventh year of his age. He 
was an old-line whig until 1856, when he 
became a republican. He was a member of the 
German baptist church, and married Elizabeth i 
Rose, daughter of George Rose. They had 



nine children, five sons and four daughters : 
Mary, born April 14, 1812, and died in 1887 ; 
Johnybbrn October 22, 1813, and lives at South 
Bethlehem, in Mahoning township; Sarah, 
l)oru January 5, 1814, and died young ; Joseph, 
born April 9, 1819 ; Isaac, born July 27, 1821 ; 
Philip, Susanna, born July 20, 1827; Eliza- 
l>eth, born May 17, 1831; and Samuel, born 
March 12, 1834. Mrs. Shoemaker's father, 
(xcorge Rose (maternal grandfather), was born 
near Murraysville, Westmoreland county, and 
was a farmer and hotel-keeper. Philip Shoe- 
maker was reared on his father's farm and 
attended the subscription schools of his day. He 
then engaged in farming, which he has followed 
ever since, excepting a few years, during which 
time he operated a .saw-mill. In 1851 he pur- 
chased the farm of two hundred acres of land on 
which he has since made his home. His farm 
is underlaid with .several workable veins of 
good coal. 

He married Salome L. Schoefner, a daughter 
of Henry Schoefner, a native of Switzerland, 
who came with his father to Lycoming county, 
when he was thirteen years of age, and who 
afterwards removed to Clarion county and then 
to Jefferson county, where he died. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Shoemaker have been born ten chil- 
dren, eight sons and two daughters : Jeremiah, 
born November 5, 1852, and was a farmer in 
Illinois when he died ; Margarite, born Jan- 
uary 16, 1854, and wife of Samuel Lenkerd, 
a farmer of Red Bank township ; Ross, born 
August 20, 1855, married Lottie Mowry and is 
a farmer of Mahoning township ; Monroe, born 
April 9, 1859, and married Jane Prosious; 
Mary Elleu, wife of Christopher Kinimel, a 
farmer of this county ; Anderson, born January 

19, 1861, and now dead; Ezra, born February 

20, 1863, married Mary Meyers (now deceased), 
and lives on his father's farm ; Murray, born 
June 10, 1865; Isaiah, born April 22, 1867, 
and now dead ; and Adam, born April 30, 
1868, and married to Siseye Anthony. 



578 



SI06RAPHIES OF 



In politics, Philip Shoemaker is a stanch re- 
publican, and at present is overseer of the poor 
of Mahoning township. He is a deacon of the 
German Baptist church, of which he and his 
whole family are members. 



JOHN L. STOCKDILL, one of the young 
and progressive farmers of Mahoning 
township, is a son of George and Martha E 
(Foster) Stockdill, and was born in what is 
known as " The Cove," in Mahoning town- 
ship, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, April 
15, 1861. George Stockdill, Sr. (grandfather), 
was born in Ireland in 1784, from which he 
emigrated to eastern Pennsylvania in June of 
1822, and landed at Kittanning and moved to 
Franklin, Pa., which lie soon left and came to 
]\Iahoning township in 1828, where he pur- 
chased the farm on which his grandson, the 
snbject of this sketch, now resides. He owned 
one hundred and three acres of land, was a 
whig in politics and a member of the Protestant 
Episcopal church. He married Margaret 
Clark on March 16, 1809. She died Jan. 
9, 1871. When he died, July 9, 1857, 
he left a widow and five sons and four daugh- 
ters. One of these sons, George Stockdill 
(father), was born on his father's farm, " The 
Cove," June 26, 1827, and lived on the old 
homestead until his death, which occurred 
May 9, 1872, when he was in the forty-fifth 
year of his age. He was a farmer by occupation 
and owned a farm of two hundred and thirteen 
acres of land, upon which he !)uilt(1859) tiie large 
brick house which is now occupied by his son, 
John L. He was a republican in politics, and 
a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. 
He married Martha E. Foster, and to their 
union were born seven children : Margaret C, 
Nov. 25, 1849, died Aug. 21, 1861 ; Mary J., 
wife of Milton Spence, a farmer of Wayne 
township, who was born Sept. 30, 1867 ; 
Margaret F. was born Dec. 11, 1856, and mar- 



ried Rev. Joseph Calhoun, a Presbyterian min- 
ister of Slate Lick; Jolin L. and George, who 
died in 1869. Mrs. Stockdill was a daughter 
of Thomas Foster (maternal grandfather), who 
was born in Ireland, from whence he emigrated 
to Pennsylvania, and settled at Kittanning 
where he purchased the farm upon which 
Joseph Stockdill now lives. He was a member 
of the Protestant Ejiiscopal church and married 
to Catharine McCauley by whom he had eight 
children, four sons and four daughters. 

John L. Stockdill was reared on his father's 
farm, received his education in the common 
schools of Mahoning township and the acade- 
mies at Oakland and Glade Run. Leaving 
school, he taught one term and then engaged in 
farming on the old homestead, which he now 
owns. He raises good crops and makes a 
specialty of fine stock. 

On September 26, 1882, he united in mar- 
riage with Annie O. Alcorn, daughter of Thomas 
Alcorn, a farmer of Wayne township. To their 
union have been born two children, one of 
which died in infancy, and Thomas M., Feb- 
ruary 18, 1888. 

John L. Stockdill is a republican in politics 
and is a member of the Presbyterian church. 
He is reliable, industrious and energetic. 



ROBERT M. TAYLOR, a gentleman of con- 
siderable mercantile experience, and an 
energetic and competent business man and suc- 
cessful merchant of Hovey township, is a son 
of James and Nancy (McMurry) Taylor, and 
was born on the old homestead farm in county 
Down, Ireland, June 13, 1848. His fiither, 
James Taylor, was born in 1800, in county 
Down, Ireland, where he was a farmer all his 
life, and where he died, in 1884, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-four years. He was a 
member of the Episcopal church. He married 
Nancy McMurry, who is now residing at her 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



679 



home in her native county (Down), in the 
eighty-fifth year of her age. 

Robert M. Taylor was reared on his father's 
farm in Ireland, and received his education in 
the excellent schools of his native county. In 
1870, at the age of twenty-two, he came to the 
United States and located where he now resides. 
In the same year he became a clerk in the gene- 
ral mercantile store of his brother-in-law, J. A. 
Morgan, with whom he remained for six years. 
At the end of that time he entered DuflF's Bus- 
iness college, of Pittsburgh, at which he was a 
student for two months, and afterwards was 
engaged for two months as an assistant teacher 
in that useful business institution. He then re- 
turned to Hovey township, where he was en- 
gaged in the oil business for two years, after- 
wards working for four years in the Parker City 
glass factory as a mixer. In September, 1884, 
he opened his present mercantile establishment, 
opposite Foxburg, Clarion county, this State, 
where he has been successfully engaged ever 
since in the mercantile business. His store is 
filled with an ample stock of general merchan- 
dise, and he has succeeded in establishing a good 
and paying trade. His goods are first-class in 
quality, reasonable in price and varied in assort- 
ment to suit the wants of his many patrons. 

In 1887 Mr. Taylor was married to Rosetta 
Taylor, daughter of Robert Taylor, of Ireland. 
Their union has been blest with three children, 
two sons and one daughter : William E., Mary 
A. and Samuel J. 

R. M. Taylor is a republican in politics and 
a prohibitionist on the liquor question, and has 
served as school director of his township. He 
is a member and also an elder of the Presby- 
terian church of Parker City, and a member of 
the United Friends. 



GEORGE M. TIBBLES. One who has had 
a wide and successful exprience in the 
great oil industry of Pennsylvania is the gen- 



tleman whose name heads this sketch. George 
M. Tibbies is a son of Gustavus and Amanda 
(Morehead) Tiljbles, and was born at Pompey, 
Onondaga county. New York, April 31, 1842. 
His grandfather. Dr. Tibbies, was born in 
Connecticut, and removed to Pompey, where 
he practiced medicine for many years. He 
was a Presbyterian, had held all the offices 
of his church, and die<l in Eric, Pa., about 
1860. He married and had five children, 
three sons and two daughters: Lincoln U., 
who is engaged in the insurance business, in 
Erie; Charles M. (dead); Gustavus, Olivia, 
(dead); and Mary, wife of Joseph Farr, a promi- 
nent and wealthy lawyer of Commerce, Michi- 
gan. Gustavus Tibbies (father) was a farmer by 
occupation, a republican in politics and a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died 
at Yorktown, South Dakota, in 1864. He 
married Amanda Morehead, of New Haven, 
Connecticut. To their union were born three 
children, two sons and one daughter : George 
M. , Anson M., now a merchant tailor of 
Janesville, New York, and Mary, who married 
a Mr. Curtis, a carriage manufacturer of Fa- 
bius. New York. Mrs. Amanda (Morehead) 
Tibbies was born in New Haven, Connecticut, 
and is now living at Lamar, Iowa. 

George M. Tibbies was reared at Pompey, 
and attended the public schools of his native 
village and of Commerce. Leaving school, he 
dealt in oil for some time, and engaged then in 
the business of refining crude oil, which he fol- 
lowed until he secured his present position of 
oil ganger of Brady's Bend. 

October 18, 1863, he married Idelle Wil- 
liams, daughter of E. B. Williams, a car- 
riage manufacturer of Groton, New York. 
She is a finely educated woman, and was grad- 
uated in 1859 from St. Vincent's convent, N. 
Y. To Mr. and Mrs. Tibbies has been born 
one child, a son, Edward D. who was born 
April 2, 1865. Edward D. attended a college 
at Grove City, Pa., from which he was gradu- 



580 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



ated. He is now the purchasing agent, at But- 
ler, Pa., of the Standard Oil company, and 
married Gertrude Zigler, daughter of George 
Zigler, of Butler. 

George M. Tibbies is a republican in politics 
and is a member of the A. O. U. W., of which 
he is Master- Work man. He is also a member 
of Lodge No. 931, I. O. O. F., of Karns City. 
Mr. Tibbies is active and thorough-going, and 
has a full knowledge of the oil business in all 
of its branches. 



ALCINUS G. TRUITT, whose service in 
defence of the liberties of his country led to 
his early and untimely death, was much missed 
in Mahoning township, where he was a most 
useful business man and a highly respected citi- 
zen. He was a son of George W. and Nancy 
(Coursin) Truitt, and was born in Madison 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
January 30, 1814. His father, George W. 
Truitt, was also born in Madison township, 
where he was engaged in farming until 
his death. He was a republican in poli- 
tics, and a member of the Baptist church. He 
married Nancy Coursin and to their union were 
born three children : Seth C, a merchant at 
Truittsburg ; Alcinus G., and M. M., a farmer of 
Madison township. 

Alcinus G. Truitt was reared on his father's 
farm, and after attending the common schools 
of his native township and the Dayton academy, 
went to Pittsburgh and took the full course of a 
commercial college, from which he graduated. 
He then returned to Armstrong county and en- 
gaged in the general mercantile business at 
Truittsburg, of which he was one of the most 
prominent citizens. He enlisted in Co. D., 
14th regiment, Pennsylvania Vols., and served 
one year. The privations and exposures of army 
life impaired his health and finally caused his 
death, which occurred February 2, 1885, when 
he was in the forty-second year of his age. 



He married Jennie E. Corbett, a pleasant 
and estimable woman. Their union was bless- 
ed with one child : Harry W., born January 
23, 1878. Mrs. Truitt's father was Lewis T. 
Corbett. He married Lucinda Mohmey and 
reared a family of three sons and three 
daughters : \yorthington, married Ellen Gum- 
bert, and is now engaged in the drug business 
at New Bethlehem ; Maggie, wife of Charles 
Ellenberger, a farmer residing near Goheenville ; 
Jennie E., Melancthon J., married Jennie 
Cochrane, and is a resident of Oakland ; Dr. 
Vander K., married Jennie Dunlap, and is 
practicing medicine at Caledonia, Elk county ; 
and Lavina L , married to A. M. Woodward, a 
druggist of Reynoldsville, Jefferson county. 

Alcinus G. Truitt was a republican, and 
although he always took a lively interest in 
politics yet never aspired to any office. He was 
honorable and straightforward and was one of 
the reliable business men of his township. 



RS. WALLACE, M.D., is an active, prom- 
• inent and useful physician of East Brady, 
Clarion county, whose field of practice extends 
over a large part of Clarion, Armstrong and But- 
ler counties. R. S. Wallace, M.D, is a surgeon of 
the Allegheny Valley railroad. He is a son ot 
Dr. S. S. and Martha (Craig) Wallace, and was 
born in Sugar Creek township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, February 10, 1832. Dr. 
S. S. Wallace was born in Carlisle, Pa., Sep- 
tember 12, 1801, and died January 11, 1870. 

He married Martha Craig, who is a daughter 
of John Craig, of Armstrong county. They 
were the parents of nine children, of whom six 
are living. 

R. S. Wallace was reared in his native town- 
ship. He received his education in the common 
schools and Butler academy. Leaving school 
in 1852, he determined upon medicine for a 
life-vocation and commenced his medical studies 
with his father. Dr. S. S. Wallace, at Brady's 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



581 



Beud. After completing the required course 
of reading he entered Jefferson Medical college, 
of Philadelphia, from which celebrated institu- 
tion he was graduated in the class of 1855. 
Immediately after graduating he returned to 
Armstrong county, where he located at Brady's 
Beud and was successfully engaged in the practice 
of his chosen profession until 1872, when here- 
moved to East Brady, in Clarion county, and 
has been in active and successful practice there 
ever since. He makes a specialty of surgery, 
in which he has gained the reputation of being 
skilled, accurate, rapid and successful. In all 
departments of the medical profession, for the 
last quarter of a century, there has been a rapid 
and wonderful advancement, and the fact that 
Dr. Wallace has always been abreast of the 
times, and has steadily held his place in this 
march of medical progress, is best attested by 
♦he wide field of practice which he has in 
Clarion and Armstrong counties. He is a 
member of the Clarion County Medical society, 
has been examiner for a number of life insur- 
ance corapauies for several years and is surgeon 
for the Allegheny Valley railroad. 

May 26, 1859, he united in marriage with 
Ada Newlon, daughter of Elijah Newlon, who 
was engaged in the mercantile and iron manu- 
facturing business for many years. To Dr. and 
Mi's. Wallace have been born two children : 
Cora and Annie. 

In politics. Dr. Wallace is a republican. He 
is a Free Mason and holds membership in Kit- 
tanning Lodge, No. 244, F. & A. M. Although 
neither prominent nor active in political matters, 
yet betakes an active interest in everything that 
benefits his community or his fellow-citizens. 
While earnest, zealous and successful as a phy- 
sician and surgeon. Dr. Wallace is also known 
and esteemed as a man for his uniform courtesy, 
high sense of honor and strict integrity. 



"riAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY. — The 
^ name of Captain Samuel Brady was, 
for many years, a terror to the untutored sav- 
age. He was peculiarly fitted to carry out the 
task which he had undertaken. His father and 
a favorite brother, witiiin the space of one year, 
had fallen by the hands of their Indian foes, 
and he vowed to avenge tiieir death. He was 
tall, muscular and athletic, with the agility of 
a tiger and a physical endurance far beyond 
that usually allotted to man. Added to this, 
he was possessed of a courage that never quailed 
in the hour of danger. His grandfather, Hugh 
Brady, emigrated to the State of Delaware 
from the North of Ireland about the year 1732, 
where his oldest son, Joiin, father of Captain 
Samuel, was born in the following year. Some 
time between 1733 and 1738 he came into the 
valley, and settled on the banks of Canodo- 
guiuct creek, in what is now Hopewell town- 
ship, on a farm subsequently owned by James 
Hemphill. John, in 1755, at the age of 
twenty-two, married Mary Quigley, and re- 
moved to Shippensburg. Some time prior to 
1768 he removed, with his family, to Standing 
Stone (now Huntingdon). He had six sons : 
Samuel, James (who was killed in 1778), John, 
William P., Hugh and Robert, and four 
daughters : Mary, Jennie, Hannah and Lib- 
erty. John Brady removed from Standing 
Stone to a point on the west branch of the 
Susquehanna, ten miles above the town of 
Northumberland. He was killed by an Indian 
on April 11, 1779, within half a mile of his 
home. In 1784 Captain Samuel Brady mar- 
ried a Miss Swearingen, of Washington county, 
where he resided until about 1790, when he 
removed to Virginia. He died, as above 
stated, on the 25th of December, 1795, at his 
home about two miles west of West Liberty, 
Ohio county, Virginia, leaving a widow and 
two sons, and leaving behind him a record for 
heroism, of which but few in our country could 
boast." 



582 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



"GENERAL DANIEL BRODHEAD, of 
^ Revolutionary fame, was born in Mar- 
bletown, Ulster county, New York, in 1736, 
and died and was buried at Milford, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 15, 1809. He was the great- 
grandson of Capt. Daniel Brodhead, of the 
English army, who came to this country in 
1664 as a member of the expedition commanded 
by Col. Richard Nichols, in the service of 
King Charles II., after the Restoration. After 
the surrender of Stuyvesant, Capt. Brodhead 
was sent up to Albany in September, 1664, 
and was a witness to the treaty made with the 
Indians there iu that month. He was after- 
wards promoted to the command of the mili- 
tary forces of Ulster county, by commission 
from King Charles, dated September 14, 1665, 
which position he held till his death, iu 1670. 
He left one daughter and two sons: Ann Brod- 
head, Charles Brodhead and Richard Brodhead. 
The latter was born at Marbletown, New York, 
in 1666, and was the grandfather of General 
Brodhead. Richard Brodhead had two sous : 



Richard Brodhead, Jr., and Daniel Brodhead, 
born at Marbletown, in Ulster county, New 
York, iu the year 1698, and died at Bethle- 
hem, Pennsylvania, in the year 1755. This 
Daniel Brodhead, the father of the subject of 
this biography, removed with his family from 
Ulster county. New York, in the year 1737, to 
Danville, Pennsylvania, while the subject of 
this biography was but an infant. Inured to 
the dangers of the Indian frontier from his 
very cradle, the impression made as he grew 
up among the scenes of ludian barbarities and 
the outrages of the savages helped to form his 
future character and to mold him into the 
grand, successful soldier and Indian fighter 
which his subsequent history proved him 
to be." 

He served under Washington in the Revo- 
lutionary war, and on March 5, 1779, was 
placed iu command of the western frontiers 
from the Lakes to the gulf, with headquarters 
at Ft. Pitt. He held this important command 
until the close of the struggle for Independence. 



SUGAR CREEK, WEST FRANKLIN, NORTH AND 
SOUTH BUFFALO TOWNSHIPS. 



Historical and desenpVwe. — These four town- 
ships lie along the western boundary line of 
Armstrong county. The southern part of 
Sugar Creek, nearly all of West Franklin and 
the northwestern part of North Buffalo town- 
ships are in the Lower Productive Coal meas- 
ures. These measures are also along the Alle- 
gheny river, and Glade run in the eastern part 
of Nortii Buffalo and along the same river 
in the eastern, and Pine run in the north- 
western part of South Buffalo townships. The 
ferriferous lime prevails throughout West 
Franklin and extends into the northwestern 
part of North Buffalo. 

Sugar Creek Township is one of the six origi- 
nal townships into which Armstrong county was 
divided in September, 1806, and from its original 
territory have been formed four townships and 
parts of two others. Ezekiel Lewis, who set- 
tled in the township in 1793, was one of the 
soldiers of Captain Robert Orr's command which 
served in Colonel Lochry's expedition in 1781. 
Orrsville was laid out in 1818 by Robert Orr, 
Sr. It is in the northern part of the township, 
while Adams P. O. is centrally located, and 
Foster's mills is in the southern part. On 
May 30, 1860, a tornado swept through the 
northern part of the township, and crossed 
the Allegheny river into Madison township. 

West Franklin Township \s the western part of 
Franklin township, which was formed from 
Sugar Creek and Buffalo townships about 1830, 
and was divided on January 27, 1868, into 



West and East Franklin townships. West 
Franklin was settled about 1790. 

In 1835 the firm of Craig & Cooper com- 
menced the manufacture of woolen goods at 
Craigsville, on or near the site of the present 
well-equipped woolen factory of William F. 
Rumberger. The Buffalo woolen millsof E. D. 
and F. Graff were erected in 1865 and in point 
of size and thorough equipment can be hardly 
surpassed in the State. The late Peter Graff", 
whose portrait appears in this volume, had 
much to do with the material development of 
West Franklin township and Armstrong coun- 
ty. Craigsville was founded about 1815, and 
Worthington was laid out in 1829. 

North Buffalo Township was organized March 
15, 1847, and is the northern part of Bufliilo 
township as it existed at that date. Samuel 
and William Green settled in the township 
about 1795, and the latter laid out the town of 
Williamsburg in 1802. These Green brothers 
were the founders of " the Green settlement." 
The most of the territory of the township con- 
sisted of depreciation lands or lauds appropri- 
ated for the payment of depreciation certificates 
issued to the officers and soldiers of the Penn- 
sylvania line for services in the Revolutionary 
war. 

South Buffalo was organized on March 15, 
1847. Its pioneer settlers came about 1789. 
In 1790 a block-house was built at the mouth 
of Nicholson's run. Corn planter's run takes 
its name from the celebrated Indian chief Corn- 

683 



584 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



planter, who dwelt on it at one time. In 1800 
the first school-house was built, and in 1802 
Slate Lick Presbyterian church was organized. 
Clinton was laid out in July, 1830, Slate Lick 
post-oflSce was established April 1, 1837, and 
Laueville was surveyed into lots on April 14, 
1871. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



DAVID C. BOGGS, of South Buffalo town- 
ship, ex-register and recorder, and one of 
the most popular democratic leaders of Arm- 
strong county, is a son of David and Mary 
(McKee) Boggs, and was born in Plum town- 
ship, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, Decem- 
ber 6, 1824. The Boggs family is of Scotch- 
Irish descent, and Thomas Boggs, Sr. (grand- 
father), whose father, at aa early day, left 
Scotland aud settled in the town of Glass- 
drummond, in the county of Monaghan, Ireland, 
was born at Glassdrummond in 1722. He 
married Elizabeth Chambers, and their union 
was blessed with six sons aud two daughters : 
William,Thomas, Elizabeth, John, Anne, James, 
David and Robert. Thomas Boggs, Sr., left 
Ireland in the year 1805, aud settled in western 
Pennsylvania, near New Brighton^ in Beaver 
county, where he lived and died. David C. 
Boggs' materual grandfather, McKee, was 
among the very early settlers of western Penn- 
sylvania and located in Allegheny county, where 
he lived in perilous times, surrounded by savage 
Indians, whose delight was murder and plunder. 
Their wicked assaults had to be met and repelled, 
which necessitated the continual use of the gun, 
so that it was his constant companion, his only 
sure protector and defence. His valuables he 
had often to bury in the ground to secure their 
safety, and carry his gun while at work, and 
always take it with him when hunting for his 
cows. David Boggs (father) was born in 1783, 
in Ireland, and came in 1799 to western Penn- 



sylvania, where he settled in what is now Plum 
township, Allegheny county. He was one of 
the pioneers of that section, where he purchased 
two tracts of woodland near the site of Mur- 
raysville, and cleared out fine farms on them. 
In 1849 he sold his farms and removed to 
Apollo, where he died on November 3, 1856, 
when he was in the seventy-fourth year of his 
age. He was a Jeffersonian democrat, aud for 
over thirty years filled the office of justice of 
the peace in Allegheny county. In early life 
he united with the Associate Presbyterian 
church, and was one of its most earnest as well 
as most useful members. In 1806 he married. 
Mary McKee, daughter of Squire McKee, of 
near Mnrraysville, and they were graciously 
permitted to enjoy fifty years of wedded life 
together. Their uuion was blessed with thir- 
teen children, nine .sous aud four daughters: 
Thoraa.s, born in November, 1806; Eliza G., 
born in May, 1809, aud married to David Mc- 
Kee, a farmer residing in Tuscarora Valley; 
Fannie M., born in September, 1811, the wife 
of Jacob Freetly, a prominent lawyer of 
Apollo; John, who was born in July, 1813, and 
married Ann Boggs, daughter of William 
Boggs and a native of Ireland ; Anne, Jane G., 
born in October, 1815, and married to Samuel 
Beatty, a farmer of Allegheny county; Hon. 
Jackson, who was born April, 1818, and mar- 
rietl Phebe J. Mosgrove, aud who, from 1874 
until his death in April, 1879, was judge of 
Armstrong county; Robert, who died in in- 
fancy; James, born in September, 1822, mar- 
ried Margaret A. Bailey, aud is now practicing 
law in Clarion, Clarion county ; David C. and a 
twin brother, which died in infancy ; Cyrus, born 
in October, 1826, married Mary (Oswald) and is 
a lawyer; William, who died in i u fancy ; and 
Lavina, born in September, 1830, and married 
to Henry Townsend, of South Bend, Arm- 
strong county. 

David C. Boggs was reared on his father's 
farm and received a good common-school aud 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



585 



business education. He assisted his father in 
farming until he attained his majority, when he 
engaged in school-teaching, whicli he followed 
for nine years, five of them in one school dis- 
trict. In 1850 he embarked in tiie mercantile 
business at Worthingtou, but in two years dis- 
posed of his store to Peter Graff, with whom he 
was employed as a clerk for three years. In 
1857 he was elected as register and recorder, 
and clerk of the Orphans' court of Armstrong 
county. He so well discharged the duties of 
these offices that in 1860 he was re-elected on 
the democratic ticket to the same offices by a 
majority of thirty-two, although Abraham Lin- 
coln had a majority of twelve hundred in the 
county and Andrew G. Curtin ran nine hun- 
dred votes ahead of his democratic opponent. 
In 1864, upon retiring from the recorder's 
office, he engaged in the mercantile business at 
Kittanning, which he followed very successfully 
until 1866, when he purchased the Slate Lick 
farm, to whieii he removed his store. In 1870 
he sold both store and farm to George B. Sloan 
and removed to near Clinton, Armstrong 
county, where he purchased one hundred and 
twenty acres of land, which he farmed for ten 
years and then disposed (i'880) of it in oi'der to 
purchase his present farm and " Bricker's Mill." 
He built a new mill, introduced the new pro- 
cess of making flour, and erected on his farm 
one of the finest residences to be found in South 
Buffalo township. Mr. Boggs, Joseph Britton 
and F. W. McKee, Esq., of Pittsburgh, were 
instrumental in securing the building of the 
Rough Hun or Winfield Branch R. R. through 
South Buffalo township. This road is eight 
miles in length and runs from Monroe to Win- 
field. 

On February 16, 1847, he married Sarah 
Beatty, daughter of David Beatty, an extensive 
farmer and mill-owner of North Buffalo town- 
ship. To their union have been born seven 
.children, three sons and four daughters : Mary 
M., born August 27, 1848, and married to W. 
30 



B. Mathews; S. Almeda, born May 24, 1851, 
the wife of Dr. A. D. Johnson, of Allegheny 
city; David born April 20, 1854 and died Sep- 
tember 3, 1854; Jennie A., born Api-il 22, 
1856, and married Frank Dickie, who is in the 
livery business at East Liverpool, Ohio; Wil- 
liam J., who was born March 24, 1859 and 
married Annie B. Bricker, daughter of Har- 
vey Bricker, of Slate Lick ; George M., born 
February 11, 1862, and a carpenter by trade; 
and Emma B., born January 1, 1868, and mar- 
ried to W. B. Ewiug. 

He was instrumental in having a post-office 
established at his place in December, 1890, and 
the post-office department honored him by 
naming it Boggsville. David C. Boggs is 
an uncompromising democrat, and on January 
22, 1879, was appointed as bank assessor for 
the counties of Armstrong, Indiana, Clarion, 
Beaver, Butler and Lawrence. During the 
late civil war he was unable to leave his office 
and business, but he aided the Union cause 
both by money and influence. He raised, on 
the court-house, the first flag around which the 
Armstrong soldiers rallied for the defence of 
the Union. 



SAMUEL H. BONEY, a man of considera- 
ble experience in several important lines 
of business and now actively engaged in farming 
in North Buffiilo township, is a son of William 
and Hannah (Green) Boney, and was born near 
Centre Hill, in North BulTalo township, Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 
1829. His family is of English descent and 
his paternal grandfather, John Boney, was born 
in England. He came to Pennsylvania and 
settled on Stump Creek, Clarion county, Pa., 
where he engaged in farming. He was a whig in 
politics, served as a soldier during the war of 18 1 2 
andwasactiveasamemberof the Protestant Epis- 
copal church. He married a Miss Doty, by whom 



586 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



he had nine children, four sons and five daughters; 
Joseph, William, John, James, Rachel, Rebec- 
ca, Polly, Ann and Phoebe. His son, William 
Boney, (father), was born in Clarion county, 
February 25, 1799. He with his father removed 
to Armstrong county in 1808 and settled near 
Centre Hill, in North Buffalo township, where 
he cleared out a large farm. He was a democrat 
in politics aud a member of the North Buffalo 
Methodist Episcopal church, and on July 15, 
1819, married Hannah Green. They were the 
jiarents of seven children, three sous and four 
daughters: Eliza, born April 27, 1821, and 
died July 19, 1822; Rebecca, born October 15, 
1823 ; James, born June 27, 1826 ; Samuel H., 
Margaret, born September 24, 1831 ; Eveline, 
born March 17, 1837; and John, born July 24, 
1839, and died July 25, 1839. 

Samuel H. Boney was reared on the farm, re- 
ceived a common school education and then 
learned the trade of wagon-maker, which he fol- 
lowed for some years. After leaving wagon- 
making he embarked in the wool business, but 
after a few years' experience as a wool dealer he 
turned his attention to farming, in which helms 
continued to the present time. 

On November 18, 1852, he married Marga- 
ret Shankle, daughter of Leonard Shan- 
kle, of Manor township, and to their 
union have been born seven children, six sons 
aud one daughter; William, born February 7, 
1854, married Annie Stivesou; Robert, born 
December 30, 1856, and died Sept. 8, 1864; 
Alvin, born December 3, 1858, and died Feb. 6, 
1865; Leonard, born January 5, 1801, and died 
Feb. 14, 1865; Eliza, born April 4, 1863, and 
died Sept. 4, 1864; Chambers, January 9, 1868, 
aud married Etta Mechling; and Joseph, born 
October 26, 1869. 

Samuel H. Boney is a republican in politics 
and has always been interested in whatever was 
for the weal of his towushii). 



ROBERT W. BONEY, a prosperous farmer 
aud extensive stock- dealer of North Buf- 
falo township, is a son of James and Eliza 
(Bowser) Boney, and was born in North Buffalo 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
September 23, 1855. His paternal grand- 
father, Joseph Boney, was a native of England 
aud settled near Clarion, Clarion county, where 
he followed farming for some years. He was a 
member of the Protestant Episcopal church 
and died in 1832. He married and had two 
children, one of whom was John Boney (grand- 
father), who was born in Maryland, and cauie 
in 1808 to what is now North Buffalo town- 
ship, where he purchased six huudred acres of 
land. He had served in the Indian frontier 
wars and was of the same religious faith as his 
father. He married Eunice Doty and they 
reared a family of ten children : Joseph, Wil- 
liam, Margaret, Polly, John, Rebecca, Rachel, 
Phebe, James R. and Annie. James R. Bouey 
(father) was born April 30, 1817. He has al- 
ways followed farming and stock-raising, in 
which he has been successful. He owns a farm 
of one hundred and seventy-five acres of good 
land and is a member of the Baptist churcli. In 
1837 he married Eliza, daughter of John Bow- 
ser, and they have had eight children : George, 
David, Margaret, Adaliue, Elizabeth, John, 
Robert W. and an infant, which died. 

Robert W. Boney grew to manhood on liis 
father's farm and attended the common schools 
of his native township. When he attaine<l his 
majority he engaged in farming, which he has 
followed ever since. Of late years he has 
dealt extensively in stock, in which line of bus- 
iness he has had good success. He has a fine 
farm in a favored section of his township and 
is well known as a man of business ability. He 
is a republican in politics, but does not allow 
his interest in political afiairs to take much of 
his time or attention from his farm or business. 

On August 26, 1880, he united in marriage 
with Mary J. Larden, daughter of Robert 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



587 



Lardea. To their union have been born six 
children : Leona, born January 15, 1881 ; Clair, 
born March 9, 1882; Mabel, born February 15, 
1884 ; Lulu, born October 4, 1885 ; Mertie, born 
May 9, 1887, and Roberti, born December 4, 
1888. 



VAN BUREN BOWSER, who has always 
been engaged in farming and stock-raising, 
is one of the thrifty, reliable and well-respected 
citizens of Xorth Butfalo township. He is a 
son of Levi and Mary (Bowser) Bowser, and 
was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
November 13, 1840. The Bowsers are of Ger- 
man origin, and Adam Bowser (grandfather) 
was born in Germany, and came to Pennsylva- 
nia, where he settled in East Franklin town- 
ship, Armstrong county, and dealt extensively 
in stock. He was a democrat in politics and a 
member of the Church of the Brethren. He 
married and had four children, — one son and 
three daughters. The son, Levi Bowser (father), 
was born in East Franklin township. He was 
a farmer by occupation, a democrat in politics 
and a member of the Church of the Brethren 
until his death. He married Mary Bowser, 
and reared a family of five children, — four sons 
and one daughter : Van Bureu, Felix, Harri- 
son, Wilson and Hannah. Mrs. Bowser's 
father, John Bowser (maternal grandfather), 
was born in Germany. He came to East 
Franklin township, this county, where he was 
engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. 
He was a whig in polities, a member of the 
Church of the Brethren, and married Mary 
Rasor, by whom he had nine children, — four 
sons and five daughters. 

Van Buren Bowser was reared on his father's 
farm, and received a common-school education. 
Leaving school, he embarked in farming and 
stock-raising in North Buffalo township, where 
he owns a farm of one hundred and twenty- 
five acres of well-improved land. 



October 2, 1862, he married Sarah C. Cham- 
bers, who is a daughter of James Chambers, of 
Jefferson county, aud was born March 17, 
1839. To their union have been born twelve 
children, of whom seven died in infancy. Their 
surviving children are, — Charles W., born De- 
cember 25, 1 864 ; James A., born February 
24, 1866; Albert E., born November 25, 1872; 
Mary M., born May 9, 1875, and Van Buren, 
Jr., born July 22, 1881. 

In politics Mr. Bowser is a democrat, has 
held various township offices, and has always 
given a hearty support to his party. He is a 
member of the Knights of Labor at Kittan- 
ning, believes in the principles of that order as 
being beneficial to the interests of the agricul- 
tural and laboring classes, and is known as a 
careful farmer and a good citizen. 



JACOB BOWSER, a large landholder and 
one of the substantial farmers and reliable 
citizens of North Buffalo township, is a son of 
Davi<l and Mary (Ra.sor) Bowser, and was born 
in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, March 2, 
1818. David Bowser was born in Bedford 
county. Pa., 1788, and removed to Armstrong 
county about 1800, where he engaged in farm- 
ing until his death, which occurred September 
27, 1860, when he was seventy-two years of 
age. He was a democrat iu politics, a member 
of the German Baptist Brethren church, and 
married Mary Rasor. To their union were 
born nine children, — four sons and five daugh- 
ters : Adalaine (Walker), Jacob, Frederick, 
William, David, Margaret (Boucher), Mary A. 
(deceased), Elsie (Boucher) aud Lydia. Mrs. 
Bowser died August 27, 1870, and her father 
was one of Washington's soldiers during the 
Revolutionary war. 

Jacob Bowser was reared on his father's 
farm, attended the subscription schools of that 
period, and has devoted his whole life to farm- 
ing and stock-raising. He owns nine hundred 



588 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and forty-five acres of land in North Buifalo 
township, which he has given to his cliiklren. 

On April 5, 1840, he married Margaret 
Claypool, daughter of David Claypool, and to 
their union have been born seven children, — 
three sons and four daughters : David, born 
January 21, 1841, and died in 1850; William, 
born March 30, 1842, and married Margaret 
Bowser; Mary, born May 23, 1845, and now 
dead; Francis, who was born August 24, 1847, 
and married Sadie Shearer ; IMargaret, born 
March 22, 1851, and died in 1851 ; Lydia, 
born September 26, 1855, and the wife of Ed- 
ward Bowser, and Isabelle, who was born May 
30, 1858, and married Emanuel Bowser. 

In politics Mr. Bowser is a stanch democrat, 
and has been elected by his party to various 
township offices. He is a member of the Gei*- 
man Baptist Brethren church. Mr. Bowser 
has always given most of his attention to his 
farm and business, although not unmindful of 
the true interests and prosperity of his commu- 
nity and township. He has been successful in 
farming, and is highly respected both as a 
business man and a citizen. 



DAVID BOWSER, a descendant of one 
of the early settled families of North 
Buffalo township, and an industrious and suc- 
cessful farmer, is a son of David and Mary 
(Rasor) Bowser, and was born in Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, May 9, 1824. His 
paternal ancestors were of German origin and 
his father, David Bowser, was a member of 
that branch of the family which settled in Bed- 
ford county. David Bowser left the comforts 
and enjoyments of his eastern home about the 
opening year of the present century, and came 
to Armstrong county, where he grew to man- 
hood under the many privations of the early 
settlers in a section of country that was then in 
woods. He was a successful farmer, a democrat 
in politics and a member of the German Baptist 



Brethren church. He married Mray Rasor and 
had four sons and five daughters : Dalena, 
Jacob, Frederick, William, David, Margaret, 
Mary A., Elsie and Lydia. He was born in 
1788, and died August 27, 1860. 

William Bowser was reared on his father's 
farm, attended the subscription schools of that 
period and then engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits, which he has followed ever since. He 
owns a farm of one hundred acres of well- 
improved land which he keeps in a good state 
of cultivation. 

On May 17, 1858, he married Elizabeth 
Roudebush, a daughter of John Roudebush, 
who removed in 1837 from Bedford county to 
North Buffalo township. 

In politics, Mr. Bowser is a democrat. He 
is a member of the German Baptist church at 
Centre Hill, and has always been a man who 
has strictly attended to his own affairs. 



JOHN F. BROWN, one of the leading 
farmers of West Franklin township and 
the historian of West Glade Run Presbyterian 
church, is a son of John and Elizabeth (Craig) 
Brown, and was born in Franklin township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, April 10, 
1840. John Brown, Sr. (grandfather), was a 
native of county Down, Ireland, came to Penn- 
sylvania and settled in Westmoreland county, 
near New Alexandria. In 1804 he removed 
to Armstrong county, where he purchased a 
farm which he cultivated until his death, 
which occurred in 1835, when he was in the 
seventy-sixth year of his age. In 1798 he mar- 
ried Catharine Foster, a native of Ireland, who 
was brought to the United States by her parents 
when a young girl. One of their sons, John 
Brown (father), was born in 1807, in Sugar 
Creek township, this county. He has always 
followed farming, in which he has been suc- 
cessful, and now resides two miles west of 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



589 



Kittanning, on the Butler and Kittanuing 
road. He was au old-line whig, is now 
a republican and has served as school director 
and overseer of the poor of his township. He 
is a member of the old school Presbyterian 
church, and married Elizabeth Craig, who was 
born in 1810, at Craigsville, and is a member 
of the Presbyterian church. Mrs. Brown's 
grandfather, Capt. John Craig (maternal great- 
grandfather), was a native of New Jersey, and 
was brought to Westmoreland county when 
young. He took an active part in the border 
wars with the Indians, and was captain for some 
time at a block-house erected on the present 
site of Freeport. He afterwards, in 1797, re- 
moved to this county and purchased a large 
farm, near Freeport. He was a noted man 
in his day, and was one of the commissioners 
who located the county-seat. He died in 1860, 
when he was nearly one hundred years of age. 
His son, Samuel Craig (maternal grandfather), 
was a fuller by trade and came to Craigsville, 
where he started the first fulling-mill of Arm- 
strong county. In 1825 he engaged in farm- 
ing, whicii he followed until 1865, when he died 
at eighty-five years of age. 

John F. Brown was reared on his father's 
farm and after receiving a common-school 
education, taught two terms of four months 
each. He then turned his attention to farming, 
which he has followed ever since. He now 
owns a farm of ninety-eight acres of well- 
cultivated land, on which is planted a large 
orchard of fine fruit trees. This farm is sit- 
uateil one and one-half miles from Worthing- 
ton. In September, 1862, he enlisted in the 
Union army as an " emergency man " and 
served out his term of enlistment. 

March 20, 1862, he married Elizabeth 
McClelland, daughter of John McClelland, of 
Worthington, and to their union have been 
born ten children, of whom four sons and 
three daughters are living : William McCay, a 
farmer and carpenter in Wisconsin ; James 



Harvey, John F., Jr., Charles, Sarah F., 
Esther J., and Nora B. 

John F. Brown is one of West Franklin 
township's best farmers, and is highly esteemed 
in the West Glade Run Presbyterian church, 
of which he has been a riding elder for twenty- 
two years. He has also been clerk of the ses- 
sions of the church since July 5, 1879. In 
1888 he was elected historian of West Glade 
Run church, and prepared an excellent history 
of his church and congregation. He is a re- 
publican, has served as school director for seven 
years, was president of the school board for five 
years, and has acted as overseer of the poor. 
When West Franklin towushij) was formed, he 
was elected as one of the first auditors. Mr. 
Brown has always been satisfied with the in- 
ducements which his own township offers for 
farming and has never sought elsewhere to 
better his fortunes. 



DAVID H. CLAYPOOLE, a worthy de- 
scendant of an old pioneer family of Arm- 
strong county and a respected resident of North 
Buffalo township, is a son of Samuel and Sarah 
(Campbell) Claypoole, and was born in Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1811. 
His paternal grandfather, James Claypoole, was 
born in England and came to Pennsylvania, 
where he settled in Kittanning township, this 
county, from which he was driven by the In- 
dians. He was a farmer, married and had 
eitrht children. One of his sons was Samuel 
Claypoole, the father of David H. Claypoole. 
He was a farmer by occupatit)u, a republican in 
politics, a member of the Baptist church and 
married Sarah Campbell. They had nine chil- 
dren, eight sons and one daughter : John, 
James, Samuel, David H., Jo,seph, William, 
George, Levi and Isabelle. 

David H. Claypoole was reared on his father's 
farm and received what few educational advan- 
tages were offered by the subscription schools 



590 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



of that period. Reared on a farm and trained to 
farming, he ha.s always followed that business. 
He owns a good farm of ninety-five acres of 
well-improved land in North Buffalo township. 

In 1833 he married Sarah Hiekey, daughter 
of William and Ellen Hiekey, of Bedford 
county. To Mr. and Mrs. Claypoole have been 
born seven children, four sons and three daugh- 
ters: John H., who was born June 9,1834, and 
married Mary Shearer ; Samuel, born June 28, 
1837, enlisted in 62d regiment, Pa. Vols., and 
^vas wounded in the battle of Cold Harbor May 
6, and died in Washington City August 4, 1864; 
Henry, who was born November 9, 1839, served 
three years in the 78th Pa. Vols., was wounded 
December 31, 1862, at the battle of Stone River, 
married Margaret Boner and is now engaged in 
farming ; Eliza, born May 28, 1842, and wife of 
George Bowser, a farmer ; Wilson L., born April 
3, 1844; Hannah J., who was born February 
23, 1847, married to Harvey Bowser, and died 
February 20 1873; and Sarah Matilda, who was 
born July 6, 1855, and died February 6, 1883. 

David H. Claypoole has been a republican 
ever since the organization of that party and has 
never wavered in his support of the prineiples 
and policy of the Republican party. He is a 
member of the Baptist church at Franklin 
Union and has never sought for any office 
within the gift of his party or church. The 
results of his years of toil and labor are to be 
seen in the highly improved condition of his 
farm, which is very productive. 



DAVID D. CLAYPOLE. One of the 
many comfortably situated and prosperous 
fUrmers of South Buffalo township is David 
D. Claypole. He is a .son of David and Eliza- 
beth (Clayijole) Claypole, and was born about a 
mile from Worthington, in East Franklin 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
March 11, 1818. David Claypole came to Kit- 
tanning while the Indians still had their hunt- 



ing-grounds in the vicinity of that place. He 
was a farmer by occupation, a member of the 
Baptist church, and an old-time democrat of the 
Jeffersonian type. He married Elizabeth Clay- 
pole, daughter of Samuel Claypole, of East 
Franklin township, and to their union were born 
ten children, seven sons and three daughters : 
Joseph, Isabella, Robert, Jane, Margarel, Hez- 
ekiah, William, James, David D. and Samuel. 

David D. Claypole grew to manhood on the 
home farm, attended the early subscription 
schools of his native township, and at the end of 
his school days engaged in farming, which he 
has followed successfully ever since. 

He married Mary Campbell, and they have 
had seven cliildren, three sons and four daugh- 
ters : Nancy J., who was born November 5, 
1838, and married to George Davis and after 
his death to James Shearer; Joiin C, born Au- 
gust 11, 1840, and died in the Union army 
during the late civil war ; Mary C, born June 
22, 1842, and wife of Jacob Householder; 
Margaret A., born January 16, 1845 ; Esther 
E., born July 10, 1848, and married to John 
Claypole; and Joseph C, born June 1,1851. 
INlrs. Claypole died November 8, 1854, and 
Mr. Claypole married for his second wife, Eliza- 
beth Boalmau. To this second union were born 
four children, one son and three daughters : 
Lottie, born March 26, 1859 ; Bothnia E., born 
April 23, 1860, and married to Cromwell Clay- 
pole; Mary Caroline, born December 24, 1861, 
the wife of James Claypole ; and Milton B., 
who was born March 12, 1865. Mrs. Eliza- 
beth (Boalman) Claypole died November 22, 
1866, and Mr. Claypole afterwards married 
Sarah Geary, who died in 1887. 

Mr. Claypole is a democrat, a good farmer, 
and stands well as a citizen wherever he is known. 



HENRY CLAYPOOL, an industrious and 
prosperous farmer of West Franklin town- 
ship and a lineal descendant of the Claypool 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



591 



who was the first white settler at Kittanning, is 
a son of David and Sarah (Hickey) Claypooi, 
and was born in West Franklin township, Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania, November 9, 1839. 
His great-grandfather Claypooi was one of the 
early settlers of Armstrong county. He located 
on the site of Kittanning, from whence he was 
driven away by the Indians, but afterwards re- 
turned. His son, Samuel Claypooi (grandfather), 
was a boy when he came with his father to this 
country. His son, David Claypooi (father), 
was born in 1811, and followed farming in 
North Buffalo township for many years. He 
is a member of the Baptist church, and a repub- 
lican politically. He married Sarah Hickey, 
who was born in 1816 and is a member of the 
same church as her husband. 

Henry Claypooi grew up to manhood on his 
father's farm and attended the public schools of 
West Franklin township. In 1861 he enlisted 
in Co. K, 78th regiment. Pa. Vols., as a private 
and served more than three years. He partici- 
pated in all the principal skirmishes and battles 
in which his regiment was engaged. In De- 
cember, 1862, he was wounded in the left leg 
by a minie ball at the battle of Murfreesboro', 
Tenn. In 1865 he returned home and spent 
the next year in the oil region. He then re- 
turned to his native township, in which he has 
been engaged in farming ever since. He now 
owns a well-improved farm of seventy acres, 
which is underlaid by a heavy vein of coal. 

In 1867 he married Margaret E. Bonner, 
daughter of John Bonner, of this county. They 
have four children, two sons and two daughters: 
Addie C, Marinda B., Jerry and Earl. 

In politics, Henry Claypooi is a strict ad- 
herent to the principles of the Republican party 
and has been twice elected as school director and 
road supervisor of West Franklin township. 
As a township officer, Mr. Claypooi has always 
given satisfaction to the public and as a citizen 
is highly esteemed by his neighbors. 



■pOBERT W. COWAN. The Cowan family 
-^^ of this county, on the paternal side, is of 
Irish extraction, and the subject of this sketch 
is a son of James and Sarah (Portcrficld) Cowan, 
and was born in North Buffalo township, Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania, November 11, 
1844. His paternal grandfather, John Cowan, 
was born in county Down, Irehmd, and settled 
in 1802 at Cowan's, Armstrong county. He was 
a farmer by occupation, a democrat in politics 
and a member of the United Presbyterian 
church. He had a family of nine children, four 
sons and five daughters, one of whom, James 
(^owan (father), was born April 14, 1806, in 
Armstrong county, where he always resided. 
He followed farming and was a republican in 
politics, while prior to that party's organization 
he was an old-line whig. He was honored by 
his party, at different times, with an election to 
every one of the township offices. During the 
late civil war he was an "enrolliut; officer." 
He was a Presbyterian and one of the trustees 
of the church of that denomination at Kittan- 
ning until his death, which occurred October 11, 
1867, when he was in the sixty-second year of 
his age. On June 11, 1833, he married Sarah 
Porlerfield, and to their union were born eight 
children, four sons and four daughters : John, 
born in 1834; James C, born in 1835; Samuel 
was born in 1837, enlisted in Co. H, 8th 
regiment, Pa. Reserves, was taken prisoner at 
the Weldon railroad and sent to Libby prison, 
then to Belle Isle and finally to Salisbury, where 
lie died ; Nancy J., born in 1839 ; Alvira, born 
in 1841 ; Robert W., Rosauna, born in 1846; 
and Sarah, who was born in 1848. 

Robert W. Cowan remained with his parents 
until he attained his majority. He received a 
common school education and has been engaged 
in farming ever since leaving school. 

On January 6, 1870, he married Emeline L. 
Anderson, daughter of Henry Anderson. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Cowan have been born five 
children, three sons and two daughters : James 



592 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



P., born July 6, 1872 ; Rose A., born May 12, 
1875; Henry A., born December 15,1877; 
Robert E., born June 20, 1880; and Mary T. 
R., born January 1, 1886. 

Robert W. Cowan is a republican in politics 
and a stanch advocate of temperance. He is a 
Presbyterian and during the last five years has 
been an elder in the First Presbyterian church 
at Kittanning. 



JAMES EASLEY, a democrat of the Jack- 
souian type, and an active and intelligent 
citizen of North Buffalo township, is a son of 
Andrew and Elizabeth (Coon) Easley and was 
born in North Buffalo township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1815. Andrew 
Easley was a native of Westmoreland county 
and came about the beginning of the jjresent 
century to what is now North Buffido township, 
where he purchased about two hundred acres of 
land and followed farming. He livetl to reach 
the three-score and ten years of man's allotted 
age, and died in the faith of the Catholic church, 
of which he had been an exemplary member 
during his entire life. He well sustained the 
record of honest industry left by his forefathers 
in this country and of his remote ancestors in 
what is now the great German empire. He was 
active in business, warm in his friendship and 
reliable in his business transactions. He was a 
democrat in politics, and married Elizabeth 
Coon, who was born in the far-famed Cumber- 
land Valley of Pennsylvania. They had seven- 
teen children, of whom the subject of this sketch 
is the eighth in order of age. 

James Easley passed his boyhood days on his 
father's farm and grew up to manhood amid the 
daily incidents of farm life and in the commu- 
nity in which he has always resided. His educa- 
tional privileges were confined to the common 
schools of his native township, which heattended, 
but the close of his school-days was not the 
liorizon boundary of his education. The rudi- 



mentary knowledge of Ihe common schools en- 
abled him to prosecute his studies after leaving 
the school-room, and by continued reading and 
close observation he has become well-informed 
on all the current issues of the day as well as 
upon all matters of general interest. Leaving 
school, he engaged in farming, which he has fol- 
lowed with good success ever since. He owns 
three very good and well-improved farms aggre- 
gating three hundred and forty-five acres, and 
in addition to farming raises some very fine 
stock. 

May 7, 1840, he married Elizabeth Miller, 
a native of Westmoreland county, and their 
union has been blest with eleven children, eight 
sons and three daughters, of whom five are liv- 
ing, namely : Gabriel F., Margaret E., John 
C. , Michael S. and James V. 

James Easley is a member of the Catholic 
church at Kittanning. He is a democrat in 
politics, and while not a demagogue, yet is in 
favor of an earnest and aggressive policy on the 
part of the Democratic party. He is recognized 
as one of the enterprising and public-spirited 
men of his township. 



pASPER W. EASLEY, one of the oldest 
^ and most highly-resjjected citizens of North 
Buffalo township and Armstrong county, is a 
son of Casper W., Sr., and Elizabeth (Rufner) 
Easley, and was born in North Buffalo town- 
ship, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, Febru- 
ary 16, 1804. Casper W. Easley, Sr. (grand- 
father), was born near Greensburg, Westmore- 
land county, in April, 1760, and settled in 1796 
upon the farm now owned by his grandsons in 
North Buffalo township. He died in 1829, 
aged si.xty-nine years. 

Casper W. Easley was reared on his father's 
farm and received a good practical business edu- 
cation in the schools of his neighborhood. Up- 
on attaining his majority, he engaged in farm- 
ing, which he followed until 1882. At his 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



593 



father's death he came into possession of a fine 
farm of two hundred and fifteen acres, which 
he carefully improved and farmal until 1882, ' 
when he gave it to his sons, William, Archy 
and Frank Easley. j 

On January 17, 1830, Mr. Easley united in 
marriage with Eleanor Black, daughter of Archy 
Black, of Butler county. Pa. To them iiave 
been born eight children: Mary E. ,b()rti Janu- 
ary 31, 1832, wife of James McGirk ; James, 
born June 22, 1835, died July 27, 1858; Wil- 
liam, born May 28, 1837, married to Nancy 
McCartney; Archy, born July 16, 1844, mar- 
ried Ellen Ilartnct; John, born June 9, 1848, 
married Annie Swaney; Maggie, born March 
27, 1842, wife of Henry McElroy ; Alice, born 
January 7, 1840, wife of Michael Kelly, and 
Frank, born August 24, 1856, at home. 

Casper W. Easlej' is a democrat of the old 
school, and has never in a single instance 
swerved from his allegiance to his party. He' 
has been a member of the Guardian Angel 
Catholic church for nearly three-quarters of a 
century. Although never asking for any office, 
yet he has been elected by his fellow-citizens to 
all of his township offices. No man stands 
higher in the regard of his neighbors than 
Casper W. Easley. He has always been an ac 
live man, and even now at his advanced age of 
eighty-seven years walks perfectly erect, and 
with an elastic step that would do credit to one 
fifty years his junior in age. 



MARTIN GAISER, a substantial farmer of 
West Franklin township, and the archi- 
tect of his own fortune, is a son of Ludwig and 
Dorothea (Dieterly) Gaiser, and was born in 
the kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, April 
14, 1834. Ludwig Gaiser (father) was born in 
the same kingdom, in 1804, and learned the 
trade of shoemaker, which he followed until 
1846, when he came to Bellefonte, Centre 
county, Pennsylvania. After remaining there 



one year he removed to Worthington, this 
township, where he followed shoeraaking for 
two years, and then (1848), purchased the farm 
in West Franklin township, on which he now 
resides. Since removing to his farm he has 
given his entire attention to agricultural pur- 
suits. He is a member of the Lutheran church 
and has been a stanch democrat ever since 
coming to the United States. He married 
Dorothea Dieterly, a consistent lutheran, who 
was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1817, 
and passed away in 1878, when in the seventy- 
second year of her age. 

Martin Gaiser received his education in the 
practical and excellent schools of Germany. 
He came with his father, in 1846, to Pennsyl- 
vania, and in 1862 he went to Oil City, where 
he was engaged in teaming for four years. In 
1866 he returned to West Franklin township, 
where he purchased the farm on which he now 
resides. This farm contains one hundred and 
fifty-six acres, and is in good condition and 
well improved. He also owns a farm of one 
hundred and forty acres in South Buffalo town- 
ship. 

In 1855 he married Catherine Zobelein, a 
daughter of George Zobelein, of Bavaria, Ger- 
many, and to their union have been born eleven 
children, eight sons and three daughters : 
George, John L., William, Conrad, Dora, Mag- 
gie, Bismark, Jacob, Franklin, Sarah and 
Elma. 

Martin Gaiser is a deacon in the Evangelical 
Lutheran church, a democrat in politics and 
has twice been elected as township supervisor. 
Mr. Gaiser in early life did not, like Micaw- 
ber, wait for something to turn up, but went to 
work with a will, and in a few years, by his 
own effijrts, achieved substantial success. 



PETER GRAFF, without whose biography 
the history of Armstrong county would 
be incomplete, was one of the leading and most 



594 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



prominent business men of Pittsburgh and the 
Allegheny Valley for over half a century. He 
was highly esteemed for his sound business 
principles and inflexible integrity, was a son of 
John and Barbara Graff (nee Baum), and was 
born near Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1808. The ances- 
tral history of the Graff family is to be traced 
back in the history of the great German empire 
for three hundred years. In the sixteenth 
century the Graff family had become resident 
at Grafenauer near Manheim. Grafenauer was 
a word of which the first part, Graf, signified a 
title of nobility, while the latter denoted a cas- 
tle, hence Grafenauer meant Graff's castle. 
John Graff (father) was born at Neuwied, Ger- 
many, April 15, 1763. He came to the United 
States in 1783 and settling in Westmoreland 
county, where he purchased a farm and lived 
until his dealh which occurred December 31, 
1818. He married Barbara Baum, who was 
born in Path Valley, Huntingdon county, in 
1775 and died at her Westmoreland county 
home in 1841. The word Baum means tree, 
and her family was rightly named as every 
member of it possessed great strength. She 
was captured by the Indians during her father's 
residence in the Valley, and was released by an 
old Indian who had received kindness from the 
family when in a starving condition. To John 
and Barbara Graft' were born eight sons and 
four daughters: Henry, Mary, wife of Jacob 
Lose; Sarah, who married Daniel Barnes; 
Margaret, wife of John Colleasure; William, 
John, Joseph, Elizabeth, wife of John Arm- 
strong ; Peter, Jacob, Matthew and Paul. 

Peter Graff" grew to manhood near Pleasant 
Unity, in Westmoreland county. His educa- 
tion was limited. One of his teachers was the 
father of the late Gov. Geary. His first em- 
ployment was as a clerk for his brother Henry, 
at Pleasant Unity, and afterwards at New 
Derry, Pa. In 1830, he removed to Blairs- 
ville, Indiana county, where he with his broth- 



er Henry formed a partnership in the general 
mercantile business under the firm name of H. 
& P. Graff, doing a large and successful busi- 
ness, liater they formed a connection with the 
firm of E. G. Dutilh & Co., commission mer- 
chants of Philadelphia, for the purpose of 
transporting merchandise from Philadelphia 
west, by the Pennsylvania canal and State 
railroad. It was called the Union Transporta- 
tion Line. In 1836 he moved to Pittsburgh 
and took charge of receiving and forwarding 
the merchandise. Several years later he formed 
a partnership with Jacob Painter and Reuben 
Bughman, and engaged in the wholesale grocery 
business. This firm soon enlarged its field of 
operations so as to include the manufacture of 
iron. They obtained control of Buffalo fur- 
nace near Worthington, and Mr. Graff moved 
there in 1844, to assume the management of 
their extensive iron business. They increased 
their iron interests until they operated furnaces 
in Clarion and Venango counties, besides man- 
ufacturing axes, etc., in Pittsburgh. This firm 
continued until 1864, although Mr. Graft' had 
become sole owner of Buffalo furnace, and oper- 
ated it untill865. During that year the Buf- 
falo Woolen mills were erected for the manu- 
facturing of woolen fabrics. Isaac Firth and 
Mr. Graff formed a partnership that lasted for 
twenty years. In 1885, Mr. Firth retired, and 
the firm of Peter Graff" & Co. was organized 
which continued until his death, since which 
time the mills have been operated by E. D. 
Graff", J. Frank Graff" and James E. Claypoole, 
under the old firm name of Peter Graff & Co. 
January 25, 1830, Peter Graff" married Susan 
Lobingier, a daughter of Christopher Lobing- 
ier, living near Mt. Pleasant, Pa., and a mem- 
ber of the widely-extended Lobingier family, 
that has furnished honorable legislators and able 
jurists, reflecting credit to western Pennsyl- 
vania. Her great-grandfather, Christopher 
Lobingier, came from AVittenberg, Germany, 
prior to 1735, and his son, Hon. Christopher, 






n 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



597 



was the father of Christopher, who was the 
father of Mrs. Graff. Peter and Susan Graff 
had eleven children, seven sons and four daugh- 
ters. Of these, one son and two daughters died 
in early childhood. One son, Dr. Charles H., 
died in September, 1887, iu the prime of life, 
and in the midst of his usefulness. Seven chil- 
dren, five sons and two daughters with his wife 
survive him. Joseph, his eldest son, lives at 
Manorville ; Mrs. W. H. Kirkpatrick, in Alle- 
gheny city; Mrs. C. B. Ijiuton, Clifton Springs, 
N. Y. ; Edmund D. and J. Frank, at Buffalo 
Woolen mills; Philip M., at Duluth, Miune- 
.sota; and Peter, at Utica, N. Y. 

Peter Graff was a leading democrat, and an 
influential member of the Lutheran church. 
He was a man of strong constitution, and had 
great powers of endurance. Kt eighty years of 
age he was as active in business as many men 
twenty-five years younger. December 1, 1889, 
he had a stroke of apoplexy, from which he ral- 
lied. Another followed the 27th of March, 
terminating his life April 9, 1890. His fun- 
eral was the largest ever witnessed in the com- 
munity, and his remains were entombed with 
appropriate ceremonies in the Lutheran ceme- 
tery. From the funeral sermon, preached by 
his pastor. Rev. J. W. Schwartz, II Samuel, 
.3:38, and the king said unto his servants, 
know ye not that there is a prince and a great 
man fallen this day in Israel, we extract the 
following: "His moral character has always 
been above reproach. In his dealings with 
men, he was at all times reliable. In financial 
affairs, there never was a time that his word 
was not as good as his bond. For over fifty 
years he had been actively engaged in Christian 
work. Ever since I have known him, he has 
been one of the elders of our church, and 
nearly all of that time he was superintendent 
of our Sabbat h-.'jchool." The Kittanuing 
Standard gave a full account of his life, in 
which it said : " His Christian character was a 
prominent trait. He was devoted to the Luth- 



eran church, of which he was a member, the 
building recently erected in Worthington, is a 
monument of his zeal and liberality." The 
Kittanning Globe speaking of his death said : 
"He was 'prominent' among the generation of 
men now rapidly passing away, and in the 
course of more than half a century of active 
business life, was so largely identified with the 
hi.story and business prosperity of the region in 
which he lived, that his lieath will be the sul)- 
ject of deep and sincere regret. He was a pio- 
neer among the material beginnings of our 
prosperity, while he so largely helped in build- 
ing the foundations of the industrial enterprises, 
with which his foresight and business skill were 
identified, he has built as well a record of an 
upright, generous and consistent Christian life, 
that will ever stand iis the most enduring mon- 
ument to his memory." 



JOHN A. HALL, an earnest and active ad- 
vocate of the cause of temperance and a 
leading prohibitionist of North Buffalo town- 
shij), is a son of David, Jr., and Margaret 
(Iliudman) Hall and was born in North Buf- 
falo township, Armstrong county, Pennsylva- 
nia, June .30, 1832. His paternal grandfather, 
David Hall, came to North Buffalo township in 
the initial year of the present century, if not in 
the latter years of the last decade of the eigh- 
teenth century. He was a man of prominence 
and high standing in the community in which 
he settled. Of the .sons born to him before he 
came to North Buffalo township, one was David 
Hall, Jr., who was four years of age at the time 
of his father's settlement west of the Allegheny 
river, in Armstrong county. David Hall, .Jr., 
upon attaining his majority engaged in larming, 
which he followed until his death, May 18th, 
1884, at ninety -one years of age. He was also 
engaged for a few years in milling. He mar- 
ried Margaret Hindman, of Franklin township, 
and reared a family of six children. 



598 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



John A. Hall grew to manhood on the old 
Hall homestead, of which he owns a part to- 
day. He received a good education in the com- 
mon schools and has continued his education 
ever since leaving school, by a wide range oi' 
reading. He has made farming his life busi- 
ness and by his close study of the principles of 
agriculture has become one of the progressive 
farmers of North Buffalo township. His finely 
improved farm of one hundred and thirty-five 
acres of land is very fertile and highly produc- 
tive. While raising as large crops as any other 
fiirmer in his community, yet at the same time 
Mr. Hal! so conducts his farming as not to im- 
poverish his land. He is a democrat in poli- 
tics and has always been an active worker in 
the temperance cause, and in 1890, without so- 
licitation upon iiis part, was made the candidate 
of the Prohibition party for the office of County 
Treasurer. Mr. Hall is courteous and polite 
to all whom he meets and stands high as a gen- 
tleman in the estimation of his neighbors. 

On April 26, 1855, he united in marriage 
with Agnes, daughter of Dr. Edward Manso, 
an early homceopathic physician, who studied, 
in Germany, under Hahnenman, the founder of 
homoeopathy. They had three children, of whom 
two are living: Margaret Ella, married to 
Frank E. Hine and resides atTallmadge, Sum- 
mit county, Ohio, and Warren C. Hall. Mrs. 
Hall died in 1862 and Mr. Hall married for 
his second wife, Ann M. Ralston, a native of 
South Buffalo township, by whom he had four 
children, of whom three are living : Ed. W., 
Howard and Flora R. 



JOHN HAWK, one of West Franklin 
township's energetic farmers, is a man 
who has met with good success in the various 
kinds of business in which he has been engaged 
for over thirty years. He is a son of Conrad 
and Esther (Slonaker) Hawk, and was born in 



what is now Lower Burrell township, West- 
moreland county, Pa., April 6, 1834. The 
Hawk family is of German descent, and is one 
of the oldest and most highly respected fami- 
lies of Westmoreland county. One of its 
members, Daniel Hawk (grandfather), was 
born in that county, and engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 
1822, when he had attained the advanced age 
of eighty-six years. He was a member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church, married, and had 
several children, one of whom, Conrad Hawk 
(father), was born near Greensburg, Westmore- 
land county, in 1795. He was a farmer of 
Lower Burrell township, a democrat in politics, 
a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, 
and commanded the res})ect of the community 
in which he resided. He died in 1881 at his 
home in Lower Burrell township, when he was 
in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He 
married Esther Slonaker, who was born in 
Martinsburg, Va., was a member of the Lu- 
theran church, and died in 1874, when in the 
sixty-seventh year of her age. 

John Hawk grew to manhood on his father's 
farm, and received a common school education. 
At the age of sixteen years he went to Pitts- 
burgh, where he >pent two and one-half years in 
learning the trade of coach-builder and wagon- 
maker, at which he worked for twelve years. 

On December 27, 1860, he married Mary 
Bair, daughter of Henry Bair, of Allegheny 
township, Westmoreland county. They have 
six children : Adina J., Margaret C, Franklin 
R., Daniel L., John B., and ]Mary E. The 
oldest four were born in Westmoreland county. 
Pa., and the youngest two in Armstrong 
county, Pa. 

In 1864 he bought a saw-mill on Chartiers 
creek, which he operated for five years. He 
then (1869) purchased a farm of one hundred 
and thirty-four acres in West Franklin town- 
ship, Armstrong county, Pa., which he has culti- 
vated ever since. He also purchased a steam 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



599 



thresher and saw-mill, which he has operated 
with good success. 

John Hawk is an iufliieutial member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church of W orthington, 
and in 1864 and 18(35 built the present house 
of worship of that denomination in Lower 
Burrell township, in Westmoreland county. 
Mr. Hawk is a prominent democrat in his 
township, has served as a member of the school 
board, and has always been watchfid of the 
interests and progress of our public schools. 



JAMES S. JACK, a succe.ssful farmer and 
stock-dealer of North Buflalo township, 
is a son of James and Sarah (Douze) Jack, and 
was born in North Buffalo township, Armstrong 
county, Pa., April 25, 1846. The Jack fam- 
ily is of Irish origin, and James Jack, Sr. 
(grandl'ather), came to Armstrong I'ounty about 
1800. He took up a farm in Sugar Creek 
township, which he tilled until his death. He 
was an old-line whig, married, and had three 
children : Samuel, James, Jr., and Washington, 
all of whom are dead. James Jack (father) 
was born in 1811, in North Buffalo township, 
and was a farmer in that township, where he 
took pride in the fine condition of his farm. 
In politics he was a whig and republican. He 
was an active member of the Baptist church at 
North Buflalo, and married Sarah Douze, by 
whom he had seven children, four sons and 
three daughters, of whom five are : George, 
Margaret, Sarah A., Emma and James S. Mrs. 
Jack died in 1847, and her remains were in- 
terred in Slate Lick cemetery. Her father, a 
Mr. Douze (maternal grandfather), who settled 
near Slate Lick, was a native of France. He 
married and had two children, Sarah and 
George, neither of whom are living. After the 
death of his first wife, James Jack married, in 
1849, Sarah Wilson, who is still living. Mr. 
Jack died in October, 1865. 

James S. Jack grew to manhowl on the farm, 



and attended the common schools of his native 
township. He commenced life for himself as a 
farmer, but soon engaged in stock-dealing, and 
has driven a considerable amount of stock to 
the Allegheny stock -yards. He owns a farm of 
forty acres, and in May, 1890, opened a general 
store at North Buffalo, where he carries a stock 
of goods worth three thousand dollars, and 
has a good trade which is constantly increasing. 
On the 24tii of February, 1864, he enlisted 
under Captain Kiskaddeu in Co. L, 14th Pa. 
Cavalry, for three years, and participated in 
the battles of Fredericksburg, Winchester and 
Fisher Hill, as well as in many severe skir- 
mishes. 

On December 9, 1869, he married Mary 
E. Bruner, daug-hter of Samuel B. Bruner, a 
farmer of North Buffalo township, and to their 
union have been born nine children, of whom 
six are living : Clara E., married to Grant 
Claypole ; Harvey S., Milton, William, Charles 
N. (deceased) ; Anna M., Curtis E. (deceased) ; 
Anna (dead), and Maud R. 

In politics, James S. Jack is a stanch repub- 
lican, and during the past nine years has held 
the offices of tax collector and constable of his 
township. He is a member of the Baptist 
church at North Buflalo, and for two years has 
been one of its trustees. He is a member of 
Post No. 422, G. A. R., at Slate Lick, and of 
Council No. 337, Junior Order United Ameri- 
can Mechanics, at the same place. 



JESSE H. KING, M.D., one of the active 
and progressive young physicians of 
Worthingtou and the western part of the coun- 
ty, is a son of John and Christina (Wolf) King, 
and was born at Cochran's Mills, in Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, Novemlier 30, 1861. 
The King family is of German descent, and 
John King, Sr. (grandfather), was a native of 
Armstrong county, where he engaged in farm- 
ing until his death. One of his sons, John 



600 



BIOORAPHIES OF 



King (father), was born in 1817, in Armstrong 
county, where he has always resided. He is a 
farmer and raises some stock and quite a num- 
ber of horses. He is a republican in politics, a 
deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran church, of 
which both he and his wife are esteemed mem- 
bers, and is a man who attends strictly to his 
own business affairs. He married Christina 
Wolf, who was born in Armstrong county in 
1822, and is a daughter of a Mr. Wolf, who 
was a prosperous farmer and well-respected 
citizen. 

Jesse H. King was reared on his father's farm, 
and received his literary education in the com- 
mon schools. New York High school and Theil 
college, in Mercer county. Leaving school, he 
studied medicine under Dr. J. W. McKee, at 
Cochran's Mills, and after completing tlie re- 
quired course of reading, he entered the western 
Pennsylvania Medical college, of Pittsburgh, 
from which he was graduated in tlie class of 
1887. In August of that year he came to 
Worthington, where he has been successful in 
gaining a good practice, which promises to be- 
come large and extensive at no distant day in 
the future. 

Dr. King is a member of the alumni associ- 
ation of the Western Pennsylvania Medical 
college, and in politics supports the Republican 
party. Soon after coming to Worthington he 
was elected auditor of the borough, which 
position he still holds. 



ROBERT LARDIN, who was for over fifty 
years a prominent member and active 
worker of North Buffalo Methodist Episcopal 
church, and a leading prohibitionist of his 
township, is a son of Thomas and Christina 
(Harsh) Lardin, and was born in Butler county, 
Pennsylvania, July 5, 1810. The Lardin 
family is of Irish descent, and Thomas Lardin 
was born in Ireland, from whence he emigrated 



to Pennsylvania and settled in Lancaster county. 
He afterwards, about the year 1795, removed to 
Butler county, where he engaged in farming and 
stock-dealing. He served as a soldier in the Uni- 
ted States army during the war of 1812, was a 
whig in politics and married Christina Harsh. To 
their union were born eleven children, seven 
sons and four daughters: Catherine, Mary, 
Thomas, John, Jane, Daniel, James, William, 
Robert, Joseph and Margaret. 

Robert Lardin grew to manhood on his 
father's farm, received a practical English edu- 
cation and has been engaged in farming ever 
since attaining his majority. 

On January 8, 1833, he married Hannah 
Pugh, daughter of John Pugh. To their 
union have been born eight children, two sous 
and six daughters : JoJin, born November 6, 
1833, married a Miss Whitcraft and is dead; 
Elizabeth, born August 28, 1835, married to a 
Mr. Sassy, and after his death to William 
Deany; Mary, born July 29, 1837, and died 
September 5, 1842; Nancy, born November 
18, 1839, and died September 1, 1842; Marga- 
ret, born March 18, 1842, and married to T. 
Frazier; Sarah, born July 22, 1844, married to 
Charles Sipher, and is dead ; Phoebe, born 
March 19, 1847, and Robert F., born June 23, 
1851, and married Mary Green. Mrs. Lardin 
died February 28, 1853, and for his second 
wife Mr. Lardin married Mary A. Drane, on 
April 24, 1855. To this second union have 
been born seven children, of whom four are: 
Daniel H., born January 28, 185G, and mar- 
ried a Miss Doty ; Mary I., born September 
28, 1860, and wife of Robert Boney ; Lois M., 
born August 24, 1867, and married to David 
Bissett, and William B., born February 18, 

1870. 
In politics, Robert Lardin is an enthusiastic 

prohibitionist. He is a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church at North Buffalo, and at 
the time of its erection, in 1876, held the office 
of steward and class leader in that church. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



601 



WILLIAM H. LEARD, merchant and 
justice of the peace of Ciaigsville, is a 
member of a family well kuowu for its business 
ability and moral standing. He is a son of 
Christopher and Margaret (Shields) Leard, and 
was born in West Franklin township, Arm- 
strong county, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1846. 
The Leard family is of Scotch descent, and 
Thomas Leard (grandfather) came from the 
north of Scotland to the United States when he 
was si.xteen years of age, and settled in what is 
now East Franklin township. He was a 
member of the Presbyterian church until his 
death, which occurred in 1875, when he was in 
the eighty-eighth year of his age. His son, 
Christopher Leard (father), was born in 1823, 
and for a number of years was a farmer in 
West Franklin township, where he still owns 
about one hundred and eighty acres of land, 
which is divided into two farms. In January, 
1872, he moved to Craigsville and formed a 
partnership with his two sous, William H. and 
Joseph S., under the firm-name of Leard 
& Sons. In 1888 he withdrew from active 
business pursuits, and since that time has lived 
a retired life. He is a member of the Presby- 
terian church, and a republican in politics, and 
has held nearly all the township's offices. He 
married Margaret Shields, who was born in In- 
diana county in 1821 and is an esteemed member 
of the Presbyterian church. 

William H. Leard was reared on his father's 
farm, and attended the public schools of West 
Franklin township and Elder's Ridge academy. 
He also took a course in the Iron City Business 
college, and at twenty years of age entered 
the employ of Messrs. Campbell Bros., railroad 
contractors of Altoona, Pa., as a clerk, but was 
soon promoted to " walking boss," which posi- 
tion he held for several yeai-s. January 1, 
1872, he became a member of the mercantile 
firm of Leard & Sons, of Craigsville. In 
1881 Joseph S. Leard withdrew from the firm, 
and the firm-name became Leard & Sou. In 



1888 his father retired. He has fine and com- 
modious sales-rooms and keeps a large and com- 
plete stock of dry-goods, groceries, clothing, 
hardware and drugs, which are carefully se- 
lected to meet the wants of his numerous 
patrons. He has an intere.st in the flouring- 
mill at Craigsville, where he is agent for the 
New England Accident insurance company. 

On May 2, 1872, he married Margaret E. 
Foster, (laughter of William A. Foster, of 
Sugar Creek township. They have three 
children : Otto R., Royal Boyd and Christo- 
pher K. 

Politically, Mr. Leard is a stanch republican, 
and has at various times filled most of the 
township offices. In 1872 he was appointed 
postmaster of Craigsville, which position he 
resigued, when he was elected justice of the 
peace of West Franklin township in 1879. At 
the end of his term as magistrate he was re- 
elected and has served ever since. He is a 
member of Craigsville Council, No. 11 92, Royal 
Arcanum, and a member and elder of the Pres- 
byterian church of Worthington, of whose 
Sunday-school he has served as superintendent 
for some ten years (at different times). He is 
methodical and exact in his methods and prompt 
in the disposition of all his legal and business 
matters. As a justice he is well-liked, as a 
business man stands higii, and as a citizen com- 
mands the respect of his community. 



JOHN K. MAXWELL, M.D., of Worth- 
^ ington, has been for the last thirty-five 
years a well-known and prominent physician 
of Armstrong and Butler counties. He is a son 
of Robert and Jane (Kelley) Maxwell, and was 
born near the present site of Strattouville, 
Clarion county, Pennsylvania, October 25, 
1825. The Maxwell family of Armstrong 
county is of Scotch-Irish descent, and the Max- 
well coat-of-arms is a boar's head, the origin of 
v.'hich is traced back to an early period in the 



602 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



history of Scotland, when a king of that coun- 
try, being annoyed by the ravages of a very 
large and fierce boar in one part of his kingdom, 
declared that the honor of knighthood should 
be conferred upon the one who would kill the 
boar, and a Maxwell having succeeded in kill- 
ing the dangerous animal, was knighted and 
received as his coat-of-arms a boar's head. Dr. 
Maxwell I'epudiates this tradition, and is of 
opinion that the coat-of-arms has reference to 
the pig-headedness so notorious in the whole 
family. Robert Maxwell (father) was born 
March 17, 1767, in Franklin county, Pennsyl- 
vania, but went when a mere child with his 
father to Mifflin county, where he afterwards 
purchased the land on which Lewistown is now 
built. In 1792 he removed to Clearfield coun- 
ty, where he built a shanty on the present site 
of Clearfield, Pa., and was employed by the 
Baring Bros. (English capitalists) to survey the 
"Bingham Lands," an extensive body of land 
which they owned in that section of the coun- 
ty. He carried a rifle with his compass, and 
employed Indians to carry the chain, as there 
were no white settlers within forty miles of his 
location. He afterwards settled in Clarion 
county, where he died on St. Patrick's day, 1845 
(it being his .seventy-eighth birthday). He and 
his wife were members of the Presbyterian 
church. He married Jane Kelley, who was 
born in Penu's Valley, Centre county, in 1780, 
and died in 1847. Her father, Edward Kelley 
(maternal grandfather), was a Revolutionary 
soldier, and seven brothers of Dr. Maxwell's 
maternal grandmother were starved to death on 
a British prison ship on the Delaware river. 

Dr. Maxwell grew to manhood near the 
place of his birth and received a good practical 
business education. At the age of twenty-one years 
he was appointed county surveyor of Clarion 
county, and in the same year (1845) commenced 
to read medicine with Dr. James Ross, of 
Clarion, Pa. When he completed the required 
course of reading he entered the medical de- 



partment of the University of Pennsylvania, 
from which he was graduated. In 1855 he 
came to Worthington, where he practiced until 
March 3, 1863, when he enlisted in the Union 
army and was appointed assistant surgeon of 
the 45th regiment. Pa. Vols. He served until 
August 31, 1864, was discharged on accouut of 
physical disability and returned to Worthing- 
ton. After having partly regained his health 
he resumed the practice of his profession, in 
which he has continued ever since. In 1874 he 
removed from Worthington' to one of his farms 
in West Franklin township, where he now re- 
sides. His field of practice embraces the west- 
ern part of Armstrong and the eastern part of 
Butler counties, and he has frequently ridden 
for two weeks at a time with neither rest nor 
sleep. His ability and skill have secured for 
him the extensive practice which he enjoy.s, 
while his integrity as a man and his usefulness 
as a citizen have won him the respect and es- 
teem of all who know him. • He owns about 
two hundred and eighty acres of land in West 
Franklin township and makes a specialty of 
raising fine stock. 

In 1848 Dr. Maxwell married Hannah Lo- 
baugh, who was a daughter of John Lobaugh, 
of Clarion county. She died in 1871, and in 
1872 he married Mrs. Nannie (Huston) Cowan, 
of this county. To this second union have been 
born five children, four sons and one daughter : 
William H., John R., Thomas McC, Robert 
C. and Jennie C. 

Dr. John K. Maxwell is a member of the 
Presbyterian church and is a Free and Accepted 
Mason. He is a pronounced republican in pol- 
itics, has held at diff'erent times the various 
borough ofiices of Worthington as well as filling 
some of the offices of West Franklin township. 
Dr. Maxwell has always been devoted to his 
profession, in which he has attained high and 
honorable .standing. He is a member of the 
Armstrong County Medical society and the 
State Medical society of Pennsylvania. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



603 



JAMES OBEY, a resident of North Buffiilo 
township and an old and experienced 
engineer, is a son of John D. and Saraii (Benney) 
Obey, and was born in Pittsburgh, Allegheny 
county, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1827. The Obey 
family is of German descent and one of its 
members, the grandfather of James Obey, was 
born in Baden, Germany, from whence he emi- 
grated to France, which he left on account of 
his religion and came to the United States in 
1820. He settled in Pittsburgh, Pa., where 
he lived a retired life. He was a whig in 
politics, a member of the Protestant Episco- 
pal church and married Mary Shatter, by 
whom he had two children, one son and one 
daughter. His son, John D. Obey (father), was 
born in Baden, and came to Pittsburgh with 
his iather. He served in the " Pittsburgh 
Blues" and participated in the battle of the 
Cowpens. He was a butcher by trade, but kept 
a hotel in Pittsburgh for a number of years and 
for seven years was landlord of a hotel at one 
end of the bridge over the Monongahcla river. 
He was a whig in politics, a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church and married Sarah 
Benney. To their union were born ten children : 
Mary (now deceased) ; Nancy, John (deceased); 
Jane (deceased) ; James, William (deceased) ; 
Sarah, Catherine, I^ucy and Edward (deceased). 
Mrs. Obey was a daughter of John Benney 
(maternal grandfather), who was born in 1770 
in Scotland. He came to Pennsylvania in 1794 
and settled on Sandy creek. He was a cabinet- 
maker by trade, a whig in politics, a member of 
the Methodist Episcojial church, and married 
Nancy Wyburn, who bore him five children, 
two sons and three daughters. 

James Obey was rearetl in Pittsburgh, and 
after attending the public schools of that city, 
learned the trade of engine-builder. He worked 
at different branches of this business and then 
became a steamboat engineer on boats running 
from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. Leaving the 
river, lie was a rolling-mill engineer for tweuty- 
36 . 



two years. In 1860 he removed to Armstrong 
county and purchased in North Buffalo town- 
ship the farm of one hundred and fifteen acres 
upon which he now resides. 

July 15, 1847, he married Mary A. Berry, 
daughter of Jose])h Berry, of Pittsburgh, and a 
native of south Wales, who came with her 
parents t« Pennsylvania in 1838. She was born 
April 28, 1831, and died October 26, 1877, 
leaving five children, all daughters: Anna M,, 
born June 23, 1850, married to Robert Hod- 
son; Sarah B., born November 6, 1852, and 
wife of George Davis; Laura E.,born Septem- 
ber 15, 1854, and wife of W. A. Nicholson; 
Mary E., born Jainiary 25, 1862, and married 
to George Evans ; and Lucy M., born March 
24, 1806, and now the wife of J. R. Campbell. 

In politics, James Obey is a stanch repub- 
lican. He was elected treasurer of the city of 
Pittsburgh in 1863, and a member of the city 
council in 1863 and 1864. He is a member, in 
high standing, of St. Clair Lodge, No. 362, 
Free and Accepted Masons, of Pittsburgh. He 
is a member of the Main street Methodist Epis- 
copal church of Pittsburgh, and is thoroughly 
versed in the principles of engineering, as well 
as having years of valuable experience in the 
practice of that science on the western waters and 
in the great iron mills of western Pennsylvania. 



JOHN M. WILLIAMS, postmaster and pro- 
" prietor of the leading drug store at Worth- 
ington, in West Franklin township, is a son of 
Jeffei-son F. and Eliza J. (Huston) Williams, 
and was born in Manor township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, May 31, 1858. The 
Williainses are of Scotch descent. John Williams 
(grandfather) was born in the western part of 
Pennsylvania, from whence he removed in early 
life to Manor township, where he engaged in 
farming until the late war, when he enlisted in 
a regiment of Pa. Vols., and died in the service 
during the fall of 1864. Four of his sons also 



604 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ABMSTRONO COUNTY. 



served iu the Union army, and one of them, 
Jefferson F. Williams (father), was born in 
Manor township, this county, iu 1830. He 
followed farming until the fall of 1864, when 
he enlisted in the 5th Pa. Heavy Artillery, and 
died at Fort Reno in December, 1864, of ty- 
phoid fever, at the early age of thirty-four years. 
He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church, and a man who was respected by his 
neighbors and all who knew him. He married 
Eliza J. Huston, a native of what is now East 
Franklin township. After his death she mar- 
ried J. F. Irwin aud now resides at Grove City, 
Mercer county, where she is a member of the 
Presbyterian church. 

John M. Williams wa.s reared on his father's 
farm uutil he was seven years of age, when he 
then accompanied his mother to Dayton, this 
county, where he attended the Soldiers' Orphans' 
school. He afterwards attended Glade Run 
academy, from which lie was graduated in the 
fall of 1878. Leaving school, he engaged in 
the planing-mill business at Dayton, which he 
followed until the full of 1884, when his mill 
was burned. While at Dayton he read medi- 
cine with the intention of attending lectures and 



practicing, but the loss of his mill compelled 
him to relinquish his medical studies, and in 
the spring of 1885 he engaged in the drug busi- 
ness at Elderton, where he remained until 
March, 1888. He then came to Worthington 
and opened his present drug store. He keeps a 
large and well-assorted stock of pure and fresh 
drug.s, standard proprietary medicines and choice 
toilet articles. In December, 1889, he was ap- 
pointed postma.ster of Worthington, which posi- 
tion he still holds. 

He united in marriage with Ida V. Hinder- 
liter, daughter of John Hinderliter, of Dayton. 
Their union has been blest with five children, 
four sons and one daughter : Arthur, Mark, 
Earl, Joseph and Eliza. 

John M. Williams is a republican in politics 
and has been elected school director of Worth- 
ington, of whose town council he is a member. 
He is a member of the Junior Oi'der of United 
American Mechanics and the Royal Arcanum. 
Mr. Williams gives close attention to the wants 
of his patrons, and by his medical knowledge 
is well-qualified to correctly and safely fill 
physician.?' prescriptions. He is industrious, 
painstaking aud active and enjoys a good trade. 



PARKS, BETHEL, GILPIN, BURRELL AND 
KISKIMINETAS TOWNSHIPS. 



HMoriecd and Descriptive. — These five town- 
ships are in the southern part of the county, 
and lie in the Barren measures, excepting the 
southeastern part of Kiskirainetas township, 
which contains a small area of the Pittsburgh 
coal bed, and the valleys of Roaring run in 
Kiskiminetas and Crooked creek in Burrcll 
township, which carry the Lower Productive 
coal measures. 

Parks Township. — Allegheny township, on 
December 26, 1878, passed from the map of 
Armstrong county, and in its place appeared 
the names of Parks, Bethel and Gilpin town- 
ships, which were formed from its territory. 
Conrad Weiser passed through Allegheny town- 
ship in 1748. There were several Indian 
towns on its territory, near the site of Leech- 
burg, and about the mouth of the Kiskiminetas, 
and several whites were killed in the township 
between 1785 and 1795. Crosbysburg was laid 
out about 1816, Jacksonville about 1828, and 
Kelly's Station was established June 14, 1860. 
Parks township was named in honor of the 
Parks family and contains some very fine farm- 
ing land. 

Bethel Township was organized on December 
26, 1878, and was named after old Bethel 
church and school-house, which were on its 
territory. Bethel Lutheran church is two and 
one-half miles from Kelly's Sta'tion. 

Gilpin Township is the last of three town- 
ships into which Allegheny was divided, and 
derives its name from John Gilpin, of Kittan- 



ning, who, as an attorney, had assisted in the 
movement for the division of Allegheny into 
the three townships of Parks, Bethel and 
Gilpin. 

Kiskiminetas Township is named from the Kis- 
kiminetas river, which forms its southern bound- 
ary line, and was formed from Allegheny town- 
ship, June 19, 1832. The Indian town of 
Toquhesp was near the Northwest coal works and 
one and a quarter miles northeast of its site is 
the " Indian Spring," where on a large rock the 
Indians carved the rude figure of a medicine 
man, which is .still very legible, with the letters 
I O O II near the right arm. Among the early 
settlers between 1790 and 1800 were the 
Andersons, Kings, Waltenbanghs and Wolfs. 
There were eight salt works in the townsiiip in 
1845. Kiskiminetas post-office was established 
in 1824, Spring Church in 1852, Long Run in 
1857 and Shady Plain, March 2, 1867, with 
David D. P. Alexander as postmaster. 

Burrcll Township was formed in 1855 from 
Allegheny and Kittanning townships, and was 
named in honor of Judge J. M. Burrell, whose 
sketch appears in this volume. In 1811, Geo. 
Beck, Sr., had a powder-mill ; in 1812 a salt 
works was operated on the Hooversburg tract 
of laud, and in 1825, Frederick Altman es- 
tablished a plow manufacturing establishment. 

Williamsburg was laid out about 1819 by 
Wm. Fiscus, Sr., and the first post-office (Pitt's 
Mill) in the township was established June 16, 
184-3. 

605 



60G 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



The geological map of Armstrong county, 
published in 1880, unfortunately blends the 
coioring of the Lower Productive coal and the 
Pottsville conglomerate areas so as to almost 
make them indistinguishable from each other. 
As R. W. Smith's history gives so much of the 
local geology of the county, we have merely 
presented the general geological structure of 
each township, in regard to coal and lime. 
From all histories and historical sketches of the 
couuty and its different sections, we could 
gather but little concerning the early settlers, 
block-houses and Indian occupation of the 
country. We took special pains to secure the 
names of the settlers iu 1807 from the assess- 
ment lists of that year in which we preserved 
the spelling of the names as written on those 
lists. Six new townships had been formed in 
1806, and in several instances the name of the 
same jterson undoubtedly appears upon two 
different assessment lists — one of his old town- 
ship and the other of his new township. Au 
exhaustive search back of 1807 to find the 
names of the pioneer settlers would require 
several years of time, and as all the assessment 
lists of Westmoreland county back of 1785 
have been destroyed, a complete list could not 
then be secured. 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



HPjNRY J. ALMS, now engaged in farming 
in Kiskiminetas township, is a man who 
owes all of his success in life to his own persist- 
ent efforts and great energy. He was born in 
Bell township, Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- 
vania, December (3, 1 820, and is a son of George 
W. and Elizabeth (Smeltzer) Alms. Tradition 
states that Rev. Andrew V. Alms (grandfather), 
with twelve other children, were stolen from a 
school in Germany and brought to America, 
where Andrew was sold to a man for a certain 
number of years. At the end of this time he 



enlisted in the Revolutionary army under 
Washington and served under him to the close 
of the war. He then bought a farm in West- 
moreland county, on Beaver run. He taught 
school and a singing-school and preached as a 
supply. He married a Miss Kunkle, of North- 
ampton county, by whom he had seven chil- 
dren : John, George W., Henry, Peter, Michael, 
Sarah and Catherine. He was a democrat, a 
member of the Lutheran church and died in 
1825. Mrs. (Kuukle) Alms died in 1830. 
Jacob Smeltzer (maternal grandfather) was born 
east of the mountains. He came with his par- 
ents west of the mountains, where he and a play- 
mate were captured by the Indians, with whom 
they remained seven or eight years before being 
exchanged. The others of the family, except 
a younger brother, were massacred during an 
Indian raid. He .served under Washington in 
the Revolutionary war. He was a carpenter 
by trade and took up a tract of land near 
Perrysville. He married and had seven chil- 
dren : Jacob, Daniel, Polly, Katy, Elizabeth, 
Susan and Mattie. He died about 1830 and 
his wife in 1835. George W. Alms (father) was 
born iu Westmoreland county, on November 
10, 1787. He was a blacksmith by trade, a 
member of the Lutheran church, in wliich he 
was chorister, a Jeffersonian democrat and 
served in the war of 1812. In 1809, he 
married Elizabeth Smeltzer, by whom he had 
nine children : Jacob, Mary A., Hannah, Su- 
sanna, Henry J., Andrew, George, Joseph and 
Margaret. George W. Alms died in 1859, at 
seventy-one years of age and his wife in 
1878, aged ninety-two years. 

Henry J. Alms was reared in Westmoreland 
county, where he received the limited education 
of the old subscription schools of that day, but 
by reading and observation since leaving school, 
he has acquired a vast amount of information 
and Ls a well-informed man. Leaving school, 
he worked for ten years in coal-mines, was a 
boatman on the river for three years and then 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



607 



learned the trade of blacksmith. In 1856 he 
came to Kiskiminetas township, where he pur- 
chased a farm of seventy acres near Maysville 
and followed blacksmithing until 1882, when 
he engaged in his present business of farming. 

On December 2, 1851, Mr. Alms united in 
marriage with Charlotte, daughter of John 
Shoup, of South Bend, and who was born 
June 19, 1836. Three children were born to 
Mr. and Airs. Alms : John G.,' born February 
2, 1853 (dead); Abbie A., born June 26, 1854, 
wife of Reetl Walker ; and Charlotte E., born 
September 11, 1855 (dead). On February 5, 
1856, Mrs. Alms died. September 15, 1857, 
he married for his second wife, Fannie, daughter 
of Jacob Kier, of Indiana county. Si.K chil- 
dren have blest this union : Nora, born March 
21, 1859, wife of George Mack ; Harry, born 
September 22, 1860, married to Kate Ringer; 
Virginia, born September 8, 1862 ; Thomas, 
born June 1, 1865; Frank, born October 4, 
1868 ; and Maud, born December 4, 1873. 

Henry J. Alms is a member of the Lutheran 
church, iu which he served as an elder for 
several years. He is a conservative democrat 
in politics, has held township offices and by 
honest, energetic and persistent labor has acquir- 
ed a competency. 



AMOS ALTMAN, one of Parksville's lead- 
ing merchants and business men, is a son 
of Isaac and Elizabeth Altman, and was born i 
in Burrell township, Armstrong county, Penn- 
sylvania, April 21, 1843. His paternal grand- • 
father, Frederick Altman, was born in Germany, 
from whicii country he emigrated to Pennsyl- 
vania, where he settled in Kittanning township. , 
He was a plowmaker by trade, and enjoyed the 
distinction of having made the first one-half 
patent plow lever manufactured iu western 
Pennsylvania. His son, Isaac Altman (father), 
was born in 1805, in Kittanning township (now 
Burrell), and learned the trade of carpenter and 



cabinet-maker, which he followed until his 
death, which occurred July 2, 1888. He was 
a republican in politics, and a deacon in St. 
Michael's Evangelical Lutheran church, of 
which both he and his wife were esteemed mem- 
bers. He married Elizaljeth Robb, who was 
born in 1822, in Kittanning township, and 
still resides on the old homestead, iu Burrell 
township. 

Amos Altman grew to manhood on his 
father's farm. He received his eduaition in 
the common schools, and leaving school, was 
esgaged in farming until 1864. In that year 
he enlisted iu Co. 15, 6tii Pennsylvania Heavy 
Artillery and served until June, 1865, when he 
was discharged at Ft. Ethau Allen, Vt., but 
was not mustcrwl out of the service until he 
reached Camp Howe, at Pittsburgh. Return- 
ing home, he followed farming until 1876, 
when he embarked iu the mercantile business at 
Cochran's Mills, in which he continued for 
seven years. In 1883 he removed to Parks- 
ville, where he opened his present general mer- 
cantile establishment. He has succeeded in build- 
ing up an extensive and profitable trade, and 
keeps an excellent stock of dry-goods, groceries, 
notions and hardware, together with everything 
else to be found in a first-class mercantile estab- 
lishment. 

In 1867 he married Mary M. Schall, daugh- 
ter of Michael Schall, of Burrell township, and 
to their union have been born six children, 
three sons and three daughters : Clara E., Su 
sauna E., Laura H., David C, Charles O. and 
Ralph W. 

Amos Altman is a democrat and has filled the 
township offices of auditor aud collector of taxes 
During Cleveland's administration he held the 
office of postmaster at Dime. He is a member 
of the Evangelical Lutheran church, the United 
Workmen and the People's Mutual Accident As- 
sociation. Mr. Altman served acceptably during 
his term as postmaster and is probably as well 
acquainted with all the people in his township 



608 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



as any man in it. He is well and favorably 
known as a merchant. 



SAMUEL S. BLYHOLDER, an ex-State 
officer of the Patrons of Husbandry of 
Pennsylvania, and a justice of the peace and 
leading citizen of Gilpin township, is a son of 
John G. and Rachel (Bouch) Blyholder, and 
was boi'n in Allegheny (now Gilpin) township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, April 30, 
1849. John G. Blyholder was born in 1806, 
in Germany, from whence he emigrated to 
Pennsylvania, in 1831, and settled at Greens- 
burg, in AVestmoreland county, where he en- 
gaged in farming. In 1842 became to Gilpin 
township, and lived as a tenant, and in 1859 
j)iirchased the farm upon which the subject of 
this sketch now resides. He was a democrat in 
politics, filled various township offices, and was 
a member and one of the officers of tiie Evan- 
gelical Lutheran church until his death, which 
occurred in 1883, when he was in the seventy- 
second year of his age. He married Rachel 
Bouch, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church, who was born in Armstrong county in 
1817, and died August 30, 1890, at the age of 
seventy-three years. 

Samuel S. Blyholder was reared on his father's 
farm, in Gilpin township, attendetl the public 
schools and Irwin high school. He made a 
specialty of vocal music, which lie afterwards 
taught for ten years, although engaged at the 
same time in farming. In 1881 he embarked 
in the hardware business at Leechburg, but after 
his father's death, in 1883, he disposed of his 
mercantile establishment and jjurchased the 
homestead farm, where he has been engaged ever 
since in farming. His farm consists of one 
hundred and forty-seven acres of well-improved 
land. Among his farm machinery he has in- 
cluded a steam chopping mill. 

December 30, 1880, he married Annie D. 
Sweeney, daughter of William Sweeney, of West- 



moreland county. To their union have been 
born four children, two sons and two daughters : 
Orrin C, Elma M., Mary F. and Samuel W. 
Samuel S. Blyholder is a prominent demo- 
crat, has filled the offices of school director and 
township auditor, and is now serving his second 
term as justice of tlie peace. In 1878 he re- 
ceived the nomination of his party for member 
of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 
and although the county was republican by one 
tiiousand majority, he was beaten only by fifty- 
four votes. He is a deacon and trustee of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church. He is a member 
of Leechburg Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and 
Mt. Joy Grange, No. 537, Patrons of Husband- 
ry. In the last-named order he has held both 
county and State offices. He is also a member 
of the board of trustees of Theil college, of 
Greenville, Mercer county, and has for several 
years been a member of the committee on mis- 
sions, of the Pittsburgh Synod of tlie Lutheran 
church. Mr. Blyholder is a good neighbor, a 
popular citizen, an efficient public official and an 
earnest worker in lodge and church. He is a 
man of good judgment, clear perception and 
great determination, and it is a matter of no sur- 
prise that he has achieved success and occupies a 
prominent position in his township and county. 



GEORGE BOWMAN, a well-known and sub- 
stantial farmer of Gilpin township and 
a strong advocate of Jeffersonian democracy, is 
a son of Abraham and Frances (Rugh) Bow- 
man, and was born in Hempfield township, 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, April 15, 
1813. His paternal grandfather, Abraham 
Bowman, was born in Northumberland county 
and became an early settler of Westmore- 
land county, in which he resided until his 
death. He was a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church and married Frances Rugh, 
who was bora in Hempfield township, that 
county, and died in 1852. 






ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



609 



George Bowman was reared on his father's 
farm at a time when farmers' sons had to en- 
counter many hardships. He received his edu- 
cation in the subscription schools of that period 
and then engaged in farming. In 1841 he re- 
moved to Gilpin township, where lie purcha.sed 
twenty-three acres of land, upon which he has 
resided ever tince. He also owns a valuable 
farm of one hundred and forty-two acres of 
good farming and grazing land, which is situ- 
ated in Parks township. 

In 1835 he married Sarah Turney, daughter 
of John Turney, of Gilpin township, and to 
their union have been born nine children, two 
sons and seven daughters : Margaret, Frances 
L., Hannah M., Lavina C, John P., Sarah A., 
George T., Lydia and Christy A. Mr. and Mrs. 
Bowman have sixty grandchildren and five 
great-grandchildren. 

George Bowman, his wife and all of his 
children are members of the Evangelical Luth- 
eran churcii. In politics, as in religion, Mr- 
Bowman's family is a unit, and all of his sons 
and sons-in-law follow in his footsteps and vote 
the democratic ticket. Mr. Bowman is an ac- 
tive worker in the democratic party and has 
served four terms as road supervisor of Gilpin 
township, and has also filled acceptably the 
office of school director. On July 4, 1890, the 
descendants of George Bowman and his 
esteemed wife gathered at the homestead and 
the seventy present represented four genera- 
tions, while the twelve who were absent were 
not forgotten in the pleasant and interesting ex- 
ercises of that long-to-be-remembered occasion. 
Mr. Bowman has never been idle during his 
long life and is always energetic and enthusiastic 
in whatever enterprise he engages. He is 
thorough-going and wields an influence in his 
community, in school, church and civil afiairs. 



WILLIAM T. CAROTHERS, a man of 
excellent character and high standing and 
au extensive farmer and stock-raiser of Kiski- 
minetas township, was born in Conemaugh 
township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, Sep- 
tember 5, 1850, and is a son of James and 
Elizabeth (Henderson) Carotliers. His paternal 
grandfather Carotliers was born in the eastern 
part of Pennsylvania, came to Indiana county 
in the early part of the eighteenth century 
and settled along Black Legs creek. He was of 
Irish descent. He married Nancy Dickson, l)y 
whom he had seven children, three sons and 
four daughters : James (father), John, William 
D., Mary (Mrs. Black), Ciua (Jklrs. Crook- 
shanks), Eliza (Mrs. Lytic) and Martha (Mrs. 
Cravener). Robert Hendenson (maternal 
grandfather) was born in Ireland in 1782, 
came to America about 1805 and settled in 
Conemaugh townshi]), Indiana county. He 
bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres, 
in the woods, which he cleared and improved. 
He was an industrious farmer and acquired con- 
siderable property. He served in the war of 
1812 and was a democrat, but never aspire<l to 
office. He married Margaret Graham, by 
whom he had eleven children, four sons and 
seven daughters : William, Edward, Robert 
(died when young), Joseph, Mary (Mrs. Mc- 
Means), Elizabeth (mother of subject), Jane 
(Mrs. Daugherty), Isabella, Margaret (Mrs. 
Getty), Sarah (Mrs. Longwell) and Lucinda F. 
(died when young). He was a member of 
Saltsburg Presbyterian church and was a very 
strict adherent to the doctrines and practices of 
his church. He died in 1871, aged eighty-nine 
years and his wife died about 1865, at the age 
of seventy-five years. James Carothers (father) 
was born on the old homestead in Indiana 
county, in 1814. He worked as a laborer for 
some years — part of this time on the Pennsyl- 
vania canal. In 1853 he moved to Armstrong 
county, where he bought a farm of two hun- 
dred acres of very fertile land near Maysville. 



filO 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



He was a republican in politics, a member of 
Olivet United Presl)yteriau church, in which he 
was a trustee and a hard worker. In 184G he 
married Elizabeth Henderson, by whom he had 
four children : Robert H., an editor and pub- 
lisher of Louisville, Ky., is a graduate of Lafa- 
yette college, was a professor at Shippensburg 
Normal and went from there to Louisville to 
become principal of the Youug Men's high 
school ; William T., Lucy F., and Martha A. 
James Carothers died January 29, 1887. Mrs. 
Carothers is still living. 

William T. Carothers was reared on a farm 
and received his education in the Maysville 
public schools. In 1879 he bought his father's 
farm and finished his present handsome resi- 
dence, which had been commenced by his 
father. 

On January 2, 1878, he married Minnie J. 
Stear, who is a daughter of Augusta Stear, a 
farmer of Armstrong township, Indiana county ; 
she is highly respected by all who know her. 

He is a republican iu politics and a member 
and trustee of Olivet United Presbyterian 
church. In addition to farming he raises con- 
siderable stock and of late years has given some 
atlention to raising thoroughbred horses and 
cattle. Mr. Carothers is a liberal contributor to 
liis church and to all moral movements or socie- 
ties deserving of aid aud encouragement. 



JOHN S. CHAMBERS, a courteous gentle- 
man and a native and resident of Kiski- 
minetas township, was born March 20, 1860, 
on the farm on which he now resides, in Kiski- 
minetas township, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and is the youngest child of John W. 
aud JNIargaret (Hunter) Chambers. His pater- 
nal grandfather, Benjamin Chambers, was born 
in Westmoreland county in 1798. He was a 
member of the Presbyterian church of Poke 
run. In 1819 he married Mary Ralston, daugh- 
ter of Robert Ralston, and moved to a farm 



I near Markle, Westmoreland county, where he 
' resided until his death. They had seven chil- 
; dren : John W., father of the subject of this 
; sketch ; Robert, born in 1822, married Eliza- 
! beth Henry ; George, born in 1823, married 
Eliza Jones, sister of Rev. J. M. Jones ; Eliza- 
beth, born in 1824, married William McKil- 
] lip, who died in 1869, and in 1874 she married 
William Miller, an elder of Apollo Presbyterian 
church and one of its original members; James, 
1 born in 1826, married Charlotte Marlin, who 
died in 1886, and in 1889 he married Mrs. 
Theresa Taylor; Benjamin, born in 1830, mar- 
ried Nancy McCartney, who died in 1855, and 
afterwards married Sarah Hull ; Nancy, born 
in 1836, married Samuel Hays, and died in 
1876 ; Mary, born in 1843, married David 
Forry. Mr. Chambers died in 1844, and is 
buried at Poke run. Mrs. Chambers died in 
1879, and wa.s buried in Iowa. His maternal 
great-grandfather. Hunter, was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war. His maternal grandfather, 
James Hunter, was born iu Westmoreland 
county, near Greensburg, in 1788, and then 
moved to within nine miles of Indiana, Indiana 
county, where he resided on the farm owned 
by his father. He was an old-line whig, a 
member and elder of the Presbyterian church 
at Bethel, a good Christian and a conscientious 
mau. In 1813 he married Mary Ralston, 
daughter of Matthew Ralston, who came from 
Ireland and settled in Westmoreland county. 
i They had five children : Matthew, born in 
I 1814, married Hannah Kilgore; Margaret, 
born in 1815, mother of the subject of this 
sketi'h ; James, born in 1817, married Mary 
Ralston (died 1886); Martha, born in 1818, 
wife of Jonas Hilderbran, and Mary, born in 
1820, wife of William Stewart; she died in 
1857. Mrs. Hunter died in 1820, and in 1822 
Mr. Hunter married Jane Davis, daughter of 
William Davis, who was a farmer of Indiana 
county. To this second union wei'e born six 
children : Jane, born in 1823, wife of James 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



fill 



Nesbit (she died 1866); William, born in 1825 
(died 1856); Robert, born in 1S26 (died 1844); 
John, born in 1828 ; David, born in 1830, 
married Mary Ackisoii, served in the civil war 
from 1861 to 18(i4, wlieu he was honorably 
di.s(^iiarged (died 18.S1); and Susan, born in 1832, 
wife of William Lowman (she died in 1851). 
Mr. Hunter diet! in 1854, and is buried at 
Bethel. Mrs. Hunter .lied in 1860. John W. 
Chambers (father) was born near Markle, in 
Westmoreland county, May 9, 1820. In 1851 
he moved to Armstrong county, where he 
bought a farm of one hundred and eleven acres 
of land. 

He was a stanch republican and a mem- 
ber and trustee of the Presbyterian church 
at Boiling Springs, which he aided in every 
possible way. INlarch 31, 1842, Mr. Chambers 
married Margaret Hunter, by whom he had 
nine children : Benjamin F., born October 29, 
1843, died April 2, 1844; Mary E., born Jan- 
uary 27, 1845; Benjamin C, born February 6, 
1847; an infant son, born January 13, 1849, 
died January 17, 1849; Nancy J., born April 

28, 1850; Martha, born September 5, 1852, 
married David H. McKalip, a mechanic at 
Verona, on December 25, 1877; William J. 
C, born December 2, 1 854, died December 22, 
1868; Margaret E. H., born June 3, 1858, 
and John S. Mr. Chambers died November 

29, 1883. 

John S. Chambers was reared on the farm 
until he was nineteen years of age, and received 
his education in the public schools of Kiski- 
minetas township. After leaving school, he 
taught eight terms. He is a well-informed 
and energetic young man, and has the esteem 
and confidence of his neighbors. 

He is a republican in political matters, and 
has held most of his township's offices. He is 
an earnest Christian worker, and is a member 
of Boiling Springs Presbyterian church, in 
which he has been a trustee for ten years. 



HENRY DUNMIRE, one of the highly 
respected and industrious citizens of Kis- 
kiminetas township, was born on the farm on 
which he now resides in Kiskiminetas township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 
1826, and is a son of Solomon and Margaret 
(Hancock) Dunmire. George Dunmire (paternal 
grandfather), a native of Germany, came to Penn- 
sylvania and purchased and lived on a farm in 
Westmoreland county. He married and had si.\ 
children, four sons and two daughters. Stophle 
Hancock (maternal grandfather) was of English 
descent and owned antl lived on a farm in 
Westmoreland county nearly all of his life. He 
spent his last days in Armstrong county with 
his daughter, Mrs. Margaret Dunmii-e (mother). 
He married Magdalena Clair, by whom he had 
six children, five sons and one daughter. Solo- 

I mon Dunmire (father) was born in Westmore- 
lend county in 1789. He worked on his 
father's farm until 1810, when he came with 
his father to Armstrong county, where he bought 
a farm of one hundred and fifty acies, one mile 
north of Maysville. This farm is now one of the 
most productive of the township. He after- 
wards purchased another farm adjoining of sixty 

' acres. The country was all woods and abounded 
in deer, bears, turkeys, etc. He was a farnier, 

I carpenter, stone-mason and cooper. For fifteen 

! years he ran a di.stillery known as " Dunmire's 
Distillery." The farmers brought their rye to 
him to have it converted into whiskey. He was 
very fond of working with bees and had some- 
times as many as one hundred hives. He was 
hard-working, industrious and honest, and was 
the leading man in his community. He was a 
strict democrat, a member of the Presbyterian 
church and died May 16, 1845, at the age of 
fifty-seven years. In 1804 he married Mar- 
garet Hancock, who died February 17, 1866, 
aged eighty-five years. They had twelve chil- 
dren : George, a farmer of Kansas ; Mary M. 
(Mrs. White) ; Isaac (dead); Samuel (dead) ; John, 
Polly (Mrs. Steffy) ; Hannah (Mrs. Deamer) ; 



612 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Sarah (Mrs. Steffy) ; Andrew, a farmer of Arm- 
strong county ; Henry (subject) ; Margaret 
(Mrs. Davis) ; and William, who died at the 
age of twenty-one. 

Henry Dunmire received his education in the 
schoolsof Kiskiminetas township, and at his fath- 
er's death he bought the home farm from the heirs. 
He has been a farmer all his life and has dealt 
some in stock. He has been very successful in 
farming and has a good farm, a fine frame resi- 
dence and a large convenient barn. He is a strict 
democrat, but no office-seeker. As a business 
man he is honest, and as a citizen and neighbor 
is respected and esteemed. He is of German- 
English extraction and by years of honest toil 
has acquired a conipetency. 

On December 9, 18-52, he married for his 
first wife Margaret L., daughter of Michael An- 
derson, who is a blacksmith by trade and a 
farmer in Kiskiminetas township. Three chil- 
dren were born to this union ; Elmira, wife of 
John y. Sipes, now living in Dakota ; Ander- 
son (dead) ; and Marion, at home. Mrs. Dun- 
mire died iu October, 1859, and in 1864, Mr. 
Dunmire married Rachel Moore, a daughter of 
Jacob Moore, a cooper by trade and a farmer of 
Kiskiminetas township. To this second union 
were born tliree children ; Laura, wife of Luther 
Anderson, of Apollo: Inis, wife of Wm. Kun- 
kle, of Apollo ; and Smith, who is still at home. 



JOHN S. FREE was a man whose life had 
^ been one of industry, integrity and econ- 
omy. For over half a century he had been a 
pillar of strength in the Methodist Episcopal 
church, where his services were very valuable 
and where they were highly appreciated. He 
was a son of Daniel and Annie (Stevenson) 
Free, and was born on the Youghiogheny river, 
two miles above McKeesport, in Allegheny 
county, Pennsylvania, May 4, 1810. His 
father, Daniel Free, was a native of Bucks 
county, and a miller by trade. He operated 



the Crawford mill, in Westmoreland county, for 
some years, and then came to Leechburg, where 
he died, in 1848, at sixty -two years of age. 
He married Annie Stevenson and they reared a 
a family of seven sons and four daughters. 
These children are all dead except Jackson Free. 

John S. Free was reared in Allegheny coun- 
ty, and attended the subscription schools of 
that period. For some time during his early 
life he was a steerer on the packet-boats on the 
old Pennsylvania canal. In 1838 he removed 
to Parks township, Armstrong county, and 
purchased the farm of ninety acres which he 
tilled until his death. 

On June 5, 1834, he married Mary Duulap, 
a daughter of William Dunlap, of Apollo, and 
who was born June, 1812, and passed away 
August Kt, 1857. To their union were born 
nine children, of whom all are dead except 
Reuben L., who married Ella Nora Cogley, of 
Leechburg, aud is now a bar-roller at that 
place. Of these children three were daughters : 
Laureta H., Grace I. and Ethel J., aud three 
of the sons lost their lives in the late war. 
In April, 1858, John S. Free united in mar- 
riage with Mary Davis, a daughter of Samuel 
Davis, of Bethel township, and who died June 
10, 1889. To this second union were born 
three sons : Horner D., a farmer of Parks town- 
ship; aud Miles P., and Rev. Harry S., a min- 
ister of the Methodist Episcopal church and a 
resident of Boston, Mass. 

In jjohtics Mr. Free was a republican, and 
at one time served as overseer of the poor of 
Parks township. He was a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church for over fifty 
years, aud Divine service was frequently held 
in his house before his denomination built their 
church at Leechburg. He was a steward and 
class-leader in his church and was highly es- 
teemed by all who knew him. Money-getting 
or keeping had not been the sole object in life 
with him, and he was satisfied with a comfort- 
able living honestly earned. His life was one 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



613 



of usefulness and unselfishness in the different 
communities in which he resided. He passed 
from the scenes and trials of life on September 
14, 1890, when in the eighty-first year of his 
age, and his remains were interred in Lceehburg 
cemetery. Although, at his advanced age, his 
death was not entirely unexpected, yet it caused 
sincere regret among his numerous friends and 
ac(iuaintances. His public life was character- 
ized by the same admirable qualities for which 
he was distinguished in private life. His 
ciiosen field of effort was in his churcii, where 
he won the esteem and love of his pastors and 
fellow-members by his zeal and devotion to the 
cause of Christianity. He made his life a suc- 
cess and left to his family the priceless inherit- 
ance of a good name and spotless reputation. 



WILLIAM G. GUTHRIE. Few persons 
have a just conception of tlie extent and 
importance of the natural gas territory of west- 
ern Pennsylvania, and among those who are en- 
gaged in the development of the gas-fields of 
Armstrong county is William G. Guthrie, of 
Kiskirainetas township. He is a son of Andrew 
D. and Margaret (Cummins) Guthrie, and was 
born on the farm on which he now resides in 
Kiskimiuetas township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, December 16, 1848. His pater- 
nal grandfather, James Guthrie, was born on 
Beaver run, in Westmoreland county, between 
1770 and 1775, and came to Armstrong county 
about 1796, where he bought a farm of three 
hundred acres of land. The subject of this 
sketch has the receipt which was given his 
grandfather by William Penn's heirs, for the 
purchase money for this farm. This farm was 
in the woods and Indians and wild animals 
were plenty. He built a log cabin and cleared 
out a large part of his farm. 

He was in active service in the war of 1812, 
and afterwards drew a pension. He was a whig, 
an old and influential member of Saltsburg 



Presbyterian church, of which he was an elder 
for a number of years, and always did all he 
could to further the cause of Christianity. Mr. 
Guthrie died in December, 1848, and Mrs. 
Guthrie died in April, 1849. Jainiary 5, 1796, 
he m.irried Margaret Dixon and had ten chil- 
dren : Jennie, Agnes, Samuel, John, Mary, 
-lames, who died in infancy ; William, Andrew 
I)., Joseph R. and James S. Thoy are all dead. 

William Cummins (maternal grandfather) 
was born in the Shenandoah Valley, Va., 
moved to Indiana county, where he bought a 
farm near Two Lick, and in a short time .sold 
it and moved to Crooked creek. He was a 
stock-dealer, was very successful, and at his 
death owned nearly one thousand acres of land. 
He was a whig, but never took an active part 
in political matters, a presbyterian in religion, 
and married IMargaret Todd. They had eleven 
children : David, Susan, Samuel, Jane, Ellen, 
Elizabeth, Mary, W^illiam, Joseph, Margaret 
and John. All these are dead except Margaret, 
mother of the subject of this sketch. Mr. 
Cummins died in 1833 and Mrs. Cummins some 
years later. A. D. Guthrie (father) was born on 
the farm now owned by the subject of this sketch, 
June 2, 1812. He was a farmer and a repub- 
lican in politics, but never held any office. He 
was a hard-working, energetic man, continued 
to improve his farm until his death, which 
occurred September 24, 1860, at forty-eight 
years of age, and his remains are buried at 
Beaula church. He married Margaret Cum- 
mins, who was born May 12, 1813, by whom 
he had five children : Twins, born September 
5, 1844; Margaret J., August 28, 1845; John 
C, born December 16, 1846, and William C. 

William C. Guthrie was educated in the pul> 
lie schools of Kiskiminetas township and Eld- 
er's Ridge academy. After leaving school he 
was engaged in farming for seven years and 
then became a contractor in the charcoal busi- 
ness at Apollo. He is now engagetl in the gas 
business and has leased a large amount of terri- 



014 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



tory for the Pine Run Gas company. He owns 
a farm of tliree luindred acres of well-improved 
and very productive land. He enlisted in July, 
1864, in a regiment of militia (100 days' men) 
from Pennsylvania, was at the burning of 
Chambersbnrg, and was discharged in JNoveni- 
ber of the same year. 

December 5, 1878, Mr. Guthrie united in 
marriage with Margaret, daughter of William 
McAdoo, of Kiskiminetas township, and their 
union has been blest with four children: John A., 
born August 25, 1879; Nancy T., born April 
11, 1881 ; Margaret J., born January 15, 1884, 
and William J., born September 19, 1885. 

William C. Guthrie is a republican, but takes 
no active part in politics. He has served as 
school director for seven years and is a member 
of Boiling Springs Presbyterian church. He is 
a member of Lodge, No. 437, Free and Accept- 
ed Masons, and is also a Knight Templar in the 
Masonic fraternity. 



GIDEON HECKMAN, a respected citizen 
and prosperous farmer of Pai'ks town- 
ship, is one of the self-made men of this county, 
He is a son of Abraham and Esther (Klingen- 
smitli) Heckman, and was born in what is now 
(Hlpin township, Armstrong county, Pa., Feb- 
ruary 26, 1834. The Heckman family of Arm- 
strong county is of German origin, but its an- 
cestors for several generations have been natives 
of the United States. Philip Heckman (grand- 
father) was born in 1770, in Lancaster county, 
from whence he removed to Armstrong county, 
where he engaged in farming until his death, which 
occurred in 1839, in Gilpin township, at sixty- 
nine years of age. One of his sons, Abraham 
Heckman (father), was born in 1813, in West- 
' moreland county, but removed to Armstrong 
county in 1815, where he has since been en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits. He is now in the 
seventy-eighth year of his age and is an active 
man for his years. He is a member of the 



Evangelical Lutheran church, a strong demo- 
crat, and has filled various township offices. 
He marrie<l Esther Klingensmith, who was 
born in Gilpin township, in 1816, aud is an 
esteemed member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church. They reared a family of seven sons 
and three daughters. 

Gideon Heckman was reared on his father's 
farm, in Gilpin township, and received a com- 
mon-school education. Leaving school, he 
engaged in farming and stock-raising, which he 
has followed ever since. He now owns a pro- 
ductive farm of one hundred acres of land, 
which is well improve<l and well cultivated. 

On October 19, 1859, he married Sarah 
Shoemaker, daughter of Daniel Shoemaker, of 
Burrell township. To their union have been 
born five children, three sons and two daughters: 
Essie, wife of Dr. U. 0. Heilman, of Leech- 
burg ; Harry Birt, who married Emma Small 
and resides in Westmoreland county ; Miles, 
Ada and William. 

In jjolitics, Mr. Heckman is a democrat, has 
filled various township offices, and is now serv- 
ing his tenth year as school director. He is a 
member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, 
and has been for more than two years a deacon 
in his church. Gideon Heckman commenced 
life for himself without capital and has secured 
his present competency by his own energy and 
enterprise. 



HIRAM HILL, who was engaged in farming 
in Gilpin township until his death in 
1891, wns oue of the most successful salt man- 
ufacturers of the Allegheny and Conemaugh 
valleys. He was a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Waltz) Hill, and was born in Allegheny (now 
Gilpin) township, Armstrong county, Pennsyl- 
vania, December 17, 1812. The Hill family is 
of Scotch-Irish descent, aud was one of the 
pioneer families of Westmoreland county, where 
it was founded by John Hill (grandfather), 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



615 



who was a native of an eastern Pennsylvania 
county. He settled near Salem, in that county, 
where he was captured by a band of luiliaus. 
By one account he was never heard of after- 
wards, and according to another account he was ! 
taken by his red captors to " Hickory Flats," 
above the site of Oil city, and tortured to death. 1 
His son, John Hill, .Tr. (father), was born in \ 
1772, and was a wlieelwright by trade. He 
ran one of the first saw and grist-mills erected 
in his neigiiborhood on the Kiskiminetas river, 
and the people came to it for thirty miles to get 
their grain ground. lie removed, in 1811, to 
Allegheny (now Gilpin) township, wiiere he 
made his home until his death, on January 9, 
1848, when he was in the seventy-.seventh year 
of his age. He was an active, energetic man, 
a democrat in politics and a member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church. He was reared 
on the frontier, became accustomed to danger 
and fatigue, and was a fine type of tiie useful 
and hardy pioneer of western Pennsylvania. 
He was one of the commissioners appointed by 
the trovernmeut to clear out tiie Kiskiminetas 
river, and after settling in Gilpin township (then 
a part of Allegheny), he planted one of the 
first orchards of southern Armstrong county. 
As a farmer he was very successful, and as a 
citizen he cotnmandetl the respect of all who 
knew him. He married Elizabeth Waltz, of 
German descent. She was a native of West- 
moreland county, and a member of the Luth- 
eran church. She died October 13, 1815, leav- 
ing ten children, of whom Daniel is still living. 
For his second wife, Mr. Hill married Susan 
Emmon, who lived to be near one hundred 
years of age. To this second union were born 
nine children. 

Hiram Hill was reared ou the farm and re- 
ceived a practical businass education. At the age 
of twenty-one years he embarked in the manufac- 
ture of salt, which he followetl successfully for 
many years in the Allegheny and Conemaugh 
Valleys. In 1865 he moved from his salt 



works and purchased the farm upon which he 
lived until his death. It contains one hundred 
and twenty-.seven acres of well improved land, 
on which is a large and conveniently arranged 
brick dwelling-house. This farm is about 
three miles from Leechburg, on the Leechburg 
and Kittanning road. Besides his home farm, 
Mr. Hill owned two other productive farms in 
Armstrong county. 

In IS.'M he married Margaret Shaffer, 
daughter of John Shaffer, of Gilpin township. 
She was born in 1809 and died May 20, 1887, 
when in the 79th year of her age. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Hill were born six children, two sons and 
four daughters : Elizabeth, Eliza, Frances S., 
Jefferson, Daniel M. and Harriet, who died in 
infancy. 

Hiram Hill was a democrat in politics and 
liad held the office of .school director of Gilpin 
township for several years. He was a member 
of the General Synod of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church, and died on January 16, 1891, 
at the advanced age of nearly eighty years. 
His life was one of honesty and usefulness. 



TAMES y. JACKSON, a representative 
*' farmer of Armstrong county, is one of that 
class of men who win success and honorable 
standing in life through their own energy and 
individual merit. He is the eldest son of John 
and Elizabeth (McCartney) Jackson, and was 
born on the old Jackson iiomestead in Kiski- 
minetas township, Armstrong county. One of 
the oldest and most highly respected families of 
Kiskiminetas township is the .lackson family 
(see .sketch of Gen. S. ^I. Jack.son, of Apollo). 
It was founded by James Jackson, who came 
with his parents to Chester county prior fo the 
Revolutionary war, and afterwards acconipanicfl 
them to Hannastown, Westmoreland couifty. 
Some time after the destruction of that place 
by the Indians, they came to Kiskiminetas 
township, where they were the first settlers in 



CIG 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



that part of the county which is north of the 
river. There James Jackson married and 
lived until his death, at eighty-four years of 
age. James and Jane Jackson (paternal grand- 
parents) reared a family of four sons and one 
daughter. The eldest son, John Jackson, was 
born October 12, 1797, and died January 8, 
1853. 

He was a man of integrity, and his ser- 
vices were in great demand among his neigh- 
bors as an arbitrator in disputes. On October 
25, 1826, he married Elizabeth McCartney, an 
estimable Christian woman, who was born at 
Indiana, Pa., October 10, 1805, and died 
August 9, 1880. They had ten children: 
Nancy J. (Coleman) ; Sarah T. (Martin) ; James 
Y., General Samuel M., Jolm T., William T. 
(deceased) ; Mary E. (Owens) ; Martha M. 
(Cochran) ; Joseph B., and Winfield S. (de- 
ceased). 

James Y. Jackson attended the public schools 
of his native township, and was one of the few 
farmers of the towiiship who cared to continue 
their studies beyond their school-days. Always 
fond of books, he has indulged his taste for 
literature as far as his leisure time and financial 
ability will permit, and isoneof the well-read men 
of Armstrong county. He has given his farm the 
benefit of his reading on agriculture and con- 
ducts his farming operations upon the latest 
and best scientific methods. His abundant 
crops amply repay him for his time and labor. 
He is widely known as a raiser of thorough- 
bred stock, especially horses, of which he owns 
some of the finest in the county. He owns a 
farm of two hundred and four acres of land, 
upon which he has erected a handsome brick 
house, a commodious, substantial barn, and all 
other necessary out-buildings. During the late 
civil war he enlisted in the Pennsylvania Mil- 
itia for the protection of the State, but as four 
of his brothers were from home, fighting in 
defence of their country, he deemed it his duty, 
as the eldest son, to look after his parents and 



the families of his brothers, and on that account 
did not join his brothers at the front. 

On November 8, 1856, he married Wilhel- 
mina Townsend, daughter of Henry and Cath- 
erine Townsend, of Kiskiminetas township. 
(See sketch of A. K. Townsend.) To Mr. and 
Mrs. Jackson have been born five sous and 
seven daughters : Laura V., the wife of W. W. 
Beatty, a farmer ; Catharine, married to J. P. 
Wilson, who is engaged in farming ; Hannah 
M., who died November 5, 1865; Winnie Z., 
the wife of William Henderson ; Ada M., mar- 
ried to Edward Culp; Carrie A., married to 
Harry Walker, an iron-worker; Samuel H., 
who married Martha M. Van Tassel, and is an 
iron-worker ; Burton W., an iron-worker ; John 
S., James E., Florence W., and Arthur N. 

James Y. Jackson is an active republican in 
politics, and has frequently been elected school- 
director of Kiskiminetas township. He is a 
member of the United Presbyterian church, and 
is a trustee of the church of that denomination 
at Apollo. He has always been identified with 
all the moral reforms of his township for the 
good of society, and is a man of liberal and 
progressive ideas. 



GEORGE H. JONES, a descendant of two 
old substantial English families and one of 
Kiskiminetas township's public-spirited and in- 
fluential citizens, was born at Soho Hill, Pitts- 
burgh, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1833, and is a sou of Peter and 
Rachacl (Hulton) Jones. His paternal grand- 
father, Jones, was born in Mancliester, Lanca- 
shire, England. He was a linen weaver by 
trade, a member of the church of England, 
married and had one child, Peter Jones (fatiier). 
Mr. Hulton (maternal grandfather) was born 
near Manchester, England, and was the owner 
of " Hulton Hall," which was a large and 
imposing castle. He owned a large tract 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



617 



of land, including a hunting park and pleasure 
grounds. He belonged to the nobility of 
England. He was a member of the " King's 
Guards," was considered the handsomest man 
in England, and was six feet six inciies in 
height, with a perfect form and fine physique. 
A portrait of him now hangs in the gallery 
of Windsor castle. He was an episcopalian 
and married a lady, by whom he had two 
children : Rachel (mother of subject) and 
Jonathan, for whom Hulton's station, on the 
A. V. R. R., was named, and who, after the 
death of his fatlier, came to America and 
settled near Minersville, Pa. There is a for- 
tune of 4,000,000 pounds sterling coming to 
the Hulton heirs, and their case is now in the 
English courts of Chancery, as tiie will of the 
grandfather was stolen at the time of his 
death, Peter Jones (father) was born in 
Lancashire, England. He learned tlie trade 
of weaver witli his father, at which he 
worked for some time. He came to Amer- 
ica, settled in Lancaster county, where he re- 
mained but a short time and then removed to 
Soho, then Pitt township, Allegheny county. 
He was considered one of the finest weavers in 
Pennsylvania. He served in the English army 
and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He 
was a member of the church of England and 
after becoming a citizen of the United States 
was a whig in politics. He married Rachel 
Hulton and had six children : Elizabeth, wife 
of Edward Winters and after his death married 
Thomas Towers ; Jonathan H., married Mrs. 
Baldwin; Rachel (dead); Sarah (dead); Wil- 
liam, who died young ; and George H. The 
three eldest were born in England. Mrs. Jones 
died in 1872. 

George H. Jones received his education in 
the public schools of Pittsburgh. After leaving 
school he was a boatman on the Ohio river and 
was next employed, for eighteen years, in the 
lumber yards of James McBrier. In 1872 he 
came to Armstrong county, where he bought a 



farm of one hundred and twenty acres of very 
fertile land, two miles east of Apollo. In 
1876 lie embarked in his present dairy business. 
He has thirty cows and sells forty gallons 
of milk per day at Apollo. 

In September, 1858, Mr. Jones married 
Kliza A., daugiiter of Thomas Fletcher, a cabi- 
net-maker of Butler county. Seven children 
have blest their union, two sons and five daugh- 
ters: Nellie, born January 24, 1860, and died 
when young ; Elizabeth T., born October 5, 
1862; John F., born February 14, 1864, mar- 
ried Auuie Pool, and is now dead ; William 
E., born June 11, 1866; Annie, born January 
17, 1869; Sadie, born July 22, 1871; and 
Catherine, born December 12, 1875. 

Politically, Mr. Jones is a republican. He 
lias been very succe.ssful in life and has one of 
the finest residences in the county. 



WILLIAM KEPPEL, a farmer of Arm- 
strong county, and a justice of the peace 
of Parks township, is a son of David and Mag- 
dalene (Hawke) Keppel, and was born in Parks 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember %i, 1848. The Keppel family is of 
German descent, and one of its members, Nich- 
olas Keppel (great-grandfather), emigrated from 
Germany to Pennsylvania early in the 
eighteenth century. His .son, Daniel Keppel 
(grandfather), was born in this State in 1767^ 
and died in 1824. He married Elizabeth 
Yearyan, a daughter of George Yearyan, of 
Westmoreland county. They had twelve chil- 
dren : Sasan, Margaret, George, Mary, Eliza- 
beth, Daniel, Francis, Christina, Esther, 
Philip, Hannah and David. George Yearyan 
(maternal grandfather) was a " redemptioner," 
and was brought to this country by David 
Kaufman, a farmer, for whom Yearyan worked 
for three years to repay the amotuit of money 
his passage had cost. At the end of these three 
years' service he received from Kaufman a 



618 



BIOOBAPHIES OF 



horse, a saddle and bridle, and two suits of 
clothes. His wife was a Miss Williams, of 
Welsh descent. David Keppel (fatlier) was 
born February 6, 1818, on the old Keppel 
homestead, where he lived all his life. He was 
highl)' esteemed in the neighborhood and served 
as justice of the peace and school director, hav- 
ing been elected to office by the Democratic 
party. He was an elder in the Presbyterian 
church when he died, August 20, 1888. In 
January, 1844, he married Magdelene Hawke, 
daughter of Daniel and Mary Hawke, of 
Westmoreland county. To this union were 
born five children, three of whom are now liv- 
ing : William, Mary, wife of S. S. Marshall, of 
Beaver Falls, and Caroline, wife of D. N. So- 
ber, of Westmoreland county. Magdalene 
(Hawke) Keppel died May 17, 1855, and in 
1858 Mr. Keppel married Elizabeth Whitesell. 

William Keppel attended the common 
schools of Armstrong county and the Academy 
at Leechburg. He has been a farmer and 
stock-dealer all his life, owning two hundred 
and fifty acres of land, which he has in a high 
state of cultivation, and on which he raises 
horses and cattle. He is an elder and trustee in 
the Presbyterian church, the church of his fore- 
fathers, and has served as a justice of the peace, 
township auditor and school director. 

On March 13, 1873, he married Susan L. 
Kepjiel, daughter of Jacob Kepjjel, of 
Westmoreland county. They have had seven 
children, of whom six are now living : 
David Jame.s, born April 6, 1874; Albert 
Jacob, born August 18, 187G ; Philip Frank, 
born October 16, 1878; Charles Hawke, born 
August 23, 1881 ; William McBryar, born 
January 25, 1885 ; Paul Whitesell, born June 4, 
1887 ; and Magdalene, born November 18, 1889. 

Squire Keppel is one of the substantial citi- 
zens of Armstrong county, and is respected for 
his integrity. Honorable in business transac- 
tions and exemplary in life, he is a worthy de- 
scendant of respected pioneer ancestors. 



JOHN KIRKLAND, whose family traces its 
ancestry back among the old and substantial 
families of county Down, Ireland, is one of the 
pro.sperous and respected farmers of Kiskimi- 
netas township. He was born in county 
Down, Ireland, August 1, 1816, and is a son 
of Kobert and Elizabeth (Cook) Kirkland. 
Robert Kirkland was born in county Derry in 
1780, came to America and settled in Washing- 
ton county, Pennsylvania. In 1830 he came 
to Armstrong county, where he bought one 
hundred and fifty acres of land in Kiskiminetas 
township, which was in the woods and abound- 
ed with wild animals. This land he cleared 
and improved to some extent. He was a dem- 
ocrat, but never aspired to political honors. 
He was a member of the Church of England 
and a devout Christian. In 1798 he married 
Elizabeth Cook, by whom he had ten children, 
of whom only four lived to come with their 
father to America — two sons and two daugh- 
ters : Mary, married to John Ford, of Apollo ; 
Leah, wife of Daniel Deamer, of Apollo; 
Ebenezer, who married Elizabeth Hart, and 
resides at Apollo; and John. Mr. Kirkland 
died May 14, 1857, and his remains were 
buried in Spring Church cemetery ; while Mrs. 
Kirkland had died May 24, 1840, and was the 
first person whose remains were buried in that 
cemeteiy. 

John Kirkland was reared in Kiskiminetas 
township and received his education in the sub- 
scription schools of that township. He has 
always been a farmer, and purchased his fa- 
ther's farm, which he has entirely cleared and 
greatly improved. He built a fine house and 
other necessary buildings. He owns two hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land. 

On December 15, 1843, he united in mar- 
riage with Sarah, daughter of George Deamer, 
who died in Beaver county. Pa. This uuion 
was blest with eight children, three sons and 
five daughters : Robert, born January 22, 
1844, married Elizabeth Miller, and died Jan- 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



619 



uary, 1888; George, born March 2, 1846, 
married to Elizabeth Beck, and now resides at 
Apollo; James, boru July 8, 1848, married 
Elizabeth Galaher, and lives on a farm in Kis- 
kiminetas township; Elizabetli, boru August 1, 
1851, and at home; Isabella, born April 13, 
1856, married David McMin, of Apollo; Mary 
I., born July 9, 1859, wife of Levi Hartman; 
Emma L., born December 14, 1867, and died 
in 1875. Mrs. Kirkland died of consumption 
on March 6, 1871. 

John Kirkland, like his father before him, 
is a stanch democrat and has always voted for 
the nominees of his party. He is a member of 
the Presbyterian church and Grange No. 519, 
Patrons of Husbandry, in which he has taken 
the fourth degree of that order. 



HENRY J. KLINGENSMITH. One full 
of years and possessed of the confidence 
of his fellow-citizens, who has passed away 
during the last decade, was the late Henry J. 
Klingensmith, of Gilpin township. He was a 
son of John and Catherine Klingensmith, and 
was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylva- 
nia, in 1802. The Klingensmith family is of 
German origin, and John Klingensmith (fa- 
ther) was a resident of Westmoreland county 
until 1802, when he removed to Armstrong 
county, where he was engaged in farming until 
his death. 

Henry J. Klingensmith was brought by his 
parents to what is now Gilpin township when 
he was but three mouths old. He was reared 
on his father's farm and attended the subscrip- 
tion schools. Leaving school, he engaged in 
farming, which he followed as long as he lived. 
At the time of his death he owned the home 
farm of one hundred and seventy acres and 
about sixty acres of land in another part of the 
township. 

On July 15, 1822, he married Fannie Heck- 
man, daughter of Philip Heckman, of Armstrong 
37 



county. They reared a family of twelve children, 
whose names were : Mary, Esther, Levi, Cyrus, 
Elizabetli, Susan, Henry, Abraham, Catherine, 
John, Gideon, Shiloh, ten of whom are still 
living: Esther, wife of Henry Isensee; Susan, 
.ibraiiam and Gideon, all residents of Arm- 
strong county ; Levi resides in Michigan, Cy- 
ras in Minnesota, Henry in Kansas, Catharine 
Dubois in Ohio, John in Texas. Of the 
seven sons, five of them enlisted and served in 
the Union armies during the late civil war. 
Mrs. Klingensmith resides on the old home- 
stead and has reached the advanced age of 
eighty-nine years. She is very active for a 
woman of her age, and has been a member of 
the Evangelical Lutheran church for over half 
a century. 

In politics Henry J. Klingensmith was a 
republican and served several terms as road 
supervisor of Gilpin township. He was an 
esteemed member of the Zion's Forks Lutheran 
church, and, before he was incapacitated by old 
age from active service, served frequently as a 
trustee and as a deacon. He was noted for his 
benevolence and hospitality, and none were 
ever turned from his door who sought food or 
shelter. He contributed freely to help the 
church and aid the worthy poor, and his loss 
was sincerely mourned by many who had been 
recipients of his charities. 



TOSIAH W. KLINGENSMITH, the post- 
^ master of Dime, an active republican leader 
of Parks townshij) and one of the survivors of 
Gettysburg, is a son of Adam and Anna M. 
(Kirkland) Klingensmith, and was born on the 
farm on which he now lives, in Parks townsliij), 
A rmstrong county, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1 841 . 
The Klingensmiths are of German descent, and 
George Klingensmith (grandfather) was born in 
1779, in Westmoreland county. He removed 
in 1820 to Armstrong county and was engaged 
in farming, in what is now Parks township, until 



G20 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



Ills deatli, wliich occurred iu 1857. His son, 
Adam Klingensmitli (father), was born in 1812, 
iu Westmoreland county, but came to Armstrong 
county with liis parents Mhen he was eight 
years of age. He followed farming in Parks 
township, where he died in 1874, aged sixty- 
three years. He was an active member of the 
Evangelical Lutheran church, and he was a 
deacon in the church of that denomination 
at Bethel. He was a strong democrat and 
married Anna M. Kirkland, a native of Mc- 
Keesport, Allegheny county. She was a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church, and paased away in 
1881, when she was in the seventy-sixth year 
of her age. Her father, John Kirkland (mater- 
nal grandfather), was a native of Scotland and 
came to Pennsylvania, where he followed boating 
on the Monongahela river between McKeesport 
and Pittsburgli. In 1812 he fell overboard 
from a flat-boat on which he was employed as a 
polesnian and was drowned. 

Josiah W. Klingensmitli was rearefl on a 
farm and received his education in the common 
schools of his native township. During the 
summer of 1857 he engaged in boating on the 
old Penusylvania canal, which he followed that 
season. The succeeding five years he worked 
on a farm as farm hand, receiving for his labor 
the magnificent sum of $10 and $12 per mouth. 
In 18G2 he enlisted as a private in Co. C, 139th 
regiment, Pa. Vols., for three years. He helped 
to bury the dead who had lain for eleven days 
on the battle-field of Second Bull Run. After 
burying the dead at Bull Run, his regiment 
moved on to Sharpsburg, Md., where they 
joined the Ctli Coi-ps of the main army and 
marched to Autietam. Mr. Klingensmith was 
an active "wearer of the blue," enduring all 
the hardships of an active soldier, and never 
once missing an engagement in which his regi- 
ment participated. Among the most noted are 
the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg (two 
engagements, December, '62, and May, '63), 
M'^ilderness and Gettysburg. He participated 



in the battle of Gettysburg after a forced march 
of thirty-six hours, during which time his com- 
pany had not been allowed to cook any food. 
He was under fire and in active service at Gettys- 
burg during the greater ]>art of twenty-four 
hours. On May 5, 1864, he was wounded in 
the left hand by a musket-ball, at one of the 
Wilderness fights, and was sent to Lincoln Hos- 
pital, at Washington, where he remained until 
the following August. On December 24, 1864, 
he was discharged on account of disability, and 
has never recovered the use of his hand. After 
being discharged from the army, Mr. Klingen- 
smith was engaged in farming until 1874, when 
he opened his present store on the farm where 
he resides. In 1881 Dime post-office was estab- 
lished at Mr. Klingeusmith's store and he was 
appointed postmaster. He served as such until 
February, 1886, when a democrat was appoint- 
ed, but in 1889 he succeeded his democratic 
friend and has served as postmaster until the 
present time. Besides his home farm of fifty-six 
acres, he owns two other farms, one of ninety- 
eight acres lying in Parks town.ship, and the 
other of one hundred and eighty acres in Kis- 
kiminetas township. Two hundred and .seventy 
acres of his land is underlaid with a vein of coal 
four feet ten inches thick. 

In 1866 he married LucindaKnappenbarger, 
daughter of John Knappenbarger. They have 
eight children, three sons and five daughters : 
Mary A., John A., who married Lavina Brown 
and resides with his father; Wm. F., Nancy B., 
Susan M., Olive L., Josiah W., and S. Myrna. 

Josiah W. Klingensmith is an active repub- 
lican and was elected assessor of Parks town- 
ship when it was formed. He is a member of 
the Boiling Springs Evangelical Lutheran 
church and for sixteen years was a member of 
the church council. Mr. Klingensmith com- 
menced life for himself with nothing in the 
shape of money or land, and has honestly ac- 
quired all of his means by his own hard work 
and good management. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



C2I 



WILLIAM K. KUHNS, who is a com- 
fortably situated farmer of Gilpin town- 
ship, served during the late war as a soldier in 
the 6th Pa. Heavy Artillery. He is a son of 
David and Hattie (Stack) Kuhps, and was born 
on the farm on which he now resides in Gilpin 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvatiia, 
September 19, 1839. The Kuhns family is of 
German descent, and David Kuhus (father) was 
a native of Westmoreland county and came to 
Gilpin township, where he purchased a farm. 
He was extensively engaged in farming until 
his death, which occurred in the fall of 1803. 
He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church and was one of the founders of the 
church of that denomination at Leeehburg, in 
which he held the offices of deacon and elder 
at various times. In politics, he was a whig 
until 1856, when he became a republican. He 
married Hattie Steck, a lutheran and native of 
Westmoreland county. 

William K. Kuhns was reared in his native 
township, where he received a good common- 
school education. Leaving school, he engaged in 
his present business of farming. He owns the 
homestead farm of one hundred and six acres, 
in the cultivation of which he takes great pride. 
In 1864 he enlisted in the 6th Pa. Heavy 
Artillery, and served until the close of the war 
when he was honorably discharged at Fort 
Ethan Allen. 

In 1861 he married Susan Townsend, daugh- 
ter of Isaac Townsend, of Westmoreland 
county. They are the parents of four children : 
Mary E., Hattie H., Emma R. and Louis M. 

William K. Kuhns is a member of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran church of Leeehburg, in 
which he has served for some years as a deacon. 

In politics he is a republican. Mr. Kuhns 
spends most of his time in the cultivation and 
impi'ovement of his farm. He also raises some 
stock and has made considerable improvements 
on his land. He is one of the reliable and 
trustworthy citizens of his township. 



ZACHARIAH T. LESSIG, one of the 
steady and industrious tradesmen and 
farmers of Gilpin township, is a son of Squire 
Joseph and Christina (Klingensmith) Lessig, and 
was born in Gilpin township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1859. The 
Lessig family is of German descent. Squire 
Joseph Lessig (father) was born in 1814, in 
Westmoreland county, but removed to Arm- 
strong county, where he followed his trade of 
house carpenter until his death, which occurred 
in 1886, when he was in the seventy-third year 
of his age. He was a member of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran church, an active supporter of 
the principles of the Democratic party, and for 
nearly fifteen years held the office of justice of 
the peace of Gilpin township. He owned a 
good farm, which he tilled for several years 
previous to his death. He married Christina 
Klingensmith, who was born in 1824 in what 
is now Gilpin township (then Allegheny). Mrs. 
Christina (Klingensmith) Lessig was a con- 
sistent member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church and passed away in 1886, at sixty-two 
years of age. 

Zachariah T. Lessig was reared in Gilpin 
township, where he received a common-school 
education, and under his father's instructions 
learned the trade of carpenter, which he has 
followed ever since. He owns the old home- 
stead, upon which he resides, and a portable saw- 
mill, which he runs during the winterseason. 

In 1876 he married Polly J. Small, daugh- 
ter of Philip Sraail, ot Bethel township. Their 
union has been blessed with six children, two 
sons and four daughters : Herman E., Alfred 
O., Ella C, Maggie, Hally A. and Emma J. 

Zachariah T. Lessig is a pronounced demo- 
crat in political opinion and holds the offices of 
constable and auditor of Gilpin township. He 
is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran 
church, of which he is a trustee. He is a mem- 
ber of the Patrons of Husbandry, and takes an 
interest in every movement calculated to benefit 



022 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



the farmers as a class or to iucrease the produc- 
tions of the soil. 



TAMES McADOO, who has been in the mer- 
^ cautile business continuously for twenty- 
one years, is the leading merchant of Maysville. 
He was born near the old steam mill, in Bell 
township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
December 31, 1839, and is the fifth child of 
William and Nancy (Gallaher) McAdoo. Sam- 
uel McAdoo (paternal grandfather) was a native 
of Ireland, in which country he died. William 
McAdoo (father) was born in county Donegal, 
Ireland, in 1800, and was engaged in farming 
until he was thirty years of age, when with his 
wife and one child, he came to America. He 
first stopjied at Nealie's salt works, near Salina, 
Westmoreland county, where he was engaged in 
boiling salt for six years. He then moved to a 
farm of one hundred aud thirty acres in Kiski- 
minetas township, Armstrong county, which 
was nearly all woods and which he cleared and 
improved. He afterwards bought forty acres 
of adjoining land and his success in life was due 
to his energy and good business tact. He was a 
democrat, but never took any active part in 
politics. He was one of the first members of 
Elder's Ridge Presbyterian church. He was a 
kind and indulgent father, a Christian gentle- 
man and died in August, 1875, aged seventy-five 
years. In 1826 he was married to Nancy 
Gallaher, in Ireland, where their eldest child is 
buried. They had nine children : Samuel, born 
in 1831; Mary, born October 11, 1833; Sarah, 
born April 24, 1836; John, born October 23, 
1837; James, born December 31, 1839; Wil- 
liam, born February 20, 1841 ; Jane, born 
October 1, 1843; Nancy, born February 18, 
1846; and Margaret, born July 17, 1848. Mrs. 
McAdoo (a daughter of Daniel Gallaher, who 
was a native of Ireland) died April 14, 1884, 
at the age of sixty-three years and nine months. 
James McAdoo was reared on the farm and 



received his education in the public schools of 
Kiskiminetas township aud Elder's Ridge 
academy. He then entered Duif's Commercial 
college, from which he was graduated in 1863. 
He worked on the farm in summer and for sev- 
eral years, during which he taught fourteen 
terms of winter school in Kiskiminetas town- 
ship, in all of which schools he was very suc- 
cessful. In 1870 he engaged in the mercantile 
business with J. G. Walker, with whom he 
continued until 1874, when he sold his interest 
to Mr. Walker and started in business at Mays- 
ville, where, in 1878, he formed a mercantile 
partnei-ship with J. S. McAwley. They have 
a good trade, carry about five thousand dollars' 
worth of goods and their yearly sales amouut 
to eight thousand dollars. When Peuusylvauia 
was threatened by a Confederate invasion in 
1863,-he entered the Union army, iu June of 
that year, as a private iu Co. H, .54th regiment. 
Pa. Militia, under Col. Gallagher and was at the 
(capture of Gen. Morgan. 

April 14, 1870, Mr. McAdoo was married to 
Eliza J., daughter of Benjamin Howe, a farmer 
of Allegheny county, who resides three miles 
from Tarentum, Pa. This union has been blest 
with four children, one son and three daughters : 
Florence, born August 9, 1871, is attending 
school at Slippery Rock ; William A., born 
February 5, 1873 (is at Elder's Ridge acad- 
emy) ; Nancy R., born August 6, 1876, aud Har- 
riet M., born July 21, 1881. 

James McAdoo is a member of the Presby- 
terian church at Elder's Ridge, in which he has 
been an elder for eight years. He has always 
been a democrat, is liberal in his political views 
aud stands high as a man of integrity and cor- 
rect business methods. 



JOHN S. McAWLEY, a prosperous mer- 
^ chant of Maysville and who served on the 
.southern border of this State during the Confed- 
erate invasion of 1864, is a sou of James and 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



623 



Sarah (Ripple) McAwley, and was born at 
Gamble's salt works, in Kiskiminetas township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 
1846. Samuel McAwley (grandfather) was 
born in Huntingdon county, from which he 
removed, some time between the years 1825 and 
1830, to Westmoreland county, on the opposite 
bank of the Conemaugh river from Salts])nrg 
One of his sons, James McAwley (father), was 
born in 1812, in Huntingdon county, removed 
with li is father to Westmoreland county, and 
about 1830 came to Gamble's salt works, in 
Kiskiminetas township, where he was engaged 
in the manufacture of salt for twenty-eight 
years. In 1852 he purchased and removed to 
the farm, in Kiskiminetas township, comprising 
one hundred and eleven acres of land, where ho 
still resides, and upon which lie has raised some 
very fine stock. By energy and frugality he 
has ac<|uired a competency, and now, in the even- 
ing of life, surrounded by bis cbiblren, he is 
enjoying the fruits of his labors. Pie is a demo- 
crat in politics, but at elections votes for the 
local candidates whom he considers best quali- 
fied for office, regardless of party lines. He is 
a member of the Presbyterian church at Apollo, 
and in 1835 married Sarah Rijtplc, who was 
born in 1812, and is a daughter of Louis Rip- 
ple, who was a native of Greencastle, Pa., from 
whence he removed to Westmoreland county, in 
tiie neighborhood of Latrobc, and, about the year 
1850, came to Armstrong county, where he en- 
gaged in farming. .lames and Sarah McAwley 
were the parents of eight children : David, born 
February 7, 1836, and died March 31, 1836; 
Mary M., born June 13, 1837, married to W. J. 
Elwood ; Catherine, born September 25, 1839 ; 
James, born January 9, 1841, and died Novem- 
ber 7, 1844; an iul\mt, born March 29, 1843, 
and died March 19, 1845 ; Samuel, born May 
25, 1845, and mai'ried Jane Clawsou ; an infant 
which died, and J. S., born August 31, 1847. 

John S. McAwley grew to manhood on the 
farm, and attended the public schools of Kiski- 



minetas township and Elder's Ridge academy. 
In 1859, at thirteen years of age, he went into 
the oil region of Pennsylvania, where he worked 
for nine years, and then came to Maysville, 
where he has resided ever since. In August, 
1864, he enlisted under Capt. Weaver, in Co. 
F, 1st Pa. Battalion, commanded by Colonel 
Stewart, and served four months, being present 
at the burning of Chambersburg. After he was 
discharged from the array he returned to Kis- 
kiminetas township, and in 1878 he entered into 
his present mercantile partnership at Maysville, 
with James McAdoo. Ho has been successful 
as a merchant, and his firm carries a heavy and 
well assorted stock of goods. 

On October 16, 1877, he married Nancy Mc- 
Adoo, who was a daughter of William McAdoo, 
and died Septemlier 9, 1878, leaving one child, 
a son : William J., born July 17, 1878. 

In politics, John S. McAwley is a democrat. 



PHILIP R. McGRANN, postmaster of 
Logansport and a prosperous merchant of 
Bethel township, has been one of the most suc- 
cessful railroad foremen of Pennsylvania. He 
was born in Columbia count}', Pennsylvania, 
December 27, 1845, and is a son of Philip and 
Catherine (Shelhammer) McGranu. Philip 
McGrann, Sr. (father), was born in 1811, in 
county Cavan, Ireland, and came, in 1828, to 
Penn.sylvania, where he became a coal-miner in 
Columbia county. He was a democrat in poli- 
tics, a protestaut in faith and died in 1873, at 
sixty-three years of age. He married Catherine 
Shelhammer, a member of the Lutheran church, 
who was born in Columbia county about 1810, 
and is now a resident of Rock Glenn, Luzerne 
county. 

Philip R. McGrann was reared in his native 
township, where he received his education in the 
common schools. Since leaving school he has 
been principally employed in constructing and 
repairing canals and railroads. He was foreman 



(;i>4 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



on the Allegheny Valley R. R., the Wilming- 
ton & Birdsboro' R. R., and the Baltimore & 
Potomac R. R., when they were in process of 
construction. In 1873 he removed to Arm- 
strong county, and from 1873 to 1882 was fore- 
man on the Limestone quarry at Manorville. 
In 1883 he ensjao'ed in the lumber business at 
Manorville, and in 1885 opened his present 
general mercantile store at Rock Glenn, which 
is one mile from Logansport. He has a well 
selected stock of goods and commands a large 
and rapidly increasing trade. On October 14, 
1890, he was appointed postmaster of Logans- 
port and keeps the post-oiBce in his store. 

On July 21, 1872, he married Mary Keiser, 
daughter of Henry Keiser, of Selin's Grove, 
Snj'der county. They had one child, a daugh- 
ter: Utica Blanche. Mrs. McGrann died Nov. 
7, 1874, and on January 18, 1877, Mr. Mc- 
Grann united in marriage with Mary C. Heil- 
man, daughter of Simon Heilman, of this 
county. 

In politics, Philip R. McGrann is a republi- 
can. He is one of the enterprising citizens of 
Bethel township and has always been a man of 
energy and activity. He never idles any of his 
time away, is always prompt and on time with 
his work and has always been successful in 
whatever he has undertaken. 



JOSEPH MYERS. One of Gilpin town- 
^ ship's many prosperous farmers and worthy 
citizens is Joseph Myers. He is a son of 
David and Elizabeth (Klingensmith) Myers, 
and was born in Gilpin township, Armstrong 
county, Pennsylvania, July 1, 1819. His 
paternal grandfather, Adam Myers, was a 
native . of Germany. Before he attained his 
majority he came to Pennsylvania, where he set- 
tled in Westmoreland county and purchased a 
farm. He was engaged in farming until his 
death, when he was in the ninetieth year of his 
age. His son, David Myers (father), was born 



in Westmoreland county, but came to what is 
now Gilpin township when a young man. He 
carried the chain for the surveyors when the 
townships of Kiskiminetas and Allegheny were 
laid out. He was a shoemaker by trade, but 
after his removal to this county he engaged in 
farming, which he followed until his death in 
1830, at thirty-six years of age. He was a 
democrat in politics and a member of the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran church. He married Elizabeth 
Klingensmith, who was born on Brush creek, 
Westmoreland county, in 1794, and died in 
1856, when she was in the sixty-first year of 
her age. She was an estimable woman and 
united with the Evangelical Lutheran church, 
of which she was a member for many years be- 
fore her death. 

Joseph Myers was reared on his father's farm 
and received a good common English educa- 
tion. In early life he followed droving for a 
few years and then engaged in his present busi- 
ness of farming. When Allegheny township 
was divided and Gilpin, Parks and Bethel 
townships erected out of its territory, he aided 
the surveyors in laying out the boundary lines 
of these respective townships. He owns a farm 
of one hundred and seventy-nine acres of well- 
improved laud, which he carefully cultivates. 

On June 8, 1841, he married Magdalena 
Allhouse, daughter of John Allhouse, of Gilpin 
township. To their union were born six chil- 
dren, of whom two are living: Abraham, a 
carpenter residing in Washington townshiji; 
and Julia, wife of John Small, of Gilpin town- 
ship. Mrs. Myers died in 1856, upon the same 
day upon which her husband's mother passed 
away. On September 6, 1860, Joseph Myers 
united in marriage with Elizabeth Lessig, 
daughter of Squire Joseph Lessig (see sketch of 
Z. T. Lessig). To this second union were born 
nine children, of whom three sons and two 
daughtere are living: Mahala, Mary E., Asa, 
Theodore and Recy. Mrs. Elizabeth (Lessig) 
Myers died August 7, 1883. 



ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



625 



Joseph Myers is a member of the Lutheran 
church and an earnest democrat in politics. He 
has filled the township offices of constable, 
school director and overseer of the poor. Mr. 
Myers has shown excellent judgment in the 
management of his farm and is a man who 
strictly attends to his own affairs. 



TSAAC XOVINGER, a farmer of Gilpin 
J- township, who was engaged upon the con- 
struction of the Pennsylvania canal and rail- 
road, and who served faithfully for three years 
in the armies of the Union, is a son of Isaac 
and Hannah (Hagg) Novinger, and was born 
in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, November 
IG, 1829. His paternal grandfather Novinger 
was born in Wiirteniberg, Germany, and be- 
came one of the early settlers of Dauphin 
county, where he was often disturbed and har- 
assed by the Indians. After Indian troubles 
had ceased he cleared out his farm and resided 
in that county until his death. His son, Isaac 
Novinger, Sr. (father), was born in Dauphin 
county, where he learned the trade of wheel- 
wright. While working at his trade he was 
also engaged in farming. He was a soldier in 
the war of 1812, during which he served at 
Philadelphia in the year 1814. He died in 
Dauphin county in 1857, when he was in the 
sixty-second year of his age. He was a demo- 
crat in politics, a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church and married Hannah Hagg, a 
native of Dauphin county and a member of the 
Lutheran church. 

Isaac Novinger was rearetl on the farm and 
obtjiinetl his educjition in the subscription 
schools of his boyhood days. At the age of 
nineteen years he removed to Westmoreland 
county and worked on the construction of the 
Pennsylvania railroad, between Pittsburgh and 
Greensburg. He subsequently followed boat- 
ing for four years on the Pennsylvania canal, 
and then for four years was engaged on steam- 



boats and coal-boats on the Ohio river. On the 
18th of August, 1862, he enliste<l as a private 
in Co. C, 139th regiment. Pa. Vols., under 
Captain ,Parr, and served until the end of the 
war, when he was honorably discharged June 
21, 1865. He particijiated in all the engage- 
ments of his regiment, was always able to per- 
form any duty assigned to him and never spent 
a day in the hospital during the three years of 
his term of service. When he was discharged 
he returned to Westmoreland county, where he 
was engaged in fanning until March, 1869, 
when his father-in-law purchased the farm on 
which he moved and now resides, and at his 
death willed one hundred and ten of its two 
hundred and ten acres to Mr. Novinu-cr's wife. 
Mr. Novinger purchased the other one hundred 
acres, and he and his wife now own the entire 
farm. 

October 4, 1860 he married Mary A. Grinder, 
daughter of Andrew Grinder, of Westmoreland 
county. They are the parents of six children, 
two sons and four daughters : Catherine, An- 
drew, Thomas, Hannah, Mary E. and Isa. 

Isaac Novinger is a strong democrat, has 
filled nearly all of his township's offices and at 
present is serving as overseer of the poor of 
Gilpin township. His farm is well improved 
and productive, and lies convenient to public 
highways. But few men have passed through 
so many dangers and escaped so luckily as he 
has. He has been a determined, persistent and 
hard worker during his eventful life, and is 
now comfortably situated to enjoy the fruits of 
his many years of labor. 



JB. PARKS. One of the early settled and 
• substantial families of southern Arm- 
strong county, noted for over three-quarters of 
a century for thrift, business ability and moral 
standing, is the Parks family, of near Leech- 
burg; and one of its well-known and highly 
respected members is J. B. Parks, an intelligent 



020 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



citizen and extensive farmer of Parks township. 
He is a sou of Robert and Jane (Bratton) Parks, 
and was born in Mifflin co., Pennsylvania, Nov. 
11, 1810. His paternal grandfather was in all 
probability born in York county, as he removed 
from there to Huntingdon county. He served 
in the Revolutionary war under Washington, 
and was one of those who endured all the jiri- 
vations and sufferings of the dreary winter at 
Valley Forge. He was an earnest Christian, 
and was a strict member of the Covenanter 
church, in which he was a zealous and indefatig- 
able worker. He owned a good farm in Hunt- 
ingdon county, and about 1758 married a lady 
whose name cannot be secured at tiiis writing, 
by whom he had four sons and two daughters : 
William, James, Robert, Arthur, Margaret and 
Fannie. The second son, Robert Parks (father), 
was born in York county, August 14, 1769, and 
removed with his father to Huntingdon county. 
At sixteen years of age he went to Mifflin 
county, where he learned the trade of shoe- I 
maker and purchased a farm. In 1814 he dis- 
posed of his shoe-shop and land and came to 
Armstrong county, where he purchased from 
John Montgomery a farm of four hundred 
acres of land about two miles east of Leech- : 
burg. This tract was known as "Fanners' 
Delight," and he added adjoining farms to it ! 
by purchase until he had a solid body of six 
hundred and fifty acres of good farming and 
rich coal land. He purchased his land at about 
six dollars and fifty cents per acre. At his 
death this land was divided by his direction 
between his three sons, and the subject of this 
sketch fell heir to the homestead part, and has 
in his possession the original patent for this 
land, issued by King George III. of England, 
in 1754. He was a man of large stature, was 
very industrious and stood high as a citizen and 
a Christian. He was a democrat of the strictest 
type and a consistent member of the Presby- 
terian church. He was held in such high 
esteem in Allegheny township, that when it was 



divided, in 1878, into three townships, the part 
in which he lived was called Parks township. 
He died August 19, 1858, when in the nine- 
tieth year of his age. On October 19, 1790, 
he married Jane Bratton, and to them were 
born twelve children : twins, who died in in- 
fancy ; Margaret, wife of Joseph Shields, born 
1792; Isabella, who married Andrew Arnold; 
born 1794; Piiebe, wife of J. E. Brown, born 
1796 ; Elizabeth, wife of George T. Crawford, 
born 1798; John, born 1800, who married 
Sarah Gourley and after her death married 
Elizabeth Shriber; Jane M., wife of James 
Fitzgerald, born 1803 ; Sidney G., who married 
John Lefever, born 1805; Robert P., Sarah 
E., wife of Alexander Gordon, born 1808 ; 
J. B., William G., who married Rhoda 
Thompson and then Ellen Parr, born 1813. 
Mrs. Parks, who died in 1847, aged seventy- 
eiglit years, was a daughter of James Bratton 
(maternal grandfather),' who was a native of 
Ireland, settled on a large tract of land in Mif- 
flin county, which was afterwards purchased by 
Robert Parks, and in 1768 married Jane Brat- 
ton, who bore him six children : Jane (Mrs. 
Parks), William, Elizabeth (Mrs. Starks), 
George, Phebe (Mrs. Brown), and Robert. 
After James Brattou's death, his widow mar- 
ried Alex. Stolford, by whom she had one 
daughter : Margaret (Mrs. Stuart). 

J. B. Parks received his education in the old 
subscription schools, taught one term in 1828, 
became an assistant surveyor on the Pennsyl- 
vania canal and afterwards helped lay out the 
borough of Leechburg. He came in 1814 with 
his father to the farm which he now owns, and 
after leaving the engineer corps on the Pennsyl- 
vania canal, he engaged in farming and stock- 
dealing, which business he has followed success- 
fully ever since. He has a rich and valuable 
farm of two hundred and fifty acres on which 
he has erected a fine brick dwelling, built a good 
baru and neat and substantial fences. He is a 
scientific farmer, uses all the latest improved 



ARMSTROlffG COUNTY. 



627 



farm machinery and raises some very fine 
stock. 

December 17, 1840, he married Lucinda Hill, 
daughter of Hon. Jacob Hill, who was suc- 
cessively a hotel-keeper, a merchant, and a 
member, for two terms, of the Pennsylvania 
legislature. They had fourteen children, of 
whom ten are living : Robert G., a farmer, who 
married Margaret Cline; Hannah U., J. H., a 
druggist, who married Mary C. Taylor; Isa- 
bella C, wife of T. J. Elwood; John W., 
married Anna Bladen, and is an engineer in 
West Penn Steel-works; Phebe C, wife of S. 
C. Bole; Thomas J., an iron-worker of Apollo, 
who married Sarah M. Thompson; W. F., 
married Mary I. Pinkcrton (now dead), and 
is a dentist of St. Louis, Mo.; Sidney P., and 
Edmeston B., a teacher. The four who died 
were: Jane, Ella, Blanche and Ellis. Mrs. 
Parks was born December 17, 1824, and died 
January 27, 1878. She was a fond mother, a 
kind and sympathizing friend and a devoted 
Christian, and was loved and respected by all 
who knew her. 

J. B. Parks is a Jeffersonian democrat, has 
held all of his to\vnship's offices, and is an influ- 
ential man in political aifairs as well as business 
matters. He has been an elder for thirty years 
of the Leechburg Presbyterian church and was 
one of the heaviest contributors toward the 
erection of both the old and new church build- 
ings. Mr. Parks is of Scotch-Irish descent, 
and his success in life is mainly due to his 
great will-power, industry and good judgment. 



ROBERT PARKS, one of the representa- 
tive farmers of Parks township, is the 
only living son of William G. and Rhoda 
(Thompson) Parks, and was born on the farm 
on which he now resides, in Parks township, 
Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, May 29, 
184.3. His paternal great-grandfather, John 



Parks, removed from York to Huntingdon 
county, where he owned a good farm. He 
served under Washington at Valley Forge, was 
a strict covenanter and married a lady by whom 
lie had four sons and two daughters (see sketch 
of J. B. Parks). His son, Robert Parks (grand- 
father), was born August 14, 1769, in York 
county, and after spending some years in Hunt- 
ingdon and Mifflin counties, came, in 1814, to 
what is now Parks township, where he bought 
a four hundred acre tract of land, two miles 
east of Leechburg, known as " Farmers' De- 
light." He afterwards added two hundred and 
fifty acres to it by purchase, and at his death 
his land was divided between his three Sons. 
Parks township was named after him. In 1790 
he married Jane Bratton, daughter of James 
Bratton, by whom he had twelve children. One 
of their sons was AVilliam G. Parks (father), who 
inherited the part of the homestead farthest U|i the 
river. He was born June 1, 1813, in Mifflin 
county, and when, in 1858, he came in posses- 
sion of his present farm, he went to work with a 
will to improve it. He erected fine buildings, put 
upgood fences and bought farm machinery of all 
kinds. His varied and extensive improvements 
and methods of farming have made it one of the 
most valuable farms in the county. He has 
been a resident of Leechburg since 1882, is an 
exemplary citizen of his borough and is a prom- 
inent member and zealous worker of the Leech- 
burg Presbyterian church. He is one of the 
directors of the Apollo Savings bank, also of 
the Leechburg Batiking company and a director 
of the Westmoreland and Armstrong County 
Fire Insurance company. In politics Mr. Parks 
is a republican. June 14, 1839, he was united 
in marriage with Rhoda Thompson, of Mercer 
county. Pa. To them were born four .sons : 
James Bratton, born March 16, 1840, wounded 
at Gettysburg, Pa., July 3, 1863, died Aug. 8, 
1863, and buried in Nat. Cem., sec. C, grave 88 ; 
Robert, John Thompson, born April 14, 1845, 
died October 20, 1861 ; and William Findley, 



628 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



born December 18, 1847, and died Sejitember 
19, 1861. Mrs. Parks was a daughter of John 
Thompison, a native of county Antrim, Ireland, 
who came to Mercer county, where lie was a 
farmer, an old-line whig and a deacon of the 
Covenanter church. November 29, 1804, he 
married Mary Ann Findley, of county Fer- 
managh, Ireland, aiul their union was blessed 
with fourteen children. Mrs. Rhoda (Thomp- 
son) Parks was born August 4, 1813, and died 
February 21, 1848. On June 12, 1860, Mr- 
Parks married Ellen, daugiiter of James B. 
Parr, of New Alexandria, Westmoreland county, 
Pa. 

Robert Parks was reared on the farm, ob- 
tained a good English education and has been a 
very industrious and successful farmer of his 
native township, in which he has always resided. 

October 21, 1873, he united in marriage with 
Sara E. Ralston. To them have been born 
three children : William Thompson, Elizabeth 
Mason, who died March 25, 1883; and James 
Bratton. Mrs. Parks is a daughter of John 
Ralston, who was born at Cougruity, Westmore- 
land county. Pa., March 13, 1809, and died 
November 9, 1881. He owned a well-tilled 
farm of two hundred acres, was a republican 
Avho had held several of his township's offices 
and a member of the Presbyterian church, 
in which he was twice elected elder, but would 
not accept the office. In February, 1838, he 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Mason, 
of near Hannastown, Pa., by whom he had five 
children: Nancy A. (Mrs. Kelly) of Iowa; 
Sara E. (Mrs. Parks); Emma J. (Mrs. Irwin); 
Dr. W. C. (see his sketch) ; and Mary M. (Mrs. 
Dr. Johnson) now dead. 

Robert Parks has one of the best farms in 
that section, on account of its great fertility and 
the high state of cultivation in wliich he keeps 
it. He has led a busy, useful and honorable 
life and stands well in the estimation of all who 
know him. He is a member of the Presbyter- 
ian church at Leechburg, where he has been an 



elder since January 14, 1882, discharging the 
duties of this office conscientiously and effi- 
ciently. 



GEORGE TOWNSEND, one of the repre- 
sentative farmers of Kiskiminetas town- 
ship, was born March 12, 1844, on the farm 
on which he now resides, in Kiskiminetas 
township, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, 
and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Shoe- 
maker) Townsend. His paternal grandfather, 
Isaac Townsend, was born in England in 1760, 
and came, in 1775, to what is now Kiskimin- 
etas township, where, about 1780, he married 
Rachel King, by whom he had seven sons and 
three daughters. (For fuller history see sketch 
of Absalom Townsend.) One of these sons was 
William Townsend (father), who was born in 
Kiskiminetas township in 1800. At fifteen 
years of age he learned the trade of blacksmith 
with his father, and worked with his brother 
until his marriage, when he bought the farm 
now owned by the subject of this sketch, and 
removed to it in the spring of 1829. He fol- 
lowed farming until his death, on April 6, 
1884. He was a democrat, a member, deacon 
and elder of the Lutheran church at Maysville, 
and married Elizabeth Shoemaker, an esteemed 
woman, who was beloved by all who knew her. 
They had twelve children (two died in infancy), 
six sons and six daughters : Joseph, Augu.stus, 
Elizabeth, Susan, Linus and Polly, all de- 
ceased; Margaret, born in 1832, wife of Israel 
Ashbaugh ; Labanna, born in 1839, married 
to Julia Armstrong; Israel, born in 1841, 
married Sarah Shirley; and George. Mr. 
Townsend died April 6, 1884, and Mrs. Town- 
send died September 1, 1889. Both sleep in 
the cemetery at Maysville. Mrs. Townsend 
was a daughter of Solomon Shoemaker (mater- 
nal grandfather), who was born in Loudon 
county, Va., in 1770, came to Armstrong 
county in 1799, and settled near Spring 



ARMSTBONG COTNTT. 



629 



Church, where he took up three hundred and 
fifty acres of land, which he and his sons 
cleared and improved. He was a democrat, a 
member of the Reformed church for some time 
at what is now known as St. James', and was 
one of the organizers of the Lutheran church 
at Boiling Springs. In 1790 he married Eliza- 
beth Uncafer, of Loudon county, Va., and 
they had nine children, of whom six grew to 
man and womanhood: John, born in 1795, 
married Nancy Mimmelright; Joseph, born in 
1799, married to Sallie Winel; Catherine, born 
in 1801, wife of John Earhart; George, born 
May 26, 1804, married Elizabeth Grimm; 
■ Margaret, born in 1807, wife of Raymond 
Deiisell ; and Elizabeth (mother). Mrs. Shoe- 
maker passed away in 1846, and Mr. Shoe- 
maker died in 1854. 

George Townsend was reared on a farm, and 
received his education in the public schools of 
Kiskiminetas township. At the death of his 
father he bought the homestead farm, on which 
he now resides. It contains one hundred and 
thirty-seven acres, and is now one of the best 
farms in the county. 

On July 2, 1874, he married Frances M., 
daughter of John Laughlan, who is a farmer 
of Kiskiminetas township. Four children have 
been born to this union, — one son and three 
daughters: Delia M., born May 8, 1875; Wil- 
liam M., born June 14, 1876 ; Mary E., born 
August 24, 1880, and Hannah P., born Octo- 
ber 4, 1882. Mrs. Townsend passed away 
April 28, 1888. 

George Townsend is a prominent democrat 
in politics, but no aspirant for office. He is a 
member of the Lutheran church at Maysville, 
of which he has been both deacon and elder. 
He has been very successful in life, and is one 
of the influential men of his township. 



ABSALOM K. TOWNSEND is descended 
from the highly respected Townsend and 
Ulani families of Armstrong county, and his 
life is an illustration of the many good qualities 
of his worthy ancestors. He was born in De- 
cember, 1826, on the old Townsend homestead, 
in Kiskiminetas township, Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, and is a son of Henry and Cathe- 
rine (Ulam) Townsend. His paternal grand- 
father, Isaac Townsend, was born in England 
about 1760. He was a farmer, whose father 
was a large land-holder, who by bailing his 
friends lost all he had. Isaac Townsend came 
to America about 1775, settled in what was 

j then Westmoreland countv, now Kiskiminetas 
township, Armstroug county, where he bought 
four hundred acres of land from George Wolfe, 
for which he paid about seventy-five cents per 

j acre. It is now one of the most fertile farms in 
the county. He could do almost anything. He 
was active and energetic and was a man of good 
judgment. He was a democrat and was suc- 
cessively auditor, assessor and road supervisor 
of his township. He. was reared a Quaker, but 
after his marriage united with the Lutheran 
church, in which he was an elder for a number 
of years. In 1780 he married Rachel King, of 
German extraction and a native of Northamp- 
ton county. They had ten children : John, 
Henry, Isaac, Robert, Joseph, William, Polly, 
Susan and two infants which died. Mr. Town- 

[ send died in 1838 and Mrs. Townsend in 1847. 
A. K. Townsend's maternal grandfather, Daniel 
Ulam, was born in eastern Pennsylvania about 
1745 and moved to Westmoreland county in 
1 805, where he bought and farmed a large tract 
of land. He was a democrat, a member of the 

\ Lutheran church and an upright man. In 
1775 he married and had eight children: 
Jacob, a hotel-keeper, married Catherine Lip- 
pincot; Peter, a hotel-keeper and cabinet- 
maker; Daniel, a cabinet-maker, married Susan 
Townsend; Elizabeth, wife of Barney Cline; 
Catherine, Hannah, wife of Jacob Hill ; 



630 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



and Martha, who married Joseph Townsend. 
Mr. Ulam died in 1815 and Mrs. Ulam in 
1839. Henry Townsend (father) was born on 
the home farm about 1795. He followed farm- 
ing, but in early life he drilled several salt 
wells and manufactured salt. He was a demo- | 
crat, and a member of Yockey's Lutheran 
church. He was a man of high standing, and 
on February 2, 1829, married Catherine Ulam, 
by whom he had ton children : Rachel, wife of 
James Leech ; Martha, wife of James Young ; 
Linus, married Mary Brown ; Caroline, wife of 
John Whigham ; Absalom K., Leonidas, mar- 
ried Nancy Brown ; Abner (deceased) ; Willa- 
mina, wife of James Jackson ; Harry, married 
to Margaret Sipes; Bethma F. (dead); and 
Hannah P., wife of Geo. Wilson. 

Absalom K. Townsend attended the old sub- 
scription schools and is a well-read man, who is 
acquainted with all the current topics of the 
day. He has increased his farm (which is one 
of the best in the county) by successive pur- 
chases, until he now owns four hundred acres of j 
choice land. He is a Jacksoniaa democrat, an 
influential citizen and a member of Elder's , 
Ridge Presbyterian church. 1 

On November 6, 1851, Mr. Townsend mar- 
ried Mary J., daughter of Joiin Gamble, a salt 
manufacturer, who resided at Kiskiminetas salt- 
works. Mr. and Mrs. Townsend have been the 
parents of ten children : Linus E., born October 
29, 1852, married Margaret Dunmire; Fannie 
C, born March .30, 1854, wife of Mitchell 
Steward; Henry B., born April 9, 1856, mar- 
ried to Jennie Fairman ; Anna M., born March 
4, 1858, wife of Henderson Lafferty, M.D., and 
is now dead; Margaret E., born March 11, 
1860, was killed in a railroad wreck; Caroline 
W., born March 21, 1862, wife of James Neely 
and now dead; John F., born January 8, 1864; 
James L., born July 5, 1866 ; George W., born 
November 20, 1868; and Absalom H., born 
October 2, 1874. 



JOHN H. WILSON, a very pleasant gentle- 
man and an industrious farmer of Kiski- 
minetas township.was born near Elizabeth, Eliza- 
beth township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, 
May 27, 1827, and is the fourth sou of Hugh 
M. and Mary (Henderson) Wilson. The Wil- 
son and Henderson families settled at an early 
day in western Pennsylvania. Capt. James 
Wilson, the paternal grandfather of John H. 
Wilson, was a native of Chester county and 
commanded a company of minute-men. He 
married Isabella Mitchell and settled prior to 
1800 in Allegheny county, where he reared a 
family of six sons: Hon. John, James, Samuel, 
Thomas, David and Hugh M. The Henderson 
family, of Washington county, was planted by 
Matthew Henderson (maternal great-grand- 
father), who was one of the founders of Wash- 
ington and Jefferson college. His son. Rev. 
Matthew Henderson (maternal grandfather), 
was born January 10, 1762, in Chester county, 
and married (1786) Rebecca Patterson, of Lan- 
caster county, by whom he had nine children. 
(See sketch of W.T. Wilson for fuller history.) 
Hugh M. Wilson (father) was born April 1, 1793, 
and removed from Allegheny county in 1835 to 
Kiskiminetas township, where he became the 
owner of over six hundred acres of land. He 
died July 31, 1872. He was a republican, 
and a ruling elder of Olivet United Presbyterian 
church, and married (December 15, 1815) Mary 
Henderson. They had eight children : Rebecca 
(Watson), James D.,Rev. Matthew H., Mitchell, 
Martha (deceased) ; John H., Thomas J. (de- 
ceased) ; and William T. 

John H. Wilson received a good practical 
education in the .subscription .schools of Alle- 
gheny county and the early free schools of Kis- 
kiminetas township. Leaving school, he en- 
gaged in farming and stock-rai.sing, which he 
has followed ever since. To the one hundred 
and eighty-two acres of land in this township 
which he inherited from his father, he has added 
by purchase eighteen acres more, and has a 



ARMSTRONG COVNTT. 



631 



farm of two hundred acres of good fanning 
land. 

October 6, 1854, Mr. Wilson married Nancy 
J. Warner. They are the parents of eleven 
children, seven sons and four daughters : Samuel 
P., born July 7, 1855; H. M., born August 19, 
1857; James H., born October 10, 1859; 
Matthew T., born March 2, 1861, married to 
Kate Lambing and resides at Greensburg; Mary 
E., born November 9, 1862; Rebecca W., born 
March 14, 1864; William A., born June 24, 
1865; John H. and Nancy J. (twins), born 
December 10, 1866; Martha B., born De- 
cember 27, 1870; and Charles, born January 
22, 1874. 

In politics, John H. Wilson is a republican. 
He is a member of the United Presbyterian 
church at Olivet, in which he has always been 
an active and efficient worker. 



WILLIAM T. WILSON, a successful farm- 
er and a prominent and useful member 
of the United Presbyterian church in Kiskimin- 
etas township, was born near Elizabeth, Alle- 
gheny' county, Pennsylvania, November 4, 
1830, and is the youngest of eight children born 
to Hugh M. and Mary (Henderson) Wilson. 
His paternal grandfather, Capt. James Wilson, 
was born in Chester county, Pa., between 1770 
and 1780. He was a small, muscular man, and 
removed to Allegheny county, where his wife 
was much afraid of the Indians. He was en- 
gaged in one or two Indian expeditions and 
commanded a company of minute-men. He 
was a member of the Associate Reformed church, 
and married (about 1783) Isaijella Mitchell. To 
them were born six children : John, who was a 
member of the Legislature from Alle- 
gheny county ; James, Samuel, Thomas, David 
and Hugh. His maternal great-grandfather, 
Matthew Hendei-son, was a pioneer of Wash- 
insrton countv, and was one of the founders of 
Wasliington and Jefferson college. His son. 



Rev. Matthew Henderson (maternal grand- 
father), was born in Chester county, January 10, 
1762, and came to Allegheny county and set- 
tled near the Wilsons. He was a minister of 
the Associate Reformed church, and a whig. 
October 3, 1786, he married Rebecca Patterson, 
of Lancaster county, and they had nine children : 
Martha, Mary, Matthew, a member of the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1838 ; Samuel, John, 
Arthur, Ebcnezer, James and Rebecca. Hugh 
M. Wilson (father) was born in Allegheny 
county, April 1, 1793, was a merchant of Eliz- 
abeth, that county, for some time and then 
farmed and ran a saw and grist-mil until 1834, 
when he sold out and came to Armstrong 
county, in March, 1835. He bought one hun- 
dred and fifty-eight acres in Kiskiminetas town- 
ship, and bought two other tracts of land, mak- 
ing six hundred acres in all. He was a whig 
and rej)ublican in politics. He was a niember 
of the Associate Reformed church and after- 
wards united with tlie United Pre.sbyterian 
church of Olivet, of which he was a ruling elder 
for fifty years. On December 21, 1815, he mar- 
ried Mary Henderson, by whom he had eight 
children : Rebecca, born in 1816, married Thos. 
Watson,of Indiana comity ; .lames, born in 1818, 
married Nancy Wray : Matthew H. (a minis- 
ter), born in 1820, married Mary Blasdell ; 
Mitchell, born in 1822, married Elizal>eth 
Moore; Martha, born in 1824, died in 1845; 
John H., born in 1827, married to Nancy 
Warner; Thomas J., born in 1829, died in 
1890; and William T. Mrs. Wilson died 
June 30, 1867, and Mr. Wilson July 31, 1872. 
They both sleep in the cemetery at Olivet. 

William T. Wil.son is of Scotch-Irish extrac- 
tion and was educated in the public schools of 
Kiskiminetas township. He has been a farm- 
er all his life and liy energy and perseverance 
has accumulated a handsome property. He 
enlisted in the State Militia in September, 1862, 
and again in July, 1863, but was not in 
a ctive service. 



632 



BIOGRAPHIES OF 



On November 25, 1857, Mr. Wilson united 
in marriage with Eliza Scott, a native of Eng- 
land and a daughter of Hugh and Margaret 
Scott, natives of county Tyrone, Ireland. Their 
union has been blest with ten children : Hugh 
S., born in 1858, married to Mary Brown; 
Mary^born in 1859 (deceased) ; Maggie, born 
in 1861 (deceased) ; Martha, born in 1862 ; 
Eliza, born in 1864 (deceased) ; John, born in 
1865 (deceased); James C, born in 1867 
(deceased) ; Rebecca E., born in 1870 (de- 
ceased) ; Alice, born in 1875 ; and Willie, born 
in 1880. Mrs. Wilson is an active church 
worker. 

In politics, Mr. Wilson was a republican 
until fifteen years ago, when he became a pro- 
hibitionist, and is now a strong advocate of 
temperance. He is a member of Olivet United 
Presbyterian church, in which he was a trustee 
for eighteen years, chorister for twenty years 
and Sunday-school teacher for about thirty 
years. 



JOHN M. WRAY is one who is highly es- 
teemed by his fellow-citizens of Kiskimi- 
netas township for his integrity, candor and 
usefulness. He is the second son of Robert 
and Abigail (Manners) AV^ray, and was born 
near Saltsburg, in Indiana county, Pennsyl- 
vania, November 23, 1817. His paternal 
grandfather, Daniel Wray, was born in county 
Antrim, Ireland, about 1754, and after resid- I 
ing successively in Mercer and Westmoreland 
counties, removed to the site of Saltsburg, Indi- 
ana county, where he purchased two hundred 
acres of land when that country was all in woods } 
and infested by wolves. He was a whig and a 
presbyterian, and died about 1825. He mar- | 
ried Elizabeth McKibben, by whom he had 
seven children: James, Elizabeth, John, Jane, 
Margaret, William and Robert. Roliert Wray | 
(father) was born near Mercersburg, Franklin [ 
county. Pa., December 8, 1784, and in 1800 



went with his father to the site of Saltsburg, 
where, after his father became sickly, he assumed 
management of the farm, and completed the 
payments on it. A portion of the purchase 
money he raised by boiling salt water. In 
1819 he came to Kiskiminetas township, where 
he died. He was much respected by all who 
knew him, and was frequently called upon to 
settle disputes between his neighbors. He was 
a republican, had held all of his township's 
offices, and was a member of the Elder's Ridge 
Presbyterian church, on whose first building 
committee he served. He owned six hundred 
acres of land, which he divided between three 
of his sons, besides one hundred and twenty 
acres near Olivet, which he gave to another son. 
In 1812 he married Abigail Manners, an indus- 
trious and amiable woman, who was a daughter 
of John Manners, a strong presbyterian, who 
was born in Washington county in 1760, mar- 
ried Sallie Couch in 1785, helped suppress the 
Wiiiskey Insurrection, and came to near Avon- 
more coal-works, where, on his farm of two 
hundred acres, he reared a family of eight 
children : Joseph, Elizabeth, Nathan, Margaret, 
Nancy, George, Polly and Abigail. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Wray were born eleven children : 
Sarah, born July 9, 1814, married Robert 
Smith and died June 13, 1860; Daniel, born 
April 1, 1816 ; John M., Elizabeth, born Jan- 
uary 1, 1820, married John A. Ewiug, and re- 
sides at Olivet; Margaretta, born February 29, 
1824; an infant who died July 15, 1824; Wil- 
liam H., born December 2, 1821, and married 
Susan Townsend ; Nancy, born August 11, 
1825, and married James D. Wilson, of Olivet; 
Robert, born February 11, 1827; Anna J., 
born March 16, 1830; and Abigail M., born 
July 29, 1832. 

John M. Wray was i-eared in Kiskiminetas 
township, where he received his education in the 
early subscription schools which were taught in 
the old log school-house. Attaining his major- 
ity, he engaged in farming, which he has fol- 



ARMSTROXG COUNTY. 



633 



lowed ever since. He was in the mercantile 
business for three years at Olivet, with Henry 
Townseud (1857 to 1860). In 1865 he again 
became a partner of Mr. Townsend, but after- 
wards opened a store on his farm, which he con- 
ducted for ten years, and then transferred it to 
hie son. 

July 19, 1840, Mr. Wray married Anna M., 
daughter of Robert Townsend, of South Bend. 
They have been the parents of eight children, 
two sons and six daughters: Harriet, born 
November 9, 1840, wife of B. H. Scott; Clara 
E., born in 1842, wife of T. M. Marshall; 
Abigail, born August 14, 1844, wife of D. D. 
P. Alexander, postmaster at Apollo; Hiram H., 
born January 24, 1848, married a Miss Har- 
mon; Anna M., born June 18, 1850 (dead); 
Robert T., born May 4, 1853 ; Mary A., born 
May 15, 1856 ; and Emma E., born December 
24, 1859 (dead). 

He is a member of Elder's Ridge Presbyter- 
ian church. Mr. Wray is a republican in poli- 
tics, has held nearly all of Ids township's offices 
and resides on a fine farm, where he is sur- 
rounded by all the comforts of life. 



DANIEL WRAY, one of the energetic, 
thrifty and comfortably situated farmers 
of Kiskirainetas township, is the eldest son of 
Robert and Abigail (Manners) Wray, and was 
born at Saltsburg, Indiana county, Pa., April 
1, 1816. Daniel Wray (grandfather) was born 
in county Antrim, Ireland, about 1754, came 
to America in the early part of the eighteenth 
century aud settled near Mercersburg, Franklin 
county. Pa. In a short time he went to Mt. 
Pleasant, Westmoreland county, and after a 
residence there of a few years he removed to 
the site of Saltsburg and purchased a farm of 
two hundred acres of land. A portion of that 
town is now built upon this farm, but then it 
was in woods, and wolves frequently attacked 
his sheep aud drove them to his cabin door. He 



j died about 1825. He was active in the interests 
of the Whig party, was useful as a member of 
the Presbyterian church and about 1781 mar- 
ried Elizabeth McKibben, by whom he had 
seven children: James, Elizabeth, John, Jane, 
Margaret, AVilliam and Robert. John Manners 
(maternal grandfather) was, in all probability, 
horn in Washington county, about 1760, and 
about 1810 moved to Kiskiminetas township, 
where he bought a farm of two hundred acres, 
adjoining the coal works at Avonmore. He 
was an active, energetic man of good business 
tact, was a member of the Presbyterian church 

, and helped to suppress the " Whiskey Insur- 
rection " in Pennsylvania. In 1785.he mar- 

j ried Sallie Couch, by whom he had eight chil- 
dren: Joseph, Elizabeth, Nathan, Margaret, 
Nancy, George, Polly and Abigail (mother of 
subject). Robert Wray (father) was born near 
Mercersburg, Franklin county, December 8, 
1784. In 1800 he went to Saltsburg with his 
father, who had purchased a farm, and, becoming 
sickly, left its management to him. By farming 
and boiling salt water, he raised means sufficient 
to complete the payments on the farm as fast as 
they became due. In 1812 he married Abigail 
Manners and in 1820 came to this township, 
where he died August 15, 1869, in his eighty- 
fifth year. (For further history of him, see 
sketch of John M. Wray.) 

Daniel Wray was reared on the farm until 
twenty-four years of age, and received his edu- 
cation in the subscription schools of Kiskimine- 
tas township and Saltsburg. He came with his 
father to Kiskiminetas township in 1820. He 
began teaching school in 1840 and taught six 
winter terms, working on the farm during the 
summer. At the end of this time he gave all 
his attention to farming and is now the posses- 
sor of a well-improved farm of one hundred 
and sixty-five acres of land. 

On October 20, 1840, he married Sarah 
France, who was born June 22, 1820, and is a 
daughter of John France, a iiirmer of South 



634 



BIOORAPHIE& OF 



Bend township. They have been the parents 
of seven children, four sons and three daugh- 
ters: Eobert, born February 15, 1842; Mary 
E., born April 30, 1844; Nancy J., born 
November 19, 1847; John M., born December 
16, 1849, married to Annie Burnside; James 
H., born March 6, 1854, and died in infancy; 
William A., born May 9, 1855, married to 
Annie Anderson; and Anna M., born March 
23, 1858, wife of Rev. Theodore Lee. 

In politics, Mr. Wray is a stanch republican 
and takes an active part in the interests of his 
party, but has never aspired to political honors. 
He is a zealous church worker, belongs to the 
Presbyterian church at Elder's Ridge and aids 
the cause of Christianity in every possible way. 
He is an honest and upright man and highly 
respected by his neighbors. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



The three following sketches were not ob- 
tained in time to insert in their proper place in 
this work : 

JOHN W. MORROW, M.D., a physician in 
successful practice at Marchand, Indiana 
county, Pa., is a son of David and Margaret 
(Lytle) Morrow and was born in South Ma- 
honing township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, 
July 15, 1849. His paternal grandfather, John 
Morrow, was a native of county Down, Ireland, 
and in 1812 came to Indiana county,, where he 
settled at West Ijcbanon, in Young township. 
He was an ardent presbyterian and late in life 
removed to Armstrong county, where he died. 
He married Margaret Gillespie and their chil- 
dren were Andrew, who married Mary Coch- 
rane, and after her death Isabella Rankin; 
James, married Mary Meanor ; William, mar- 
ried Martha Hutchinson ; Martha, widow of 
John Marshall ; Elizabeth, wife of Abel 



Stewart; John, married Margaret Gibson ; Mar- 
garet, who married Thomas Ormond ; Nancy, 
married Samuel Lytle ; Wilson, married Mar- 
garet Stuchel, and David. Of these children 
but two are living : Martha and Elizabeth. Dr. 
Morrow's maternal grandfather, Robert Lytle, 
was born in the Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland 
county, and came to West Mahoning township, 
where he became a large landholder. He was 
an elder in the United Presbyterian church, was 
connected with the " underground railroad " and 
helped many slaves to reach Canada. He mar- 
ried a Miss Lytle, who was no relation to him, 
and their children v,ere William, who married 
Sarah Reed ; Robert, married a Miss Smith ; 
Alexander, who married a Miss Smith, and one 
of his sons is a missionary in India ; John, mar- 
ried Lovina Reed ; Samuel, who married Mar- 
garet Morrow ; Thomas, married Rachel Miller ; 
Sarah, widow of John S. Marshall ; Elizabeth, 
Margaret (mother), Keturah, married Thomas 
Watt, and Jane. Of these children but two are 
living : Sarah and Margaret. David Morrow 
(father) was born in 1807 and died in 1851, in 
South Mahoning township. He lived for sev- 
eral years with a Rev. Hyndman, who gave 
him a good education. He taught school for 
several terms and purchased a farm, which he 
tilled until his death. He was a whig and 
abolitionist and served for several years as a 
justice of tlie peace. He was a united presby- 
terian, took an active part in political affairs 
and married Margaret Lytle. Their children 
were Jane, Catherine, wife of Jesse William- 
son ; Robert (dead); Thomas, who married 
Nancy Stewart ; Dr. John W., and David, who 
married Clara Cochrane and is superintendent 
of an oil company at Bradford, Pa. Mrs. 
Morrow, after her husband's death, married a 
Mr. Laney, who is dead, and she now resides on 
the home farm. 

John W. Morrow worked as an oil well 
driller and taught school for several terms to 
secure the means to attend Dayton academy. 



ABMSTRONO COUNTY. 



635 



Completing his academic course, he read medi- 
cine with Dr. C. McEwen, of Plumville, and in 
1872 entered Jeiferson college, from which he 
was graduated on March 11, 1875. After 
graduation he returned to Marchand, where he 
had practiced during his vacations in 1873 and 
1874. He has a remunerative and extensive 
practice throughout the section of country sur- 
rounding Marchand. 

He is a republican, and in 1890 was nomi- 
nated by his party as their candidate for the 
legislature, by a majority of nine hundred over 
his closest competitor. He owns a farm of 
three hundred acres of land adjoining Mar- 
chand, where he has some valuable real estate. 
His farm is underlaid with coking coal and 
lies in a productive gas belt. From 1886 to 
1890 he and a Mr. Brown were engaged in 
the general mercantile and drug business. He 
is a member and an elder of the United Pres- 
byterian church. Dr. Morrow is an earnest 
advocate and supporter of all educational move- 
ments in his section and was one of those who 
organized Marchand Normal academy, for 
whose establishment he worked zealously and 
unceasingly. 



ROBERT A. McELHOES is a prominent 
democrat and leading farmer of Rayne 
township, Indiana county. He was born on 
the farm on which he now resides, in Rayne 
township, Indiana county, Pennsylvania, May 
15, 1833, and is a son of Samuel and Martha 
(McCluskey) McElhoes. His paternal grand- 
father, Thomas McElhoes, was a native of 
Scotland, where he married. He came to 
America and settled near Philadelphia, but 
afterwards moved to near Indiana, Indiana 
county, where he took up a large tract of land 
which he farmed until Ids death. Robert Mc- 
Cluskey (maternal grandfather) was a native of 
Ireland, came to America and settled in West- 
moreland county, and shortly afterwards re- 
38 



moved to Indiana county, where he died. He 
was a farmer of what was then Washington 
(now Rayne) township. Samuel McElhoes 
(father) was born in Chester county, Pa., about 
1787, and died in Rayne township in 1855. 
He purchased the farm on which the subject of 
this sketch now lives. He followed farming, 
stock-raising and milling. He and his brother 
built the first grist-mill, known as McElhoes' 
mill, which is now owned by Robert A. Mc- 
Elhoes. He was a democrat and married 
Martha McCluskey, by whom he had three 
children : Robert A., Agnes and John, all of 
whom live on the home farm. 

Robert A. McElhoes received his education 
in the common schools. He has always been 
a farmer and owns and operates a saw-mill. 
He and his brother own about eight hundred 
acres of land. His home farm of three hun- 
dred acres is well improved and is underlaid 
with a heavy vein of coking coal. In 1872 he 
built a large brick house, which is modern in 
appearance, and erected a large frame barn in 
1881, besides all necessary out-buildings. He 
is a democrat politically, but no office-seeker. 
He has represented his party twice as delegate 
to State conventions and is frequently a dele- 
gate to county conventions. 

He married Lovina Prothero, daughter of 
John Prothero, of Indiana county, and a native 
of England. Their union has been blest with 
nine children : Samuel E., Martha H., William 
C, Mary I., Sarah, Charles J., Harvey J., 
Ephraim and Agnes La Rue. 



ARCHIBALD J. T. CRAWFORD, a well- 
known citizen and a justice of the peace 
of North Mahoning township, Indiana county, 
was born in East Mahoning township, Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1819, and is 
the eldest son of Moses and Mary (Jamison) 
Crawford. The Crawford family was one of 
the pioneer families of Kentucky, and helpetl 



630 



BIOGRAPHIES OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY. 



to wiu the "Dark and Bloody Ground" from 
the dominion of the Indian. Moses Crawford 
(father) was born about 1772, and came at an 
early age from Kentucky to Indiana county, 
where he located near Centrcville. He after- 
wards removed to East Mahoning township, 
where he died in 1831. He was a carpenter 
by trade and a whig in politics, and gave most 
of his time to farming. He served as a scout 
in the war of 1812. He was twice married. 
His first wife was a Miss Scroggs, by whom he 
had nine children : Jane, Samuel, Mary, John, 
Allen, David, Ann, Elizabeth and James. His 
second wife was Mary Jamison, daughter of 
Archie Jamison, a Scotch covenanter, who set- 
tled near Armagh, where he followed farming. 
By his second marriage Moses Crawford had 
seven children: Archibald J. T., Rachel (dead); 
Margaret, William, Isabella, Martha and Mo- 
ses, Jr. 

A. J. T. Crawford received his education in 



the schools of his neighborhood. He taught 
seven terms of school (six of them at one place) 
and then engaged in his present business of 
farming and stock-dealing. He is a republican 
in politics and was elected justice of the peace 
in 1872. He was re-elected in 1877 and again 
in 1888. He has held other township offices 
and is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian 
church. 

He married Emily Sprankle, daughter of Fred- 
erick Sprankle. Their marriage has been blest 
with three children : Amelia, wife of Henry C. 
PefFer, a farmer of North Mahoning township ; 
Mary, wife of M. D., Shields, of Pittsburgh, a 
mechanic and superintendent for Vandergrift 
& Co.; Rev. Frederick S., married Mary Re- 
pey, and is pastor of the Presbyterian church 
at McDonald, Washington county, Pa. Rev. 
Frederick was graduated from Westminster 
college and also from the Theological seminary 
at Allegheny city. 



ERRATA. 



The ibllowing corrections were seciireil too late to be in- 
serted in their proper places in the respective sketches to 
which tliev belong : 

In sketch of H. M. Bell (p.age 94), Mary (Beatty) Bell 
should be Mary (Bates) Bell ; of the Methodist Episcopal 
church should be Presbyterian church until his marriage, 
when he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church ; Mary Beatty should be Mary Bates ; McFarland 
should be Irwin McFarland ; in 1876 should be Sept. 21, 
1877, and Gilmore C. should be Gilmore F. 

In sketch of Kobert Thompson, on page 105, in the 
fourteenth line read Mary nee Tompson, and after August, 
1794, in the same column, read the land on which this settle- 
ment was made was originally vested in a near kinsman 
of Mrs. Thompson's, James Cannon, by deed from Thomas 
and John Penn, and the Thompsons afterwards became 
its owmei-s. On page 105, second column and eightli line, 
read Dec. 4 for Oct. 5, and in the same column, read T. 
St. (Jlair for F. St. Clair. 

On page 108 D. Harrison Tomb should read D. Harbi- 
son Tomb. 

On page 270, in sketch of Capt. Jacob Crep.s, the following 
information hits been obtained : Jacob Creps married 
Mary A. Gora, of Bucks county ; Susanna Lutes should be 
Susanna Lutz ; 1st instead of ^>'M regiment; at the liattle 



of Fair Oaks C'apt. Creps received five bullet marks, and 
the names of Miuorica, Ella E., Eliza and Percy should 
read Winona, Elby E., Elizabeth and Percy A. In 1890, 
in a campaign of ten days, Capt. Creps reduced the repub- 
lican majority 10,000 in his Congressional district, and he 
is not a member of the G. A. R. 

On page 289, in sketch of Archibald Smitten, after 
word married insert August 11, 1853. Additional in- 
formation: Ida J., born June 10, 1859, and married 
July 3, 1870; William B., born July 18, 1803, and married 
August 11, 1880; Hugh W., bom April 5, 1800, and Mel- 
tha Belle, born June 14, 1874. Mr. Smitten is a member 
of Amor Lodge, No. 608, and Pine Grove Grange, No. 421. 

In .sketch of VV. J. Steele, on page 457, read two miles 
for six miles south of Oakland X roads. On page 458, in 
first column, second line, omit words "for a short time" 
and add in fourth line after 1880 "aged sixty years." In 
line after word Steele add " in the dry-goods business, in 
Paulton, Pa." C G. L. for G. L. Pfeffer. In the line, after 
word sold add "his store toStjuires Brothers and accepted 
the position of." In second column, in line nine, after word 
and .add "when run to their fullest capacity." In the 
twenty-second line of the same column for seven children 
read they have five childi'en, two sons and three daughters : 
Kthel, Etta, Clifibrd Banks, ^Maurice Edgar and Irma. 



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